New electric Ram

[Evguy1]

I can just imagine the conversation about this thought... Gee, we (the Utility) didn't anticipate the high outside air temperatures and the resulting A/C load on the grid - sorry, you will have to wait until later to recharge your dead EV batteries as we needed to use your reserve power to meet our current demand...

That's why I put up solar panels. ;>)

 

[tron67j]

The government can create some good for something but then it just can snowball down the road. Doing tax credits for electric vehicles was a way to get some people to adopt early on and to somewhat prime the pump. However, as time goes on companies don't want the tax credits to end and then it becomes another thing where some people are supporting the choices others make. Kind of like tax credits for home tax payments, etc. I am not saying I am for or against any part of that, just kind of agreeing that the government isn't the most efficient way to have a economy always work properly. If something is a good idea, the consumer will flock to it. There were never any tax credits for buying a cell phone, for example. Yes, I know that's not the same consumer category as a car, just trying to make somewhat of a point.

 

[Noob2Trucks]

Looks more like a Ridgeline to me

Or that Hyundai one

 

[mcarey]

The government can create some good for something but then it just can snowball down the road. Doing tax credits for electric vehicles was a way to get some people to adopt early on and to somewhat prime the pump. However, as time goes on companies don't want the tax credits to end and then it becomes another thing where some people are supporting the choices others make. Kind of like tax credits for home tax payments, etc. I am not saying I am for or against any part of that, just kind of agreeing that the government isn't the most efficient way to have a economy always work properly. If something is a good idea, the consumer will flock to it. There were never any tax credits for buying a cell phone, for example. Yes, I know that's not the same consumer category as a car, just trying to make somewhat of a point.

I sure do miss the days of getting a cell phone for a penny.

 

[cellguru]

Here is a test by TFL (great group of truck guys) of the rivian all electric truck. Watch the entire video it’s worth it.

Number 1 take away for me was the amazing power and that they stated it towed well (because it’s heavy due to the batteries which is actually the main issue with current EVs).

Number 2 take away was the absolutely terrible range towing.

EV in my opinion is not near ready for the truck market. Not unless you only tow down the street.

On the other hand the power alone in this video shows that one day it “could” be great.

Finally: The All-Electric Rivian R1T Takes On The World's Toughest Towing Test!

Thanks to Gen-Y Hitch for sponsoring this video! Head to ( https://www.genyhitch.com ) to see their full line of hitches.( https://tfl-studios.com/ ) Check o...

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Precisely why I doubt I will be giving up the RAM even once I take delivery of an RT1!

 

[Southern Ram]

What happens if your electric bill is substantially less, which it will be at least today, than your fuel costs? And isn't the fix-it problem exactly the same, if not worse based on the fact that there are many more fail points, with ICE vehicles as well? I'd be curious to know why you think fixing problems in an EV is going to be some massive problem in comparison to any modern vehicle, really. Nearly every component in my PW is electrically controlled. There is an incredibly strong chance I won't own this truck beyond warranty for that exact reason.

What would make you think that your electric bill is going to be less if you use more electricity? It’s pretty simple: the more electricity you use the higher your bill. Imagine how much higher your monthly bill is going to be when you have to keep charging up the every night.

 

[mcarey]

And I haven't pointed you out in my posts, please don't assume to know my positions or assume I have some ungrounded fear.

I didn't assume anything, I specifically mentioned the contents of your post.

From a numbers standpoint, the grid theoretically could currently support 100% EVs today. I explained that in a different post in this thread if you want to see the details. However, I would consider this an ungrounded fear because you have a better chance at getting struck by lightning while winning lotto, than seeing todays grid support 100% of the cars in the nation being electric. We still have 99% of the cars on the road being ICE as of today. Average vehicle sales per year is 17 million. With 280 million vehicles on the road, even if every car sold nationwide this year was an EV, it would move the needle by 6%. But we both know that is an impossibility, though maybe more likely than seeing 100% of the cars in the US turn to EV overnight.

Also, the concept of people who cannot afford new electric cars having to walk or whatever? Again, ungrounded. The only mention of the government pushing of EVs is select states no longer selling new ICE vehicles. There has been nothing around the removal of existing cars. And that'll likely take so long to be a thing, should it happen, for hundreds of reasons. That said, you may fear that happening but that's on you and your beliefs. Not real life.

 

[cellguru]

I agree with most of this although most of us "car guys" surround ourselves with like minded people and our kids tend to follow in our steps. What I don't understand and here is where my personal likes takes over is HOW THE HELL HAS THIS THING GOT 1.25 MILLION PRE ORDERS!!! View attachment 484787

And you thought my Tellatubby was ugly LOL!

 

[mcarey]

What would make you think that your electric bill is going to be less if you use more electricity? It’s pretty simple: the more electricity you use the higher your bill. Imagine how much higher your monthly bill is going to be when you have to keep charging up the every night.

Well first off, and I will admit I did assume this was going to be an easy inference in the post you quoted so I apologize for the confusion, I was suggesting that the vehicle related portion of the electrical bill would be less than current vehicle fuel costs. Obviously not going to count the cost of my home A/C against my vehicle fuel costs, because that makes no sense. And two, you don't have to charge every night. Surely you don't get gas every day do you? But you could, and it'd realistically be irrelevant towards your monthly bill anyways.

But I don't really have to imagine... as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts here, my neighbor told me his car brought up his electric bill by approximately 45 dollars a month - and he drives it quite a bit. It costs me near double that, just to fill my tank once.

So yes, your electric bill will obviously increase in cost if you're charging an EV - that's essentially a given. But if you remove the fuel cost from your monthly expenses, you're almost undoubtably net positive. For example, I spend $200 a month in gasoline. Drop the truck, get an EV, and my electric bill goes up $50. Now, I spend zero in gasoline, but $50 more on electricity. End of the month, my cash flow is +$150.

I'm sure @Evguy1 could actually comment on his current owning an EV electric bill costs as well.

 

[mtwofeathers]

I live 20 miles inland from San Diego Ca
This town could be called a San Diego Suburb, the towns West of me are so close together, they may as well be called San Diego
On the other hand, driving East from my town, houses are spaced much further apart, with horse ranching & a few Avocado Ranches & then everything fades away to nature for 100 miles before there is a small city & then the next city is Yuma Arizona 60 miles away.
Between those 2 areas, there are only Farms & many of them are abandoned.

What i am leading up to, i don't know of a single charging station, where the public is allowed to use.

I have heard of 1 station closer to downtown San Diego, it is suppose to have every modern fuel in todays vehicles, including that water fuel, whatever that is called

El centro has 2, Yuma has 9 and farther east a few truck stops have some before merging with i10. North from Yuma 6 in quartzsite on 95.
Amazingly not that much traffic from San Diego going east. About 9 times the traffic going east on i10.
I worked Yuma sector for border patrol. Which includes El central

I live 20 miles inland from San Diego Ca
This town could be called a San Diego Suburb, the towns West of me are so close together, they may as well be called San Diego
On the other hand, driving East from my town, houses are spaced much further apart, with horse ranching & a few Avocado Ranches & then everything fades away to nature for 100 miles before there is a small city & then the next city is Yuma Arizona 60 miles away.
Between those 2 areas, there are only Farms & many of them are abandoned.

What i am leading up to, i don't know of a single charging station, where the public is allowed to use.

I have heard of 1 station closer to downtown San Diego, it is suppose to have every modern fuel in todays vehicles, including that water fuel, whatever that is called

2 in El centro. 4 spots at each. 9 in Yuma. Going north at Yuma on 95. One at the base, 2 up in quartzsite. 1 Parker, 2 in lake Havasu. 12 in kingman.
Keep going east from Yuma there are more.
Only reason I know is working for border patrol El centro is in Yuma sector as is everything up to quartzsite.
Last year crews were working on adding more so my numbers may have changed.

 

[mtwofeathers]

Well first off, and I will admit I did assume this was going to be an easy inference in the post you quoted so I apologize for the confusion, I was suggesting that the vehicle related portion of the electrical bill would be less than current vehicle fuel costs. Obviously not going to count the cost of my home A/C against my vehicle fuel costs, because that makes no sense. And two, you don't have to charge every night. Surely you don't get gas every day do you? But you could, and it'd realistically be irrelevant towards your monthly bill anyways.

But I don't really have to imagine... as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts here, my neighbor told me his car brought up his electric bill by approximately 45 dollars a month - and he drives it quite a bit. It costs me near double that, just to fill my tank once.

So yes, your electric bill will obviously increase in cost if you're charging an EV - that's essentially a given. But if you remove the fuel cost from your monthly expenses, you're almost undoubtably net positive. For example, I spend $200 a month in gasoline. Drop the truck, get an EV, and my electric bill goes up $50. Now, I spend zero in gasoline, but $50 more on electricity. End of the month, my cash flow is +$150.

I'm sure @Evguy1 could actually comment on his current owning an EV electric bill costs as well.

Yep a typical charge is 7-9 bucks for a full charge. And that's not even on a supercharger hook up.

 

[Evguy1]

So yes, your electric bill will obviously increase in cost if you're charging an EV - that's essentially a given. But if you remove the fuel cost from your monthly expenses, you're almost undoubtably net positive. For example, I spend $200 a month in gasoline. Drop the truck, get an EV, and my electric bill goes up $50. Now, I spend zero in gasoline, but $50 more on electricity. End of the month, my cash flow is +$150.

I'm sure @Evguy1 could actually comment on his current owning an EV electric bill costs as well.

Yes hard to complain that your electric bill will go up and not include how much your gas bill will go down! I did post this back 10 pages or so but here it is again.
My 2000 Jeep Cherokee with a 1.9 TDI gets a bit over 30 MPG which is impressive but to drive 200km costs us about $17. Our 2019 Kia Soul EV will do that same 200km drive for just $5.50
I suppose to make it simpler you could say that if I drive my Jeep 2000 km/month my "fuel" bill was $170 a month and I switch to an EV my "fuel" bill (increase in electric bill) would only be $55 a month for the same 2000 km. Over the year my Jeep would cost $2040 in fuel and the EV would cost $660 for the year. The EV would save me $1380 per year. I also would have no tune up or oil change costs and brakes last almost the life of the vehicles due to regen braking which turns braking energy back into battery storage.

 

[Evguy1]

Someone earlier said they would never own an EV because they are so ugly. Other than those duck billed Tesla cars most of the current EV's from the other auto makers are all based on the same platform as their gas cars. You may have a lot of EV's in your neighborhood and not even know it other than them being almost silent when they go by. We just got back from a walk around the neighborhood and saw a VW Golf plugged in, it looked just like a standard gas Golf other than the plug. The new Ford Mustang EV I think should have spent more time on the drawing board, why they could not keep the gas versions styling is beyond me. If your going to call it a Mustang it should look like a Mustang. Maybe the new gas Mustangs are going to look like the EV, will be the death of that brand.

 

[GTyankee]

mtwofeathers

If you worked the newer checkpoint east of Yuma
The checkpoint at Blythe or the 1 down on 78 fairly close to the Gold Mine.
Any where on 95 between Quartzite to Yuma, we moved huge concrete prison cells for a couple of months.
On I-10 from Quartzite to Riverside
On I-8 from the Ocean to Casa Grande

Chances are you have seen me driving through, i Follow or Lead oversized Loads
Mostly Mobile Homes & Heavy Equipment
many times we work with the California Highway Patrol

 

[tron67j]

Yes hard to complain that your electric bill will go up and not include how much your gas bill will go down! I did post this back 10 pages or so but here it is again.
My 2000 Jeep Cherokee with a 1.9 TDI gets a bit over 30 MPG which is impressive but to drive 200km costs us about $17. Our 2019 Kia Soul EV will do that same 200km drive for just $5.50
I suppose to make it simpler you could say that if I drive my Jeep 2000 km/month my "fuel" bill was $170 a month and I switch to an EV my "fuel" bill (increase in electric bill) would only be $55 a month for the same 2000 km. Over the year my Jeep would cost $2040 in fuel and the EV would cost $660 for the year. The EV would save me $1380 per year. I also would have no tune up or oil change costs and brakes last almost the life of the vehicles due to regen braking which turns braking energy back into battery storage.

You bring up another issue that I wonder about. But to get to that point, I first go to the idea that charging the EV on a trip is most likely not going to be free for the masses. So if a EV has a 66kwh battery and is fully depleted, the total to charge is 66 x .45(average station charge rate from EPA) = about $30. Over a trip, approximately 1/2 the cost to travel 1,000 miles against a 17 MPG truck, but about equal in cost to a vehicle that gets 30 MPG using cost of gas of $3.45 a gallon.

Now to my actual point. The gas has taxes that theoretically go towards road maintenance (please, not adding for discussion about problems with taxes) but currently taxes on electricity and whatever might be paid on EV stations (this I assume, but found no report to the contrary) has no connection to road maintenance, all goes in a different bucket. So, as more EVs hit the road we are seeing governments eyeing how to tax them. It's coming, and will erode further the potential savings against a ICE vehicle. And one other thing I see coming is monetizing the charging infrastructure; from your home to the stations. Someone wants to make that a regular revenue stream, at least that is a decent bet. Plus this infrastructure has to be built out and maintained. Costs for this are coming down the pike.

And I do agree there is savings for things like oil changes, but I then think about the natural degradation of batteries through normal use. How long does it take before my kind of acceptable 250 mile range gets to a level that frustrates me? Do I replace the battery pack for a crazy price or have to buy new vehicle. I keep my vehicles for over 10 years each, last for 16 years and still in family.

Again. All this are things I think about on the subject and wonder what exactly it will all look like in the near future.

 

[mcarey]

Regarding battery life:

I'm pretty sure every EV currently in production has atleast a 10yr warranty on batteries. Mileage varies, but I don't think any are lower than 100K.

Tesla will also warranty yours if the capability drops beyond a certain capacity in that time period. Not sure how other manufacturers handle it.

It reads as if most EV batteries should be good for ~200K miles. Unsure of what amount of degradation they consider acceptable however. And I've seen talk about manufacturers working on batteries with lifespans multiples of that 200K figure.

 

[Evguy1]

I agree, if you spend most of your life traveling then an EV is not a big cost saving. I think at this point most EV buyers are looking at them as a comuter car to go to work or shopping so they charge at home. I have heard that some US electric rates are very high and this would also reduce any savings, we pay $.11/kw cdn or about $.03 USD ;>) so charging at home is pretty cheap. There has already been quite a good descusion on road tax, just read back a ways. Already there are companies who will rebuild a worn out battery pack for a fraction of the cost of a new one and again this is all pretty new tech on a large scale so it will evolve as time goes by, look at cell phones.

 

[1shadowsabre]

Do you really think that an EV is dirtier than a vehicle that uses fossil fuels? Are you taking into account the exploration, extraction, transportation, refinement, more transportation, and burning of fossil fuels? then of course this is a cycle that repeats itself for EVERY barrel of oil hundreds of thousands of times.
EV batteries are recyclable, and potentially have many uses plus they last for 100s of thousands of miles as a real.
Only some power is generated by coal and that number is dropping every day.

 

[Socalramfan]

Cute. But I‘ll take a lifted Dually

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

Someone earlier said they would never own an EV because they are so ugly. Other than those duck billed Tesla cars most of the current EV's from the other auto makers are all based on the same platform as their gas cars. You may have a lot of EV's in your neighborhood and not even know it other than them being almost silent when they go by. We just got back from a walk around the neighborhood and saw a VW Golf plugged in, it looked just like a standard gas Golf other than the plug. The new Ford Mustang EV I think should have spent more time on the drawing board, why they could not keep the gas versions styling is beyond me. If your going to call it a Mustang it should look like a Mustang. Maybe the new gas Mustangs are going to look like the EV, will be the death of that brand.

That was probably me but all the one's you say looks like the gas version are one's that "I" wouldn't want the original (ICE) version to start with. On here I am talking about trucks, but you're right about the mustang EV, why do they even call it a mustang?? I bet if you took a survey and ask any mustang person if they want their mustang to look like that the answer would be NO. Once again "They" are choosing for us, whoever "They" are! When someone tells me something and they start out with, "They said............." I'll ask "Who are they" I always get either facebook or the internet................ Next!