Would you buy an electric truck?

[Muhammad]

Just saw the specs on this new Nikola EV/FCEV and it looks pretty serious. Thoughts?

Nikola Corp | Nikola Badger

 

[4570Man]

Maybe if it had a dump bed and the battery replacement cost wasn’t ridiculous.

 

[WilliamBos]

No! Never!

 

[radios1]

it looks like a tiny bed, and what gas station would you get Hydrogen refills for the fuel cell 24 hours a day at??.. you can basically get stuck for a long time trying to get the needed energy to run this!.. there's no widespread support for a vehicle such as this, yet!..

 

[Thomas]

Not until the issues were work out and I live in warmer region.

 

[Muhammad]

it looks like a tiny bed, and what gas station would you get Hydrogen refills for the fuel cell 24 hours a day at??.. you can basically get stuck for a long time trying to get the needed energy to run this!.. there's no widespread support for a vehicle such as this, yet!..

Hydrogen supply isn't there yet. I mean the closest station to me is 15 miles away and I live in a populated area. But electric only you can charge at home... 300 mile range on ev only means you won't be testing long trips unless you plan your charging route.

 

[grsthegreat]

what i love is a company (Nikola) that is supposed to be worth more than GM and Ford combined, is said to be the leader in big truck electric technology......hasn't ever produced anything..

 

[3930dave]

Nice specs.

If we are going to burn something (I know that's not what a fuel cell does), it should be hydrogen.

But, I've learned not to confuse what makes sense (engineering-wise) with where the market will go..... at least when it comes to spending what this truck would cost.

20 years ago, it wasn't that hard to find a CNG automotive fueling station. Today, much harder to find in Canada. Doesn't make sense, as it's the cleanest burning HC there is.....

Now, if I could hydrolyze water and legally store my own hydrogen...... that's a different story. But, that < is a lot harder to pull off than charging an olde school EV from a PV array or other alt nrg forms.....

Rgds, D.

 

[sixdogs]

Towing only 8000 lbs basically makes it's an expensive grocery getter. Better the devil I know right now and wait the 10 years for the bugs to get worked out and hauling capacities ramped up on electric. If electric trucks are the future, I'll bet an established name like a Toyota or Big Three maker beats them to the punch with a workable product.

So, I wouldn't buy an electric truck for the foreseeable future.

 

[Citydude]

I would trade my oil slobbering, fuel guzzling 7.3 powerstroke diesel in a heartbeat for it.

 

[Diggin It]

Towing only 8000 lbs basically makes it's an expensive grocery getter.

That's about three times what I can tow now and would easily handle my SCUT on a trailer. But I don't want to have to stick my head out the window and make the vroom-vroom noises.

 

[3930dave]

Gotta start somewhere. IIRC, when automobiles got hatched, often drivers had to go to a pharmacy to get gasoline.

Travel to remote areas is the toughest problem. At least with a bed in a truck, you can throw an IC generator in there. I'd probably get a 100% organic noose around my neck for strapping my 7kw generator onto the roof of a Tesla....

USA map - travel in the centre of the country would have to be very well planned. I haven't read enough on this truck to be sure, but they'd be daft to be incompatible with existing EV charging.

Find every public charging station for electric cars | ChargeHub

Pre-covid, many people just fly, but when I have the time (not often ), I do like to drive long distance trips. Range matters to me, so the ultimate combo for me is a pickup with the factory gas(oline) tank and a large CNG tank. A buddy in BC has owned one of these setups, and the combo range is good.

People still manage to run gasoline vehicles dry, but for most of the driving people do, you don't have to plan gasoline stops.

Rgds, D.

 

[newbury]

Yup, and I'm inline for a Cybertruck.

 

[L47TLBwannabe]

No I think it would be quite premature to buy any electric vehicle right short of diesel/ electric or gas/electric. It still takes too long to charge batteries there is little to no dealer support or places to recharge and with how cold it is here in the winter you'll end up discharging the battery to quickly trying to stay warm.

 

[3930dave]

Yup, and I'm inline for a Cybertruck.

I watched Elon and this truck on Jay's Garage recently.

Leave it to a guy who pays little/no attention to conventional practices to address one of the things I don't like on many modern vehicles - bad greenhouse visibility B pillar back.

Plenty of new in that truck design, but I like that he brought something old back into play.

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

That cybertruck is downright the ugliest piece o crap i have ever laid Me eyes on.

 

[Ortimber]

Yes, I would buy one, but not yet.

The first battery powered tools were awful, but as most of us have found out they are now performing almost as good as their gasoline, 120V AC, and pneumatic counterparts. I’m guessing in 10 more years, the EV technology will be very good...

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Maybe if it had a dump bed and the battery replacement cost wasn稚 ridiculous.

The makers stand behind the battery typically 8 yr or 100K miles. Our 2016 Nissan Leaf SL battery is covered for 8 years to not drop by more than 64% of new state of health. It was showing 9 of 12 state of health bars with 21K miles when I purchased it last October and 30 days later lost another bar triggering the warranty for a new battery. They had stopped making the 30 kWh battery so they installed the 40 kWh battery pack currently used in production cars which bumped the new range of 107 miles to 150 mile range. The range with the old battery was down to 60 miles per a full charge.

The list price on the 40 kWh battery per Nissan is $12,500.00 and $500 labor so with sales tax that would have been more than than I had just paid for the car. Yes I would not have bought the car without them backing the battery but the Nissan dealership assured me I would be due a new battery pack in short order.

Before the COVID-19 event in the USA 40% of Nissan dealerships were losing money and 10% were breaking even. They were going to start a restructuring plan in May but that was before the Pandemic struck. In Jan 2020 their former CEO predicted they would be in bankruptcy in 2022. Currently they are pulling out of markets around the world but have no plan in plan before their numbers are now dropping so fast. They think their focus will be Japan and USA and perhaps China but Japan is paying companies to move supply sources from China.

Car companies with the 100 year old dealership models are at risk because they to not control the cradle to grave cycle because they sell to the dealerships not to the customers like Tesla does.

I plan to stay with EV's going forward. My main problem with our Leaf is the daughter is always in it like at this moment.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Yes, I would buy one, but not yet.

The first battery powered tools were awful, but as most of us have found out they are now performing almost as good as their gasoline, 120V AC, and pneumatic counterparts. I’m guessing in 10 more years, the EV technology will be very good...

Yes and will cost much less than gas/diesel but do not plan to be selling non electric vehicles for consumer use that far down the road in most of the world.

 

[4570Man]

The makers stand behind the battery typically 8 yr or 100K miles. Our 2016 Nissan Leaf SL battery is covered for 8 years to not drop by more than 64% of new state of health. It was showing 9 of 12 state of health bars with 21K miles when I purchased it last October and 30 days later lost another bar triggering the warranty for a new battery. They had stopped making the 30 kWh battery so they installed the 40 kWh battery pack currently used in production cars which bumped the new range of 107 miles to 150 mile range. The range with the old battery was down to 60 miles per a full charge.

The list price on the 40 kWh battery per Nissan is $12,500.00 and $500 labor so with sales tax that would have been more than than I had just paid for the car. Yes I would not have bought the car without them backing the battery but the Nissan dealership assured me I would be due a new battery pack in short order.

Before the COVID-19 event in the USA 40% of Nissan dealerships were losing money and 10% were breaking even. They were going to start a restructuring plan in May but that was before the Pandemic struck. In Jan 2020 their former CEO predicted they would be in bankruptcy in 2022. Currently they are pulling out of markets around the world but have no plan in plan before their numbers are now dropping so fast. They think their focus will be Japan and USA and perhaps China but Japan is paying companies to move supply sources from China.

Car companies with the 100 year old dealership models are at risk because they to not control the cradle to grave cycle because they sell to the dealerships not to the customers like Tesla does.

I plan to stay with EV's going forward. My main problem with our Leaf is the daughter is always in it like at this moment.

But I wouldn’t buy a vehicle until it’s 8 years old to start with. And you already discovered the battery cost more than the car is worth. An 8 year old ICE engine has plenty of life left. Over 14k in repairs is a big no thanks from me.