Just can't get a good basic truck, like the old days!

[sunandsand]

Lets take the politics and partisanship out of electric vehicles a moment . . .

I'm adding a 5 or 6 kw solar array to the south side of my hangar later this year. It will make FPL unhappy (my heart just bleeds for them, up to now it has been my wallet that has been doing the bleeding for them) but it will make me happy.

It will be a "homebrew" system, I'm not paying some here-today-gone-tomorrow company $30,000 to do it. I'll buy a dozen 400 watt panels, a 6KW inverter and a disconnect, install it and wire it myself. This stuff is hardly rocket science. I'll probably have under $5,000 in it. It will be a grid-tie system (no battery) because, um, solar cells don't work real well at night. Solar during the day, FPL at night - and I don't use a lot of power when I'm asleep.

That will run my house and give me excess capacity to charge a car.

Tesla is desperately trying to get rid of pre-owned model 3s, leasing them for zero down and $200 a month. If I got one of those, my transportation costs would be the lease payment - and that's pretty much it. (Plus insurance, which I'd have for any car.)

If I could buy an equivalent vehicle to the 3, except a pickup truck, I'd be on it in a millisecond. Zero fuel costs, minimal maintenance costs, this is simply an appliance to move "stuff" from A to B, and I'd have no emotional attachment to it whatsoever.

I really don't care what makes it run, gasoline, diesel, electrons, pixie dust, the job is to move "stuff" from A to B.

Electric cars are nearly price competitive with IC cars now, in a few years they will be cheaper. Operating costs are already significantly lower, and there is less maintenance. Range is increasing, 300 miles isn't unusual.

So - I want an electric pickup truck, single cab, half or three-quarter ton, 300 miles range, under $35,000. (And one of the neat extras is an on-board inverter so I can have 110 volt power to run tools right off the vehicle!)

I know it can be done - Jim Farley, President of Ford, says unless Ford can effectively compete with the Chinese electric car makers, Ford will be out of business - and if anyone is an expert in the car business, he is.

Old Chinese curse - "May you live in interesting times."

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida (Where the sun DO shine - a lot!)

 

[3930dave]

I happen to Like Carrots (and, electric tech, for certain applications)......

Many people however, when repeatedly Beaten With a Stick, lose their Taste for Carrots.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Lets take the politics and partisanship out of electric vehicles a moment . . .

I'm adding a 5 or 6 kw solar array to the south side of my hangar later this year. It will make FPL unhappy (my heart just bleeds for them, up to now it has been my wallet that has been doing the bleeding for them) but it will make me happy.

It will be a "homebrew" system, I'm not paying some here-today-gone-tomorrow company $30,000 to do it. I'll buy a dozen 400 watt panels, a 6KW inverter and a disconnect, install it and wire it myself. This stuff is hardly rocket science. I'll probably have under $5,000 in it. It will be a grid-tie system (no battery) because, um, solar cells don't work real well at night. Solar during the day, FPL at night - and I don't use a lot of power when I'm asleep.

That will run my house and give me excess capacity to charge a car.

Tesla is desperately trying to get rid of pre-owned model 3s, leasing them for zero down and $200 a month. If I got one of those, my transportation costs would be the lease payment - and that's pretty much it. (Plus insurance, which I'd have for any car.)

If I could buy an equivalent vehicle to the 3, except a pickup truck, I'd be on it in a millisecond. Zero fuel costs, minimal maintenance costs, this is simply an appliance to move "stuff" from A to B, and I'd have no emotional attachment to it whatsoever.

I really don't care what makes it run, gasoline, diesel, electrons, pixie dust, the job is to move "stuff" from A to B.

Electric cars are nearly price competitive with IC cars now, in a few years they will be cheaper. Operating costs are already significantly lower, and there is less maintenance. Range is increasing, 300 miles isn't unusual.

So - I want an electric pickup truck, single cab, half or three-quarter ton, 300 miles range, under $35,000. (And one of the neat extras is an on-board inverter so I can have 110 volt power to run tools right off the vehicle!)

I know it can be done - Jim Farley, President of Ford, says unless Ford can effectively compete with the Chinese electric car makers, Ford will be out of business - and if anyone is an expert in the car business, he is.

Old Chinese curse - "May you live in interesting times."

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida (Where the sun DO shine - a lot!)

If I had your sunshine (or AZ....), I'd be using a lot of solar , including domestic hot water.

Rgds, D.

 

[RB5]

Lets take the politics and partisanship out of electric vehicles a moment . . .

I'm adding a 5 or 6 kw solar array to the south side of my hangar later this year. It will make FPL unhappy (my heart just bleeds for them, up to now it has been my wallet that has been doing the bleeding for them) but it will make me happy.

It will be a "homebrew" system, I'm not paying some here-today-gone-tomorrow company $30,000 to do it. I'll buy a dozen 400 watt panels, a 6KW inverter and a disconnect, install it and wire it myself. This stuff is hardly rocket science. I'll probably have under $5,000 in it. It will be a grid-tie system (no battery) because, um, solar cells don't work real well at night. Solar during the day, FPL at night - and I don't use a lot of power when I'm asleep.

That will run my house and give me excess capacity to charge a car.

Tesla is desperately trying to get rid of pre-owned model 3s, leasing them for zero down and $200 a month. If I got one of those, my transportation costs would be the lease payment - and that's pretty much it. (Plus insurance, which I'd have for any car.)

If I could buy an equivalent vehicle to the 3, except a pickup truck, I'd be on it in a millisecond. Zero fuel costs, minimal maintenance costs, this is simply an appliance to move "stuff" from A to B, and I'd have no emotional attachment to it whatsoever.

I really don't care what makes it run, gasoline, diesel, electrons, pixie dust, the job is to move "stuff" from A to B.

Electric cars are nearly price competitive with IC cars now, in a few years they will be cheaper. Operating costs are already significantly lower, and there is less maintenance. Range is increasing, 300 miles isn't unusual.

So - I want an electric pickup truck, single cab, half or three-quarter ton, 300 miles range, under $35,000. (And one of the neat extras is an on-board inverter so I can have 110 volt power to run tools right off the vehicle!)

I know it can be done - Jim Farley, President of Ford, says unless Ford can effectively compete with the Chinese electric car makers, Ford will be out of business - and if anyone is an expert in the car business, he is.

Old Chinese curse - "May you live in interesting times."

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida (Where the sun DO shine - a lot!)

My biggest complaint with the current electric vehicles is a lot of them brag about zero to 60 times. Until they make a truck that uses less power and has a longer range a lot of us will not even look at one. I don't need to go 0 to 60 in 4 seconds. In Texas we do a lot of driving. Our state was built out during the growth of the automobile. We have sprawl. Driving more than 50 miles each way to go somewhere is pretty common, especially for those of us living in the country outside of major metro areas. I would be so nervous if I had a 300 mile range that I would likely rarely drive my electric if i had one. Add a trailer and that drops even more. The current electric trucks are not even a consideration. Let them make one that only goes 0 to 60 in 5.5 seconds but has a 600 mile range that only drops to 400 miles with a load.

 

[RB5]

If I had your sunshine (or AZ....), I'd be using a lot of solar , including domestic hot water.

Rgds, D.

We use solar here in Texas without even having to install it. My water line runs 2000' from the road to the house across a field. From May or June on when it gets hot it is harder and harder to take a cool shower. If you are not careful and forget the ground is so warm you can get a really hot bath. It's like soaking in a hot tub.

 

[3930dave]

My biggest complaint with the current electric vehicles is a lot of them brag about zero to 60 times. Until they make a truck that uses less power and has a longer range a lot of us will not even look at one. I don't need to go 0 to 60 in 4 seconds. In Texas we do a lot of driving. Our state was built out during the growth of the automobile. We have sprawl. Driving more than 50 miles each way to go somewhere is pretty common, especially for those of us living in the country outside of major metro areas. I would be so nervous if I had a 300 mile range that I would likely rarely drive my electric if i had one. Add a trailer and that drops even more. The current electric trucks are not even a consideration. Let them make one that only goes 0 to 60 in 5.5 seconds but has a 600 mile range that only drops to 400 miles with a load.

Many Canadians have those ^ same points of pain, as well as what feels like 8+ months of Winter to deal with some years.

The only thing that has caught my eye electric light truck wise is the Ramcharger, because it's an Inline Hybrid. Way outside my price/pain point though.....

Rgds, D.

 

[RB5]

Many Canadians have those ^ same points of pain, as well as what feels like 8+ months of Winter to deal with some years.

The only thing that has caught my eye electric light truck wise is the Ramcharger, because it's an Inline Hybrid. Way outside my price/pain point though.....

Rgds, D.

Diesel electric hybrid might be the way to go.

 

[3930dave]

We use solar here in Texas without even having to install it. My water line runs 2000' from the road to the house across a field. From May or June on when it gets hot it is harder and harder to take a cool shower. If you are not careful and forget the ground is so warm you can get a really hot bath. It's like soaking in a hot tub.

Apologies for the drift OP....

I've seen successful residential installs for direct heating of pool water, with flat (think corrugated cardboard cross section) black panels, done back in the 70's ! In the American south, you have tremendous solar to work with.

I don't know what kwh rates are typical in TX, but domestic hot water is often a big energy consumer. Even with a risk of frost/freeze, a roof drain-back panel system is low-cost, and frost-proof. (No heat-exchanger; the system is designed so that when the sun drops, circulating pump shuts-off, and most/all the water in the rooftop components drains-back to interior house storage).

Drift- off

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Diesel electric hybrid might be the way to go.

My People !

Exactly how some military prototypes were designed (scout vehicles).

Rgds, D.

 

[JRTJH]

I drove a rental car on vacation that had start stop tech in it. I hated it. I had to remember to turn it off every time I got in the car. I asked the Ford dealer if start stop and cyllander deactivation could be disabled and did not get an answer. I also was told years ago that I could not turn off the seat belt alarms in my 2013 F150. Those are pretty annoying when driving across my land and getting in and out of the truck to do things. I looked and found the disable instructions in the manual. All that proves is the sale person has no clue.
I saw it mentioned in a forum that you could put it in tow haul mode to disable those features. There goes the mpgs though.
The biggest problem I see currently is government regulations are forcing many people into vehicles they don't want that are overloaded with gadgets that are not saving as much money as they cost to buy and repair.

There are a couple of American companies that do make devices to put the start/stop system in ONE position, your choice of "always off" or "always on". Wherever you put it, it stays there until you change it. Mine is a 4Dtech harness, just plugs into one of the plugs behind the glove box. For me, it sure beats wearing out the starter and discharging the battery at every stoplight. Their website is: SYNC® Upgrades & Accessories And, no, I'm not associated with the company other than a satisfied customer.