Would you buy an electric truck?

[ruffdog]

If Nikola could mass produce H fuel cells that work as promised with good longevity, it would be a game changer for so many things. Just think, water is the only byproduct of the fuel cell that powers the electric motors.

 

[aczlan]

I try and get away from tankers carrying particular placards. 1203 for gasoline? A wreck involving those wouldn't be something I would look forward to. Probably people burned alive, were not even aware of their surroundings,

I would be more worried about an empty gasoline tanker.
A full one will release a lake of gas that will burn if ignited.
An empty one will blow up and turn you into paste (remember, it's gasoline vapor that burns, not liquid gasoline).

Aaron Z

 

[4570Man]

I would be more worried about an empty gasoline tanker.
A full one will release a lake of gas that will burn if ignited.
An empty one will blow up and turn you into paste (remember, it's gasoline vapor that burns, not liquid gasoline).

Aaron Z

I don’t think the vapor in the tank would prove to be that violent. Nothing like the explosives in the cement truck mythbusters episode. I wouldn’t want to be standing beside it but I don’t think it would do much more than open it up. 9,000 gallons of gas pooled on the ground and burning on the other hand would be a big problem. I don’t ever recall seeing a tanker explode in a bomb like fashion. There’s plenty of them that burnt.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Well, at least it looks like a real truck, not that ugly monster tesla is planning to introduce.

Would I buy one? Probably not.
As someone else noted, I tend to buy 8-10 year old vehicles, partly because I'm too cheap to buy new and partly to be able to tell which models stand up well over time. I figure getting to that day is a good 15 years away, at which point I'll be in my mid 80s. Even now, much less then I have no need for any vehicle with a 3 second 0-60 time, certainly not a truck.



Your prerogative, nothing that particularly interests me.
I don't understand why you seem to think that automakers with dealership networks are at risk. Tesla's business model may work fine for something that's basically a rich man's techie toy, but as a plan for a mass-appeal vehicle not so much. Personally I'd rather deal with a dealership, and have the ability to (1) test drive and (2) shop around for the best deal than have to order it from the manufacturer, take it or leave it. Likewise for service (and so far Tesla's rep for quality has been spotty).

I've never been one with a need or desire to be the first on my block to have the latest gadget, whatever it might be. Don't see that changing.

You sound like you may be over 40.

 

[oosik]

No. The necessary infrastructure does not exist in this part of the country yet.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Noticed some car commercial yesterday, talking about "handling".

FOR WHAT?

 

[grsthegreat]

I wonder how they would produce enough hydrogen to power millions of cars..... without depleting something else.

 

[ruffdog]

I wonder how they would produce enough hydrogen to power millions of cars..... without depleting something else.

They get it by splitting it from the water molecule. There is plenty of water and through the fuel cell it goes back to water. The MAJOR problem is H2O is a very strong molecule and it isn't easy to split and is expensive to split.

 

[Oaktree]

You sound like you may be over 40.

So what gave you that impression, my comment that in 15 years I'll be in my mid 80s? :irked:
Not sure what significance my age would have on this though, I was pretty conservative about adopting new technology 40 years ago too.

Come on though. Can anything be uglier than the Avalanche or it's little adopted sister the Ridgeline?

I don't care if it looks like an ugly Avalanche, I don't drive trucks for looks. I drive them for flexibility. Four doors, four wheel drive, a box and a hitch are what I care about.

Trucks are about the only modern vehicles you still can actually see out of (well, some like the Avalanche or Ridgeline not so much). Clearly Musk has never driven a truck, not probably even known anyone who has to come up with something as totally impractical as the Cyber truck. IMHO just another toy for people with way more money than they know what to do with.

Something I think electric trucks will change is the used pickup market. Used electric pickups feel like an expensive gamble compared to a conventional ICE since the battery costs so much. Electric drivetrains last much longer, but are also more expensive. I think with electric pickups it makes more sense to buy new on a long loan and run it for 30-40+ years.

Assuming it lasts that long. How many people keep a truck for 30 years? Even in places where rust/corrosion isn't a problem, if you use it to actually haul things it's gonna be pretty well beat way before then.
Given the price of these things, a long loan is a given.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Oaktree I think many of us here are getting close to 70 if not past that mark. We are not a real factor in the vehicle market or most any market (except for long term care) for many many reasons.

List of countries by life expectancy - Wikipedia

With EV's now carrying 8 year traction battery warranties on average we will be dead before the battery in a new EV needs replacing at the owners expense.

When Nissan (who Japan is trying to get merged in with Honda to survive) replaced my Leaf traction battery it would still run 94 MPH for a while but at 55 MPH it would still last for 60 miles of driving which was about 60% or the new 107 mile range. The Nissan Leaf traction battery (2010-2020) has NO temperature management and heat/cold can kill lithium ion batteries. There are Tesla cars that got like 300,000 miles out of the first battery.

When our replaced 40 kWh battery pack degrades to 60% we will still have the range of a new 2016 Nissan Leaf SL EV or 3 round trips town when I am like 80 perhaps. Pulled Leaf batteries are used in solar storage systems for example.

I picked up the used Leaf to have a better car to carry the wife back and forth to work and have heat and AC without engine use and to reduce my ignorance about EV's which are going to be the main option 5-10 years down the road. While Tesla is about 10 years ahead of other car makers the others will catch up even if they have to source their drive trains and battery packs directly from Tesla as has already happened to some extent.

Going to a dealership to car shop I find to be a royal pain in the backside and is not a game I like to play. Buying online can avoid dealership deceit.

Last week I bought a Ford 706 reversible dirt mover implement and a Brillion Landscape 64 (a small 3PH cultipacker like implement) on line from photos by texts and phone calls and settled on the price to be paid when I picked it up. The round trip mileage was 90 and 240 miles. Most all of recent vehicle purchases started with online search engines in our case.

At age 70 we just are not going to be of high interest say like a 25 year old that will be having a new baby every 2 years for 10 years in a row that was a home run hit for the pasting auto dealership model started 100 years ago because Henry Ford needed to raise cash right after building cars. Anyone who carries much inventory in the car business are going to be toast. Look at the billions lost on inventory since the Pandemic started several months ago. Elon Musk has proven to the world it is best to only build a vehicle after it has been ordered.