I just read a great article in Wired

https://www.wired.com/story/most-rad...15-min-refresh

regarding the new electric Ford pickup and find it extremely interesting. This thing does 0-60 in 4.4 seconds and has the astounding startup torque common to electric motors, massive maximum compared to the rpms required of internal combustion engines.

The onboard battery system can power a common American household for 3 days. All this and the selling price is on a par with gasoline and diesel trucks. There are downsides though since Big Oil is so firmly entrenched in the fabric of our society that gasoline taxes are an important part of covering road maintenance expenses.

It's going to be fascinating to watch this play out whether we love it or hate it.

All comments welcome

Making it so cheap is a game changer. There's two problems basically with electric vehicles: the up-front price and the lack of charging infrastructure. This solves the first problem; what about the second?

We already know what happens to Car batteries in the Winter Climates.... The Hair Sniffing Perv wants to build Charging stations across the U.S. for Electric Vehicles... LMAO that will NOT be happening anytime soon!

40 grand base model ain't cheap!

I saw another story and they said it was in the 50's, likely because (a) there's an extended battery option which gets you to 300 miles, and (b) I'm sure you probably can't buy the extended battery without a certain trim package.

I love the concept of EVs. I do wonder what happens with all the battery waste over time, and battery capacity over time. Most of my cars while I may buy new, I keep them for 12-15 years if they last. I'd hate to have issues repeatedly updating batteries, and also dealing with the waste.

In the Ford story I did see that there are super fast chargers which could charge to full capacity in 40-45 minutes. That's a consideration if you plan to drive far away, as in across country, 3000 miles here.

Meanwhile years ago about electrical vehicles the discussion was how much energy is used to create the same miles. Gas won by a lot, and at the time, 20 years ago, the production of electricity wasn't necessarily any cleaner.

Dwindling revenue from US Federal gas taxes is not a new thing. The rate has remained the same since 1993 and with more efficient cars, electric/hybrid vehicles and increasing costs its been a problem for awhile. You would think an infrastructure bill would of passed a long time ago...

I believe that Ford will have supercharging stations similar to Tesla where you can charge from 15 to 80% in about 45 minutes. According to MotorTrend there are two different home charging systems and depends on which battery you purchase and if you want bidirectional power i.e if you want the truck to power your house.

The "starting" price is good but I would guess just like the Tesla models most will opt for the more range and get the extended battery which adds to the price as well as autopilot options (or whatever Ford calls it). I have not seen any prices for the different charging stations either.

My father has a Tesla model S and I have driven it on extended trips in the US several times. The navigation system will automatically determine when you need to charge and where they are located in the city. Tesla Charging stations can be anywhere i.e behind restaurants, hotels or in shopping mall parking lots so its always "fun" to find it if you have never been there previously. Non Tesla public charging stations can be anywhere but are not super chargers so their charge rate is typically what you get at home i.e. 30-40 miles per hour. While they are good for topping up while you eat or shopping its not something usable on an extended trip. There are several phone apps you can use to find public stations so using them around town should not be a problem.

I really like the car but it does make you think more during a road trip of how much battery power you have left all the time. You have to think about that spontaneous excursion off the planned route and how many miles you might use.

40,000 isn't cheap but what is the average cost of a new pickup these days...

One area of interest for me in this field is whether or not support industries will pop up addressing the lack of infrastructure for long trips. Currently one can get a 4 foot by 2 foot solar panel for around $250 that will produce 200+ watts in moderate insolation or for the same money a propane/gasoline (dual fuel) generator that will produce 1500-2000 watts. As the number of EVs grows so will the infrastructure, even so-called ":cottage industries" may play a part, but right now emergency backups are readily available.

IMHO there are so many advantages to electric power it seems a given that it will grow, and now, maybe rapidly.

I think I'll wait on the auto drive.

Once again interesting technology and will very much help once it's more developed.

Brand new Tesla on self drive smashed a tree and burned out right near our house. The area we live has about 20 degree hills. This thing was going uphill to do that. Tight winding country roads, they were I'll advised to let it drive anyways.

My in laws have a big truck like this, to haul their camper. Assume the range is affected by that also.

They need better range and faster charging.

But the delivery trucks use EVs and that's good, they don't go very far in distance, and they have a fleet so if one does have a battery failure, they can easily cover for it. Same thing for bus routes.

For me, since I only go about 15 miles to work, I'd be happy with an EV, I'd just not drive one on a long trip as yet.

I do agree the next 20-30 years in power, transportation, infrastructure will be interesting.

That is what I thought, then I notice my local Giant Eagle grocery store has a charging station for two EVs in the parking lot. If even half the grocery stores and every Walmart gets one there will be enough to cover 80% of the country, and it is already happening!

I would guess there are over a 1000 Tesla supercharger stations across the US now on all the major transportation routes.

Lately it's all the idiots that want to take tiktoc videos with them in the back seat that are causing the bad publicity. Although it might be easier to bypass the autopilot restrictions with Tesla then other car manufacturers. It makes driving in rush hour traffic much easier because the car will automatically stop and start.

It was only the petrol giants that were against electric propulsion, for obvious reasons, but now they are building re-charging stations, so they will come to our streets eventually.

The trouble is cost, & not just initial expense, but those batteries will only take so many charges before they have to be renewed, at great expense - & the claimed mileages are only available in laboratory conditions - in real conditions, they will be about 25% of the claims.

The technology is improving, but still not good enough for most people.

The new aluminum based cells hold more charge, charge faster, and last longer (in theory, they are new technology), and have less chance of catastrophic failure (fire or explosion) as compared to rare earth cells now in use. And they should be cheaper and more "green" friendly. I expect to see those replacing the current crop of cells in automobiles with the resulting expansion of range and lifespan starting in 2024 or 2025.

It'll be interesting to see how all this plays out in Australia. They currently lead the World in aluminum production and have the second largest reserve of lithium.

That's exactly the kind of thing I was referring to - the swing of Supply and Demand. As demand goes up so will supply in that people see new and expanding markets become available and profitable. We live in a world today where electricity has become far more important than ever before. All one has to do is suffer a power outage for more than a day to get a clue.

An example of this in reverse, but also directly related to the increasing dominance of electricity, is that for example one of the largest manufacturers of gas-fired refrigerators, Servel, went out of business in the late 1950s IIRC. Incidentally I bought and depended on a used one for several years in the 70s. New, the sold for a few hundred dollars. The only ones I know of available today, at least in the US, are made by a small Amish company and sell for thousands of dollars.

Battery technology and electricity production are huge areas ripe for upgrades. I strongly suspect that nations who are early in the transition to EVs will find themselves thriving in ways not even evident yet, but many that are already known, beyond the very important one of reduced oil dependency.

Ford is adapting it's EVs to accept the Tesla charging system:

https://twitter.com/Ford/status/1661848710769266688

To work and back, daily, my wife exceeds 100miles, and her monthly petrol bill was $300, before the fuel skyrocketed, and so we made the leap into an all electric kia niro, which, in winter has range of 240 miles, and in summer 280--the cold has affected it, but nothing destructive, as far as I can tell.

It does change driving: we have to learn all the local charging points, and they're not all equal. Level-1 chargers run on standard (in usa) 110/120v ac outlets, but it takes 72 hours to totall charge her car on one of those. The level-2 charger I installed at home took up a 50A 240V dedicated circuit, but chargers her car in 24 hours--and she's usually not all the way depleted, such that an overnight charge gets it ready for another 100 mile round trip. The level-3 chargers are usuall higher voltage DC chargers, and the ones at Walmart take her from empty to 80% in 30-minutes. I recommend AAA or roadside service when starting out. Just two days ago, I drove nearly the full range, to PDX, and dropped her off for a flight, and found level-2 chargers available in short-term parking garage. I took a tram around the city while it charged; it was a depressing tour, as the streets seemed even more filled with hopeless and mentally ill addicts overtly sporting their addictions, yelling profanities and insanities, and I won't go into it... About the EV: also had dog at vet for spay, and had to pick her up by 5, only allowing the car 4-hours on the charger--it wasn't enough. Made it to the vet, but didn't have enough miles to make it all the way home. Rather than spending the time waiting 7 hours to get enough on a nearby level-2, I opted to use up one of my up-to-100 mile tows from AAA for the year. They're always like, oh (explicative), you live way out there!

So it is still a challenge--especially in rural areas, as though there may be charging stations, they're are not very many level-3 chargers, and so you may find yourself spending a few hours here and there staying charged.

Also, most of the chargers require smart phones to operate. There are many networks of different charging-providers, and most of them require smartphones to access ones account--the network for the closest charger to where she works, charges $50 / month unlimitted charging on any of their chargers; with a few accounts like that on the most common providers you can get around; but a phone is essential to it.