this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
114 points (98.3% liked)

Electric Vehicles

3046 readers
207 users here now

A community for the sharing of links, news, and discussion related to Electric Vehicles.

Rules

  1. No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia.
  2. Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
  3. No self-promotion
  4. No irrelevant content. All posts must be relevant and related to plug-in electric vehicles — BEVs or PHEVs.
  5. No trolling
  6. Policy, not politics. Submissions and comments about effective policymaking are allowed and encouraged in the community, however conversations and submissions about parties, politicians, and those devolving into general tribalism will be removed.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 112 points 7 months ago

They marketed the Lightning at $40-something-k, everyone wanted one. Then they only made them cost twice that, and "suddenly nobody wants one"

Same energy as "nobody wants to work anymore", really

[–] [email protected] 46 points 7 months ago (1 children)

No demand?? I want it. I just can't afford it. Do something about THAT.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

An 800v LiFePo truck would actually be able to tow reasonably as chargers improve. You'd have to stop every 120mi and change for 10-15 mins but I could live with 15 min stops every two hours.

Plus they don't have thermal runaway and burn your fucking house down while charging.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I don't understand why EV use Li-ion or Li-po in the first place. LiFePo is clearly a superior choice for something like an EV.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

One of the biggest challenges with mass EV battery production is making sure performance stays somewhat flat across the entire market you're selling them in. Typically, LiFePo batteries perform better at higher temperatures than other chemistries, at the expense of low-temperature performance.

This works well, as long as

  1. These batteries are only in vehicles sold in warmer climates
  2. Customers never drive these vehicles into cold climates.

#1 is much easier to enforce as a manufacturer, but customers will be pissed if they move north, and their vehicle has worse range and power.

Li-ion has a flatter temp/performance curve, so it's more suited to geographically larger markets like the US, where regulations require a single range number for the entire country, despite the significant climate variance

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Gas at Costco is 2.75. When it jumps back up to $4, they’ll start selling more again.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 7 months ago (5 children)

I think Ford’s bigger problem is that the R1T is a cooler truck that costs about the same.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

After driving both I went with the lightning.

The R1T is cool. It’s a single person camping truck all the way. A little smaller, more capable of getting in and out of tight places that are predominately Jeep accessible. But the center rear seat is very uncomfortable, the payload capacity is lower both size and weight wise, and for me being forced in to one pedal driving was not ideal.

The lightning is wider, and heavier. But also more comfortable for everyone inside, can tow better, and I have loved having the power options, no need for a generator.

The audiences are similar but a bit different. I do think that Ford is nuts for saying there’s no demand. Make the ER pro for 50k and you could sell them all day. But you can’t even order that option, much less get it for that price. Maybe it costs more than to produce, but I’m willing to bet not. They would just need to be able to sell them direct to public to make it worth it and most states don’t allow for it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

and for me being forced in to one pedal driving was not ideal.

I don't know anyone with an EV who hasn't eventually moved to one pedal driving. It's one of those things that you think feels weird at first but once you try it for a few days you never want to go back.

Make the ER pro for 50k and you could sell them all day. But you can’t even order that option, much less get it for that price.

This is the obvious issue. They marked the base model up by $12k before it ever came out and then didn't make any. I would have one right now if I could get one for $40k like they said originally and I don't even like trucks!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wait you mean no brake pedal? Does letting off the gas effectively brake?

I know they have regen braking but so does my hybrid and it behaves nothing like that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

There's a brake pedal, but it's almost never needed (and if it is, it's always been because of me being stupid). Releasing the accelerator engages the regenerative breaking, up to and including coming to a stop. I love it and don't ever want to go back.

Having said that, I have had zero problem adapting back to normal breaking in my wife's car (ICE) when I need to drive it for some reason.

I really don't understand people that complain about the 1-pedal driving.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

My friend bought one for 80k and loves it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Yeah wtf, I thought demand was nuts, just that no one could get ahold of one.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

There was demand, and then you see a sticker that says $15,000 dealership markup and you walked away.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Initially, yeah. But it looks like things cooled after the initial wave of people who were eager for an EV pickup.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

As someone that drives a truck for work, I’d love to have one but I don’t have the money for a new one right now.