A limited production of 250 units began by mid 2013 and pricing started at €111,000 (~ GB£119,000).
yeeeeaaaah
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Don’t be so sure - VW’s good at that, know what I mean, wink wink, nudge nudge.
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I dunno—proper stress relief can do miracles!
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Not only that, the fact that it can essentially power a remote job site is going to have farmers and ranchers and contractors and DIYers excited. Even if it is just to charge the batteries of portable drills and saws. The towing is where the suburban buyer is more likely to balk though–one of the big uses of suburban trucks is to tow an RV or boat or snowmobile or horse trailer a few hundred miles to go recreating. They will look at the estimated range while towing their camper, cut it in half for safety so they can go and come back on a single charge, draw a circle around home and all the sudden their favorite lake is too far to reach. So it will take some more innovation to reach this crowd.
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I think we’re going to see a lot of hybrid Ford Maverick pickups, too: 40 mpg city, somewhere north of $20k.
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Why wouldn’t this have removable batteries? It’s a truck, not a car. Why don’t the back half of the truck, the batteries, and the business model all work together like every other battery powered tool that your target market already owns?
Put a 2WD base model with a 50 mile starter catrid— err, battery, on the streets for $29,999.00. Then press play on the supply chain and marketing system they’ve been working on alongside the truck itself so that dealerships receive enough batteries at the right wattage and price points to sell with these. And of course there would also be compatible delivery vans right around the corner, so to speak.
A friend’s dad in high school had one, five speed, maroon. Nothing you’d wanna take 13 Corners with, but still just an awesome little wagon.
I had the pleasure of standing back with some landscape guys while mine did a trailer backing job that impressed all of us. It was like a cute little indie movie scene.
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Over here in Europe they don’t even sell EVs with spare wheels they are so frightened of weight.
I’m sure this Ford will tow whatever you want just fine. Just not nearly as far.
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Funny ha ha was that I paid $500 US for it and insurance paid me $3500 replacement in 1990, it was a very reliable vehicle no frills but excellent mileage. With the seats down I could get a bale of alfalfa in it.
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Um, the Tesla truck is also comically useless as a work truck, clearly designed by people who have never done a day of real work in their lives. Some really basic fundamental things, like not being able to reach over the side of the bed, mean it’s a toy for rich techbros and nothing more.
I’m very excited about the Lightning and the upcoming electric Silverado. Their usefulness for towing is still very much in question, though. The range will necessarily go down a lot when hauling a horse trailer, etc, and towing is usually done over long distances. Spending hours to charge up along the way isn’t practical, so this may be a deal breaker for ranchers and farmers. We’ll see though. For contractors and other use-cases of mostly in-town hauling, I’m very interested.
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Thus the new acronym will be Found On Roadside Drained
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What about at a site with power for that trailer being towed?
Chances of being able to recharge the truck at a trailer power hookup?
At the same time the trailer is being powered?
Maybe at a reduced rate if the trailer is being powered at the same time. This could be done by plugging the trailer into the truck and the truck into the power hookup to manage the load between the trailer and recharging.
Doesn’t solve the off grid scenario, but lots of people trailer to a campsite with power.
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Yep, I think that is also true. I believe there’s a considerable pent-up market for a small, relatively cheap, fuel-efficient truck with a reasonable load height. This thing will sell by the bushel.
I predict two HUGE winners for Ford.
(No, I don’t work for the blue oval folks.)
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Yet… yet…
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I don’t know where you live but up here in Alberta I couldn’t reach into the bed of half of the trucks on the road and I’m above average height.
The rich tech bro thing is a bit of a strawman though - the price of the thing is not high compared to comparable models from any manufacturer with any drive train.
The range when towing is certainly a real issue but comparing to ICE figures can provide guidance. If your mileage when towing is 50% with an ICE then you can probably expect the same to be true with these trucks. That puts your range at 115-150 miles for the Lightning and 125-250 miles for the Cybertruck. Not great if you are travelling with livestock across the country or hauling a camper a long way but would be just fine for a fleet vehicle or daily driver.
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98% of my driving and 100% of the driving where I would need a truck happen within 30 miles of my home. I would happily buy an electric truck to go with our Niro EV, which is excellent.
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Bad plan. The aerodynamics suck (literally and figuratively) and the electric motor low-speed torque advantage disappears at higher speeds. Teslas, for instance, are great for 0-100kph, but not nearly so impressive for 400 meters.
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You say that, but…
Sadly, Sabine Schmitz isn’t around anymore to do it herself, she died in March.
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What da? How did I miss that?
ETA: fuck cancer
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I think it’s going to appeal to a lot more truck types than that Tesla Tholian.
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