Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/17/compact-electric-pickup-trucks-on-the-way.html
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I wish the company success, but they’re certainly nowhere near production. As far as I’ve been able to find in the news they’ve received less than $10 million in investment funding so far, which is basically nothing. It’s really, really hard to go from a prototype to an actual mass-production vehicle.
If you want a compact, affordable electric truck in the near future maybe consider something like what these guys did: buy a dirt-cheap used Nissan Leaf and hack it up with a Sawzall.
https://www.autoweek.com/news/a1906096/meet-sparky-nissan-leaf-ev-pickup-truck/
(Also, $50k is the aspirational base price? If and when these things ever get to market the actual price is inevitably much higher. That’s a lot of cash. Same price as the F150 lighting was when it first hit the market.)
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Me too, but ideally it’s also a convertible.
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See the comment above yours, re: sawzall 
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It’s an option. But I’d prefer it was convertible multiple times 
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I recall my grandfather made tow-trucks for his junkyard that way. He’d whack the backends off of cars–whatever had a still-running big-enough engine–and stick a towing rig on.
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350m range
Oh boy, that’s almost to the end of the block and back.
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Given the track record of new EV announcements, What will become of it is it will do 0-60 in 8 seconds, 300hp, 175 mile range with a base price of $70k, if it becomes at all.
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I’m 100% on board for this if it comes out, but new company with nothing in production yet? I’m gonna want to see how that first model year shakes out before I even start thinking about it. And it’s interesting to see them stake out a $50k price tag when Canoo’s actually producing vehicles and hasn’t announced their truck price yet. I think there’s room for them to get undercut before they’ve even gone to market, which would be bad news.
But in principle, add V2L in there and I’m all over it.
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The Ford Maverick isn’t fully EV yet, but the base price is incredible ($24K) and actually, you know… exists. I have been lusting after one since they were announced. There’s a lot of speculation that the EV is coming in the next year or two, but honestly the PHEV is more applicable to our life right now.
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Needs truck nuts.
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I bought a Maverick hybrid a couple weeks ago, and I am absolutely in love with it. I went from a Nissan Frontier making 18MPG to averaging about 46. My gas savings are literally half of my truck payment, it’s costing me maybe $160 a month, net of gas savings, to upgrade from the 100k-mile Frontier.
But there’s hardly any hybrids out there right now. One showed up on a dealer lot ~40 miles from me, I was out there the same day to test drive and buy.
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Damn! One of my biggest hesitations is taking on another car payment. We’re pretty credit averse and fully paid off our 2010 Forester (ca. 21 mpg) before taking on a new payment. That’s a very compelling argument you make, though. Either way, it won’t be for another year or two before i likely make a move, so I’m assuming inventory will ease up by then.
What I was worried about; Ford has already bumped up the base prices and it would not be surprising to see them do it again, since it’s the cheapest truck on the market by a pretty good margin and they’re still selling like crazy. The Frontier had quite a bit of trade in value even though it was 6+ years old and pushing 100k miles. Probably more than your Forester but might be worth running the VIN through KBB.
And the trigger to do it now was that I knew the Frontier needed brakes and was likely going to need suspension work before the winter - I couldn’t see putting another couple grand into it, not when I started doing the math about how much I’d be saving on gas.
I did end up in the base XL trim, which comes with ugly steelies for wheels. I found some simple black wheels on clearance on TireRack and had those installed. Had the dealership spray in a bedliner and install a bed extender - the bed is only 4 1/2 feet. But even with all of that, I think my all-in was maybe a smidge over $29k, before the trade-in? And now I’ve got exactly the truck I’ve been wanting?
And doing a pretty good mix of driving, with plenty of hills, I’ve been getting a legit 45 MPG+ since I bought it. Without really babying it, either. I was expecting the actual MPG to be quite a bit lower than on the winder sticker (I was expecting to be closer to 30) but it’s been awesome on that front without feeling slow. Had to borrow a Tacoma for a few days while they did the bedliner and that felt SO MUCH more sluggish.
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I love-love-love my Maverick. I ordered as soon as I found out about them in Sept 2021 and received it Jan 2022.
Mine is AWD/ICE, but I needed the 4K towing and off road which was only available in that configuration.
Still, it gets 32+ mpg hwy and minimum 25 mpg around town. I’m averaging 28 mpg per tank with mixed driving. A huge improvement from the Silverado 2500HD I had previously that got 8 mpg.
The only thing my Maverick can’t do compared to the Silverado is haul horses.
I tend to keep my vehicles for 10+ years, so hopefully a PHEV version will be available by then, and I may opt for it instead.
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Yeah, I was in the market for a new vehicle a while back and was really interested in a hybrid Maverick, but there were none to be had at anywhere near the MSRP. The company wasn’t accepting new orders and anything on the lots had insanely high “dealer price adjustments” that added around $8k or so to the MSRP.
The dealers I was talking to also kept trying to talk me into a larger vehicle because “at that price you might as well get yourself a real truck,” which was just annoying as hell. The entire appeal to me was that it was relatively small and fuel efficient.
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I was seeing big markups a year or two ago but not at present, at least out by me (western MA). There just aren’t many for sale. There were a few on a couple dealer lots around me but by the time I called, they were already sold.
A few other dealers are showing Mavericks on their websites but they are “in transit” and probably have been for six months.
The one I got, the story is that someone ordered it a year ago but is now in the middle of a divorce and did not want to take delivery. One of the salesguys told me they they are not expecting any more 2024s to come in except for those kinds of situations.
As to a “real” truck - LOL. One of the kids I work with here has some huge, blacked-out Chevy Silverado. Trail Edition of some type. I was trying to figure out if it was twice as expensive as my Maverick, or closer to 3x more expensive. And this kid just started with us as a junior advisor. He might end up making some money in the future but not really today. It’s just like… “the hell are you doing, kid?”
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For those serious about wanting a Maverick, I highly recommend ordering one instead of trying to find one at a dealership.
Be very particular about which dealership you order from. Some honor MSRP on an order, some don’t. How quickly they get a vehicle is based on their prior sales and resulting “allotments” from Ford. You could be first in line for ordering, but if the dealership you ordered with doesn’t have any allotments available you’ll be passed over. They know what their allotment is and how many they have left. That’s a question to be asked at the time of your order.
I found MaverickTruckClub forums to be a huge help with my order. There are some reputable dealers regularly posting with the latest news, production schedules and current constraints (items in short supply that would prevent a vehicle from being built).
I opted out of a lot of things (like a bed liner), so my build wasn’t constrained at the time.
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"I wish the company success, but they’re certainly nowhere near production. " Agreed! Not having an actual picture of a vehicle is telling.
