OT. Ford Lightning. Battery F150

[Dean Hoffman]

[Ed Pawlowski]

This is more sensible than many cars. The article mentions that charging is a problem. For cars, I use mine for some long distance trip so yes, it is a problem when you want to do 1200 miles in a day and a half.

Many trucks though, are used for work in a smaller range and are back at the shop or home at night so you can just plug it in.

Funny to see the hood open and a bunch of stuff stored in there.

[Joey]

Still no point over the conventional version.

[Tekkie©]

On Thu, 20 May 2021 14:57:09 -0400, Ed Pawlowski posted for all of us to digest...

Is that where the generator is to recharge the truck?

Hey, you can power your house from it! Tesla didn't like the guy that tried that, so Ford is a winner.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Electrics have a way to go but look back at history. People did not think the automobile would ever replace the horse. Look how pollution controls evolved.

Battery technology is improving and in a few years my be away from lithium.

[gfretwell]

You still have to be near a big charger. That 80 amp charger takes all night to charge the truck. The 80 amp charger may prompt a service upgrade at your house. The 150KW charger is some serious power. It would be over 180 amps at

480v 3p delta. (minimum circuit ampacity is 225a assuming the 150kw is input power and a PF of 1, not delivered power).

It does make me wonder what happens to the grid if these things really take off. Night time will certainly not be "off peak" with 200,000,000 EVs plugged in sucking down 10-20 KVA each.

[Ed Pawlowski]

None of those things are insurmountable. Home chargers are $1000 to $2000. Not all that much to add to the loan for a $50k truck. It does not take all night to charge a truck if you do it on a regular basis. How many miles will the average person drive a day? A couple of hours and you are topped up.

The only reason the automobile was successful was the fact that there were already 50,000 gas stations right? It took 100 years to get to that point and the infrastructure has to change. Airports did not exist in 1903 but they invented the airplane anyway.

[Dean Hoffman]

Interruptible power, maybe by hour or day would help a little. The tree huggers can't wait for more coal power plants to be built.

[Joey]

Most of the downsides over an ICE will never go.

Only the fools didn?t once the automobile got reliable enough.

No need for staging posts with the automobile, no need for the long winded stuff you have to do every day you use a horse to go anywhere, no farting around chasing around the damned paddock before you can use it etc etc etc.

In practice that is a complete yawn for most with ICEs

But is nothing even remotely like as long lived as an ICE engine and will always cost more.

That is the time to consider if it makes any sense instead of an ICE.

And the other problem with EVs is the f***ed range with decent climate control for the occupants and the damned nuisance of having to plug the damned thing in every time you use it.

Even the lower fuel cost per mile doesn?t pay for itself.

[Joey]

Planes and automobiles had massive advantages over what they replaced.

EV don?t have even a single advantage over an ICE. The lower fuel cost per mile doesn?t even pay for itself even if you get the fuel for free from your solar panels.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Of course they do, you are not thinking of the future. Now you do mention free electricity from solar panels, that is a start. What will be the situation with gas/oil in the next 10, 20, 50 years? It will be more expensive and harder and harder to find.

There is a finite amount of oil. When should we come up with alternatives? Every car or truck that is fueled by other than oil leaves a bit more to make the transition easier.

There are 1.65 trillion barrels of proven oil reserves in the world as of 2016. The world has proven reserves equivalent to 46.6 times its annual consumption levels. This means it has about 47 years of oil left (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves).

[rbowman]

Don't forget to plug your forklift in when you leave...

I'm not sure it was a Walker but I've seen a early 1900's electric delivery truck in a museum, possibly the one in Reno.

[rbowman]

Black lives don't matter for shit in the DRC as long as the libs can have their Teslas.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Cool. Never saw that. Looks decent size.

When I lived in CT a guy in town had a Baker Electric from about 1906. He took it out once a year for the 4th of July parade.

[Joey]

The future is irrelevant when considering whether to buy an ICE or an EV which will be worthless in less than 8 years when it needs a new very expensive battery.

Not currently it isnt because of the stupidly higher price of the EV version and the cost of the solar panels.

That is the time you consider which to buy next, not today.

We already have the alternative natural gas.

Mindless stuff.

And when that is gone we can make more using the power from nukes.

[krw]

I'm not a fan of electrics but I really can't see it in a truck. The batteries subtract from the payload and towing capability.

[Joey]

They were common for delivering milk first thing in the morning in britain back then

[danny burstein]

[snip]

otoh, better torque and horsepower matching with an electric motor vs. fossil fuel engines.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Hey, they are good careers! Life long jobs except they don't live very long.

From what I read, lithium is on the way out in the next few years.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Natural gas is finite too. There are 6,923 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas reserves in the world as of 2017. The world has proven reserves equivalent to 52.3 times its annual consumption. This means it has about 52 years of gas left (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves).

So we have about 40 years to make the transition. It is evolutionary, not revolutionary. NOW is the time to start sorting out the issues for a future. Sorry you are so shortsighted.