Gregory's ServerAmericans: please give us an affordable, practical, small EV with decent range
American car companies: here’s a $70,000 EV truck that weighs 6 tons lol
<zero EV trucks are sold>
American car companies: wow americans aren’t ready for EVs
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106 comments
@christa a cargo e-bike could fit the bill! Also, I occasionally daydream of bidding on one of these keitora and importing from japan. they're so cute! (and probably have more usable bed space than a Ford F-150 Supercrew)  Exactly. A small E-truck is the perfect use case for an EV. It doesn't need huge range, because it doesn't need to go very far. @knowattitude @mastodonmigration @christa @sohan This one looks interesting, too. :) Provided they manage to actually bring it to market. @knowattitude @mastodonmigration @christa @sohan I've started following this channel on YouTube that talks about these. Hopefully, they'll be on more solid ground than Kanoo. @Badger_AF @knowattitude @mastodonmigration @christa @sohan Cool vid. Interesting. I’ve been a huge fan of my 08 rav4, but it gave up the ghost last week. I was excited to get into a new rav4 hybrid. In general I’m happy enough, but it feels _massive_ in comparison to my 08. It feels like a proper truck, where my old vehicle felt more like a utility car. Just looking at the front end of it, and it’s a massive wall of metal. I could see the corners in my old car. Not this one, at all. @Badger_AF @knowattitude @mastodonmigration @christa @sohan It’s all anecdotal though. I guess it has very similar dimensions, so the content in the video doesn’t apply. But the cut and feel is just so much different. Truck truck truck! Ew. @knowattitude @mastodonmigration @christa @sohan I’d prefer they ditch the back seats and expand that truck bed as it’s too small to be useful for much. @colinaut @knowattitude @christa @sohan Agreed. And lower the price tag. Much. Say $25,000. Small cab, good sized bed. About 4x8 so you could lay plywood flat, (or 4x6, but you could put the tailgate down). Powerful enough engine to tow a trailer, but not too much. Range could be < 150 miles. Maybe extra battery modules you could put in the bed.  @colinaut @knowattitude @mastodonmigration @christa @sohan I think the point is that it's modular, it's either a van or you remove the back one or two rows, open to the air, and it's a two seater truck. I think anyway!  @knowattitude @mastodonmigration @christa @sohan love the idea but base price of $49,999...not exactly small *and* affordable that and a serious lack of front crumple zones that aren't your knees is seemingly problematic to getting road cert no? @mastodonmigration @christa @sohan also an electric motor is good for torque it it'll haul good @jimvernon @christa @sohan I'm not buying it. Our trailer is quite small and you can actually store it upright so it needs less space than a couch table.  There's a lot of trucks in rural Canadian parking lots that have been jacked up an extra 30 cm, to make sure those kids' heads are right in the middle of the grille. Maybe a very few are needed for specific jobs, but the rest are for "fun"; destroying the countryside on off-road trails. @sohan Living in rural Washington state, we need an EV truck that can haul a trailer and come in somewhere around $50K. We do not need whatever Tesla is trying to jam in our charging station. @sohan The Leaf has been out for almost 15 years now, basically what you're describing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Leaf  We looked at the Leaf. The steering felt super loose, it can only do one high-speed charge a day due to temperature concerns, and it used a charging plug that was rare in the US and becoming rarer. It’s a shame, because I would’ve enjoyed having it. (I realize the “one high speed charge a day” thing is almost certainly enough, but the unusual plug was a legit problem.)  uh... we just got a brand new Chrysler Pacifica hybrid. We love it. All-electric isn't for us, but hybrid is. Hybrid EV will be where things are going for a decade I guess, until the charging infrastructure is in place.  @tuban_muzuru I've heard there's a DIY / hacker kinda scene around the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid?? or maybe it was an EV model? @sohan This is our second Pacifica. The first one had issues with some predicate logic: if you turned it off somewhere the connectivity was dodgy, the entertainment/map system wouldn't reset - and we had to pull and reset the appropriate fuse to get it working again. Chrysler's side worked great. Whoever engineered that entertainment interface should be beaten with a big stick. The current Pacifica is a joy. @tuban_muzuru good to know! I'm highly interested in vehicles that contain a large battery and are big enough to chill out and work remotely in. wish I could remember the details but hearing there's an online DIY community around a vehicle like the Pacifica makes it interesting. We work remotely quite a bit - I go here and there, flying my drone and taking pictures - taking meetings, checking email. Bigbig luggage capacity. The Pacifica has 12 USB ports and 120 volts at about 150 watts. We use our phone hotspots, though you can get it through the vehicle... But for coding, I'd get a hotel room.  @sohan Not entirely accurate. Chevy spent a lot of time, money, and research on electric vehicles, starting in rhe early 00s. The Chevy Volt was the result. An amazing piece of engineering and a step forward in electric drive trains. After the Volt, the Chevy Bolt ticked all the boxes of a small, affordable, long-range electric car. After massive investments, both cars had flat sales. The next logical step was a pivot to electric trucks and suvs. Chevy literally bet the co. on electrics. @atomicbird @mike @sohan the issue isn’t demand, it’s profit margin. Auto makers currently make more money selling ICE SUV and Trucks. @sohan "Sorry, the Chevy Bolt actually outsold the Tesla Model 3 but... It's an outdated (read: not truck) design that Americans just don't like, so we're discontinuing the model." @sohan replace American with German and it is true as well. They only sell EV with all features no barebone car. Do you need a electric window lift or electrically hight adjustment for a seat? Cars could be more affordable and reliable without all that electric failure prone stuff. And better for environment as well...  @sohan and they are not selling seems to contradict your thesis ?  @sohan I am so goddamn sick of the car companies trying to force suburban goddamn tanks on us ! Give me a new iQ that's all electric and I'm golden ! @sohan I don't understand why they started to electrify cars later on.  @sohan For real! If Honda started selling an electric version of the Fit/Jazz in the US I’d have a reservation put in immediately if not sooner. I want something that can fit in my garage with plenty of room to spare and that list is depressingly short and composed mostly of discontinued models.  @johnwells @sohan right now I'd settle for a gas Fit. It's really cool that they killed that line.   Yes but also can we maybe put pressure on Democrats to repeal the Obama Administration's mpg rules that rewarded American carmakers for only selling larger and larger vehicles, mostly "trucks" (the definition was greatly loosened) for the last decade and a half?  Basically I want a low cost simple (computer screen free) EV with no automatic computer controlled features. A simple cheap car with NO software to constantly update. My only option right now is to build my own out of an old car. 🤖 @sohan yes this! Leased a Fiat 500e for a few years. Total cost of ownership was less than the gas alone I was putting in my previous vehicle. @sohan Don't worry. The Chinese will fill that need before long and US automakers will miss the boat again. The Arizona desert will be filled with unsold 6 ton SUVs. There are at least some now or soon: https://www.ayro.com/ @sohan It works more or less the same for the rest of the world. I think in Europe there is only one EV under €25k (Chinese BTW) @sohan if only there was a billionaire EV evangelist with manufacturing capacity who could focus on business and stay away from social media. If only. @sohan I dream with a vehicle like this: https://aptera.us/ super efficient, or that's what they promise. I live pretty far from shops and I need to use a vehicle to get down to the town to get food, a vehicle like that would fit perfectly my needs. @H0W25 same 😍 I put down a reservation for one, mostly out of hope that it sees the light of day @sohan While we're declaring our vehicular desires, I would be interested in an EV which was not "smart". Battery, motor, and just the ('90s-era) typical doo-dads, if you please. @gilesforyou @sohan Yes, this is exactly what I want out of a car. As few electronics as possible. The simplicity of the electric drive system (we had electric cars before gasoline cars!) provides an opportunity to build cars that are incredibly simple to repair and maintain, and will last basically forever. @krans @gilesforyou @sohan @sohan We sell so many of these behemoths because 1) Americans are brainwashed into thinking bigger = safer, 2) gas is pretty damn cheap in America vs. other countries (due to our low taxes) so there's little incentive to drive smarter, 3) Americans also are brainwashed into thinking it's their god-given right to drive ginormous beasts, 4) margins are incredibly much higher for trucks and SUVs. Car manufacturers are creating and feeding the market of dumb Americans. @sohan @lisamelton Meanwhile Mini, Fiat, Renault, Dacia et al. are selling like crazy here in the EU 🤔  EVs are most definitely not ready for people. The reality of EVs is just stupid. Right now. To me. Magically, I can still be for them and hope to see something in my squirt of life left other than 6000 separate batteries to consider.  @sohan European car companies also went for bigger and bigger cars, ignoring the smaller roads, narrower city streets and smaller parking garages here. It's ridiculous, seeing cars that take up one and a half parking spaces. 🤦♀️ All I want is a normal size EV with with a long range.   The Bolt is exemplary of this problem. "They want large cars." "They're buying our small car." "Cancel the small car." Market imaginary giant EVPU. @Doug_Bostrom @sohan Fingers crossed! GM did reverse the Bolt decision due to backlash, it's true. There will be a gap in Bolts and the next one is slated to be larger but progress in fits in and starts. :-) @Doug_Bostrom @sohan @sohan American car companies: okay we heard your demands, and made the frunk 20% taller. You can now fit an entire Nissan Cube in there. You can't see the road out of the windscreen at all, so driving it feels like you're 𝑓𝑙𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔. Sticker price now starts at $76,000.  @sohan Unfortunately in Southern California I am seeing more than a few 6-ton electric trucks (Rivians). The worst of all possible worlds  @sohan My work truck is a Tacoma long bed (smallest I could buy in 2016). At the hardware store yesterday I lusted after the little tiny imported old Suzuki wrong size drive that parked next to me. No amenities. A bigger more useful bed than my truck. 4WD.. perfect for runs to hardware stores and projects. I'd sell my Tacoma for a new electric one that size an a 100 mile range. Considered building one. Pic is similar, not same truck. Perfect! An EV that size would be just right. Edit: Even looks like the bed might tip. @mastodonmigration @sohan Some tip, some don't. Lots of variation. Trucks designed to get work done, not represent emotional issues. ;)  @sohan wait - didn’t the F150 lightning sell out completely like halfway through last year? A friend of mine was trying to buy one and he said there was like a 6-mo backlog. But yeah - those rivian trucks are godawful looking and also probably just as dangerous as a Tesla. The cyber truck is, well, lol. @sohan $70,000, lol. I saw a bunch of F150 Lightnings just sitting on a Ford lot with window stickers that said $95,000. @vespasianvs In the 90s, Ford and other companies found out they could market more profitable SUVs as family vehicles while classifying them as light trucks, which were curiously exempt from the emissions regulations of the time. Decades of marketing followed, convincing generations of American consumers that they were safer and more practical than cars or vans. Ford no longer sells any cars in the US market.  @sohan LITERALLY THO. In Germany, Volkswagen only sends SUVs to dealerships, and since people tend to buy what's on site instead of waiting for ages for a delivery from the factory, they buy SUVs, and then Volkswagen says "see, people want SUVs!" They also stopped producing the eUp! when it got too popular.  @sohan you ask, they deliver: The US Desperately Needs EVs Under $50,000. They’re On the Way https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-25/the-us-desperately-needs-evs-under-50-000-they-re-on-the-way @sohan I can't imagine why BYD has overtaken Tesla worldwide 🤔 Maybe they'll come to the USA soon, or a similar Chinese brand will. Imagine something like the seagull. |
@sohan give me tiny electric truck plz. via car share! I just want to haul some dirt or wood and not burn 50 gallons of gas and risk running over a child because I don’t see them