Comment by ceejayoz
Comment by ceejayoz 2 days ago
There are plenty of use cases for a ~100 mile truck.
Comment by ceejayoz 2 days ago
There are plenty of use cases for a ~100 mile truck.
I'm just saying, many people aren't going to buy an EV until they see it as a strict upgrade over the ICE alternative.
As the owner of a 2014 Nissan leaf with ~70 miles of range left, this statement makes no sense... ~100 miles (after years of use and loaded down) sounds amazing. I use my leaf CONSTANTLY and only resort to my 2000 Chevy S10 for things like dump runs, home projects, helping friends move, etc.
Maybe if it was the only EV in town I'd change my tune. I am willing to pay extra for a battery that will take me 200 miles because I make one-way 100m trips often enough. Keep in mind, where I live there is some decent charging availability, but the places I would visit don't have much. I've also had a couple of experiences where I get to the charging place and it doesn't work for some reason. I have some range anxiety for sure.
I drive 20 miles a day and fill my tank once a month.
Or I could plug in my car every night in my garage. Where I already park and exit my car every day.
There's no competition to be had here. It's a choice between going to the gas station occasionally or not at all.
The 100 mile EV doesn't go beyond 100 miles, but that's not what it's for and not why I need it. I need a puddle jumper to get beat up and rode hard in big city traffic for 20-40 minutes a day and that's it.
There are plenty of use cases in the narrow band that it can operate, but it is a pretty narrow band. Around town commuter in climate that doesn't need AWD/4WD, like great for shopping, commuting, or for small contractors doing jobs. Two people in the vehicle plus luggage, it will be interesting to see what happens to range. Love the concept.
That “narrow” band is the vast majority of American driving. People drastically overestimate their needs in this regard.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/07/07/...
> According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, 95.1 percent of trips taken in personal vehicles are less than 31 miles; almost 60 percent of all trips are less than 6 miles. In total, the average U.S. driver only covers about 37 miles per day.
> In a study published in 2016, researchers at MIT found that a car with a 73-mile range (like an early version of the Nissan Leaf), charged only at night, could satisfy 87 percent of all driving days in the United States.
This truck is compact/low-cost enough that you could commute to a city job, and its competitors for that are basically the Leaf, Bolt, Fiat 500e, Kia Niro and Hyundai Kona.
The bed is pointless for commuting, but so are the back seats in any of those other cars.
I commute in a Fiesta, and it’s been years since anybody has sat in the back seats.
Of course, my remark was more on if the sole purpose was to drive to and from work. It seems absurd to be ok with spending $20k if that is the primary feature. I'd expect a few more use cases, especially to buy new vs. used. But I've gone years with a used $800 car and my current vehicle was acquired in 2011, was only 5 years old at the time, for around $8k and has been going fine since.
That jives pretty well with the total cost of ownership of a vehicle. There are plenty of reasons why one would want to buy, but unless one of those reasons is specifically “to be a frugal driver with a Civic/Prius/Corolla”, Uber at least seems cost-competitive for in-city use.
I’m a two-car household with my partner, but I’ve assumed that if one car is out of commission, we’d be fine with Uber+one car for at least several months while we take the time to thoroughly research/negotiate/etc. options.
Right, but it needs to be competitive with ICE cars that travel several hundred miles per tank and fill up in minutes. Literally 0 of my friends have been willing to transition to electric due primarily to range anxiety, and that's for vehicles that achieve over 200 miles per charge. I drive an EV and even I would simply never, ever consider this vehicle based on the range.