Anyone go from a Gen 3 Raptor to EV Lightning ?

[Teledatgeek]

True. But you need a secure area to park ... which takes us right back around to ... rich people.

I guess the definition of "rich" will vary, but plenty of working class people have garages, no? But I wouldn't recommend one to my college age daughter who has on-street parking

 

[Teledatgeek]

It's possible, but he's a total tech geek. Like memorize the manual geek. Willing to put up with all of the problems geek. Learns about and uses every obscure feature geek. He bought one of the first available and has been upgrading every few years since then. If it was well documented I have to think he would have been aware of it. Or maybe it was documented after a few people like him provided feedback. I could believe that. Next time I run into him I'll ask.

By documented, I mean in the Tesla (and other EV) forums. You aren't hearing any of this from Tesla directly. Lots of posts about phantom drain; people parked at airports, etc.

 

[GordoJay]

I guess the definition of "rich" will vary, but plenty of working class people have garages, no? But I wouldn't recommend one to my college age daughter who has on-street parking

You need more than a garage. You need 220. You need enough income to buy a relatively expensive car. You need to pay enough tax to benefit from the tax credit. You need another car for long trips. That narrows the pool. A lot. Not rich, but well off enough to afford some luxuries. What, maybe the top third of Americans, plus or minus?

 

[Teledatgeek]

You need more than a garage. You need 220. You need enough income to buy a relatively expensive car. You need to pay enough tax to benefit from the tax credit. You need another car for long trips. That narrows the pool. A lot. Not rich, but well off enough to afford some luxuries. What, maybe the top third of Americans, plus or minus?

No disagreement on the points. I think that will change in a few years as more economical EV's come into play. I mean they all don't need supercar performance which is what many of them provide right now. Not sure the world needs 9,000lb EV Hummers that have a huge stopping distance on our roads...

Range will increase; EV charging locations will increase, etc.

 

[Nex]

Electric cars have been around over 100 years. If it was a good option for cars instead of gas, we would all be driving one already.

 

[Teledatgeek]

Electric cars have been around over 100 years. If it was a good option for cars instead of gas, we would all be driving one already.

That's funny. Seems like we have seen technology continue to advance rapidly. e.g. wired phones to cell phones; ice boxes to refrigerators; no computers to personal phones that do more than mainframes of the past.

EV's are a good option for some today and will be for more in the future.

 

[GordoJay]

No disagreement on the points. I think that will change in a few years as more economical EV's come into play. I mean they all don't need supercar performance which is what many of them provide right now.

That's the whole idea of subsidies. When you produce more, you get efficiencies of scale and the price drops. It will be interesting to see what happens now that the subsidies have been rolled back. A friend of mine bought a Nissan Leaf. $36k list. After incentives and tax credits it cost him $10k. It was worth $10k, but no more than that. His range has dropped by half due to battery aging, so it will be ready for the scrap heap soon. Or he can sell it to a college kid. Most of them are too dumb and idealistic to figure out that the battery needs replacing before they do the deal.

 

[Teledatgeek]

That's the whole idea of subsidies. When you produce more, you get efficiencies of scale and the price drops. It will be interesting to see what happens now that the subsidies have been rolled back. A friend of mine bought a Nissan Leaf. $36k list. After incentives and tax credits it cost him $10k. It was worth $10k, but no more than that. His range has dropped by half due to battery aging, so it will be ready for the scrap heap soon. Or he can sell it to a college kid. Most of them are too dumb and idealistic to figure out that the battery needs replacing before they do the deal.

I agree, it will be interesting... of course some makers have dropped their prices in response - e.g. Tesla. I believe the EV rebates are still in effect for business owners - small biz included.

Why do you think the Leaf was only worth $10K? Pretty early EV player - 2011 is when it came out I think. Will your friend buy another EV or is he done?

 

[smurfslayer]

If you look exclusively at the power delivery, the recent crop of EV’s aren’t that unattractive. But the major drawbacks are the battery tech, charging woes, cold weather fragility, lack of supporting infrastructure to use the EV more broadly and wear on the battery. We’re not overcoming this in 5-10 years, this will be a decades long process and honestly, may not necessarily be the right technology going forward. Hydro fuel cell tech may come along faster and ruin everyone’s brilliantly thought out plans.

I’d consider a Lightning for less $$$ and as a second-ish vehicle. But as all the rest have pointed out I’m not finding a rationale for overlooking the deficiencies.

 

[Teledatgeek]

If you look exclusively at the power delivery, the recent crop of EV’s aren’t that unattractive. But the major drawbacks are the battery tech, charging woes, cold weather fragility, lack of supporting infrastructure to use the EV more broadly and wear on the battery. We’re not overcoming this in 5-10 years, this will be a decades long process and honestly, may not necessarily be the right technology going forward. Hydro fuel cell tech may come along faster and ruin everyone’s brilliantly thought out plans.

I’d consider a Lightning for less $$$ and as a second-ish vehicle. But as all the rest have pointed out I’m not finding a rationale for overlooking the deficiencies.

I agree on your Lightning thoughts. I have no compelling reason to get into one and frankly the Raptor is our large road trip mobile. Given we have the X5 PHEV that is also a good road trip vehicle, but the Model Y was not for us.

I think a Lightning at current prices is a hard sell, but people sure are lined up for them. Frunk is awesome as is the acceleration but have to say I like my 600 mile range and I don't want to fork over all that dough - Next generation Lightning, maybe.