Dodge to discontinue V8 Hellcat (TRX), What does that mean for Raptor R?

[smurfslayer]

The newer EVs are coming out with either 800- or 900-volt electrical architecture. For example the Lucid and even the Porsche/Audi. I do not know which architecture the Lightening Rivian is/will be using. With the 800-volt architecture, the Audi etron is able to charge to about 60-80 miles range in ~7 mins using the 350 kW chargers. The Lucid, using the 900-volt architecture, is able to add 100 miles in less than 6 mins.

Where is all that power going to come from? This is whole new infrastructure to be undertaken by a ‘recharge’ station. It will not be inexpensive. Now, consider this:

They are likely going to be both purchasing and reselling electricity on the open market. This will be fine most of the time in spring and fall, but not in the Texas summer or Northeast winter, when those charges will skyrocket. If you think $5.50 a gallon of fuel is expensive, imagine $9.00 / kilowatt hour - prices seen during Snovid-21 in TX. I can only imagine what California summer rates would be like.

I wonder what the Lightning will add to a typical consumer’s electric bill, considering daily usage and a nightly charge. Now, imagine the cost during a So.Cal heat wave.

 

[Frank N]

Well Smurf....

 

[TwizzleStix]

The oldest crap EV's (1st gen Leaf, etc) are in that range and have not been impacted in the way you say. It follows that the improved batteries in that time would mean vehicles produced today should follow a similar trend. To further reinforce that your statement is flat out wrong, a 3 year old Tesla Model 3 with 35k miles is sells for more today than when it was purchased new. Do you really think it will see a 70% deprecation in the next 7 years?

Once AI and VR are effectively combined, that's going to happen. Your best friend will be virtual because real people can't possibly measure up. You'll spend every free minute in your metaverse and will resent every second you spend outside of it. The only material possessions you'll need are a bed, a fridge, and a sexbot. And your computer/phone/portal to VR. Evolution is in a race with tech. Tech will make all this possible in maybe 20 years and evolution needs maybe 200,000 years to prepare us for it. It isn't much of a race. It's a wild time to be alive. Enjoy the show, because the chances that it ends well are very low.

There’s a book, “Terms of Service” written by Craig W Stanfill, a real, accomplished scientist with a PhD in AI since 1983. If you’ve read George Orwell’s “1984”, you’re prepared to read this book. It presents a real possibility of gov’t control of every aspect of our lives if the loonies in gov’t are allowed to continue to run amuck. I recommend reading.

 

[GordoJay]

There’s a book, “Terms of Service” written by Craig W Stanfill, a real, accomplished scientist with a PhD in AI since 1983. If you’ve read George Orwell’s “1984”, you’re prepared to read this book. It presents a real possibility of gov’t control of every aspect of our lives if the loonies in gov’t are allowed to continue to run amuck. I recommend reading.

Science fiction is always worth reading. It's eye opening to discover that people have been exploring for decades the consequences of many of the changes happening now. Human nature isn't changing fast enough to cope. The result is interesting times.

 

[Frogger22]

I got to be honest with you guys, a lot of you are being way too logical and thorough with your thoughts on this subject of converting from ICE to EV. The reality is the government doesn’t give a **** about this stuff in the slightest. They don’t care that the fly over states want real trucks. They don’t care that there is no infrastructure to handle it and no electricity to power it. They will just wave the pen and sign the form and make it so, because they just care about posturing to the uninformed. Intentions are all that matter to them and the consequences / reality are irrelevant. As long as you lose your truck and they can keep their private jet life is all good.

 

[smurfslayer]

As long as you lose your truck and they can keep their private jet life is all good.

The thing about winning streaks. It’s true until it’s not. History is replete with examples of overreach costing the party in power. The single, biggest, most glaring example of this failure in modern history is the passage of the brady bill and so called assault weapons ban in the early 90’s, which cost the democrats the house, and senate and was IIRC the largest house swing in history through I think 2014. So to put this into analogous terms, the flyover country living, lifted super duty driving oil rig worker in TX, who was never going to vote for a democrat anyway, instead will evangelize to all who will listen in his circle of friends they need to show up, bring family and friends and vote the bums out. And this cycle will reverse or course, when the republicans move too far to the right. This means different things to different people but the point is that yeah, they may not give a F*** now, but in about 11 months, they very much will care.

Gas prices will eventually come down partially and should come down to somewhere between late ’19 - pandemic level pricing. It won’t come down to where we all want it until the current regime is unelected, whenever that is because they’re openly hostile to the fossil fuel industry, to a point of sacrificing our world position because of it. Others have wished for a Raptor R that is truly an off road only vehicle with all the bells and whistles. I think that would be a marketing fail of biblical proportions for Ford. They are hemorrhaging sales to the TRX because Ram made a truck with a bigger, badder motor that is “within the same class”. Building a truck only a few people will buy makes the development much less profitable than making a truck consumers can buy and drive on the street to wherever they want and off road it. I think they already dropped the ball by not upping the power of the ’21-’22 Raptor, which clearly can handle more power. The current Raptor is an improvement and I like it but IMO it fell short this year. The v8 Raptor needs to give up nothing in the way of off road prowess to the current Raptor and beat the TRX where it hurts.
Else, only brand loyalists will buy it.

 

[GordoJay]

The v8 Raptor needs to give up nothing in the way of off road prowess to the current Raptor and beat the TRX where it hurts.
Else, only brand loyalists will buy it.

You may be right. But Ford marketing has been stepping on their d i c k a lot lately. Internal politics? I don't know, but it isn't good.

 

[GCATX]

 

[Braaaaptor]

As we've elaborated on EV tech is not a viable option for 80% of folks who don't have the cash to buy one, don't have the infrastructure to support one, and who need greater range than what EVs can provide. Also it doesn't logically make sense to me why we would choose to eliminate one depleting non-renewable resource (oil/gas) for another (Lithium/Cobalt). There's not enough of the stuff to go around but I guess that doesn't matter to governments when its kids in Africa digging the stuff out.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/batteries/congo-cobalt-mining-for-lithium-ion-battery/

Hopefully Porsche & Audi et al. can provide that solution in the form of synthetic fuel as a way to bridge the gap. I think that might be the best happy medium we can ask for at this point.

Porsche Working on Synthetic Fuel with EV-Level Clean Emissions

The hydrogen-based fuel will be ready for testing in 2022, including in the new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car.

www.caranddriver.com

 

[CoronaRaptor]

Once AI and VR are effectively combined, that's going to happen. Your best friend will be virtual because real people can't possibly measure up. You'll spend every free minute in your metaverse and will resent every second you spend outside of it. The only material possessions you'll need are a bed, a fridge, and a sexbot. And your computer/phone/portal to VR. Evolution is in a race with tech. Tech will make all this possible in maybe 20 years and evolution needs maybe 200,000 years to prepare us for it. It isn't much of a race. It's a wild time to be alive. Enjoy the show, because the chances that it ends well are very low.

Yeah OKAY there, lol