Trade a Raptor for a Lightning?

[SkyPilot]

I'm a fan of the EV/alternate fuel development. (Tons of torque where you need it down low etc....... I will miss the V8 rumble-I regard my Gen 2 Raptor time as a time of conditioning on that one......). BUT, I also had my early years growing up in West Los Angeles. We lived there and were acclimated. In the early 1960s I distinctly remember days when our eyes would be streaming tears from the smog. Today, flying in to the LA basin you can see the haze layer but relatively speaking the red stinging eyes with tears streaming down your face are a thing of the past. Walked past my friend's stock '57 Chevy siting there idling the other day-HEAVY gas fumes central, NOTHING like today's cars where you often don't even know they are running...... My point-We have made HUGE progress with fossil fuels through the years and bring on the next phase whatever it is battery electrics, hydrogen fuel cells, whatever. But, don't throw out the progress we've made for some inadequate half baked pie in the sky not ready for prime time solution to a politically inspired non-existent problem. Yeah, California 2035 only new electric vehicles available, typical hand wringing over reaction. Just had to say it........

 

[impaul4]

I took delivery of my ER Lariat. I love the truck. I love the speed, comfort, and storage. There's some clunkings and QC issues on the interior but overall great. But it's not for me charging and usage wise.

 

[tabvette]

I was on the road day before yesterday pulling a 5x8 U-Haul trailer roughly 300 miles on I-80 across northern Nevada. I kept the cruise control on 65 mph due to 100 degree temperatures. And the odd thing that caught my attention was the same white Tesla passed me four times at 80+ mph. I couldn't figure that out until I stopped for gas, and there was that same Tesla charging its batteries at a Tesla charging station at a Chevron gas station. It was then that I understood the odd behavior of the man and woman that belonged to that Tesla - their electric vehicle has no legs. I stopped for gas once while pulling a trailer loaded to the gills, and they had to stop at least 4 times pulling nothing.

I grew up at a time and in a place when children were sent home from public schools due to poor air quality. I was one of those children, so believe me when I tell you that I value clean air as much as the next guy. But two days ago on the road I received a first-hand education in why electric vehicles circa the first half of the 21st Century are not ready for primetime. Not in rural America, anyway. It is on the order of 400 miles across northern Nevada on I-80. Can you imagine the difficulty that couple would have had if they had been pulling a trailer as I had been? In 2013 I moved my wife and I the 2,000 miles from northern Alabama to northern Nevada. I pulled all three sizes of U-Haul trailers with my 2011 Ford F-150 Raptor, a naturally aspirated 6.2L V-8 powered full-sized truck. I made each drive in two days - nearly continuous driving with a 6-hour nap in the middle. It would have taken a week or more to do what I did in an electric vehicle - completely impractical, in other words.

Now I read that an Italian firm owns the DeLorean brand name and is going to make gull-winged 4-seat electric sports sedans similar to John DeLorean's iconic vehicle. Range: 300 miles. (No flux capacitor, apparently.) I applaud everyone and anyone who is willing to give Elon Musk's glorified golf carts a run for their money. But if you live in the wide open spaces, 300 miles ain't gonna get the job done. The 230 mile range of the Ford Lightning (300 miles with the extended range battery, but only 150 to 200 miles when towing a load) isn't cable of doing what people buy trucks for - not out west, anyway.

Well said, still too new and too short of range.

 

[BaseRaptor]

We are in the infancy stage of battery technology right now.

We will look back in 2032, a short 10-years from now, and get a chuckle at the range, weight and humungous size of early battery packs installed in vehicles.

 

[thatJeepguy]

We are in the infancy stage of battery technology right now.

We will look back in 2032, a short 10-years from now, and get a chuckle at the range, weight and humungous size of early battery packs installed in vehicles.

What we’ll likely be laughing at is how stupid of an idea it is . What we wont be laughing at is how toxic lithium is and how the Us handed its entire auto industry over to China.

 

[jamanrr]

We are in the infancy stage of battery technology right now.

We will look back in 2032, a short 10-years from now, and get a chuckle at the range, weight and humungous size of early battery packs installed in vehicles.

probably the battery tech isnt there yet but it is improving. I have a Hummer EV reserved but am not holding my breath to get it. We tend to keep vehicles for a long time in general. So, depending on the vehicle and range your experience will vary. I will say that the Tesla ride is general good for small cars and they accelerate like no other truck or car on the planet. This best technology today is the hybrid engine setups like Jeep is using. A 28 mpg Wrangler is impressive.

 

[GCATX]

probably the battery tech isnt there yet but it is improving. I have a Hummer EV reserved but am not holding my breath to get it. We tend to keep vehicles for a long time in general. So, depending on the vehicle and range your experience will vary. I will say that the Tesla ride is general good for small cars and they accelerate like no other truck or car on the planet. This best technology today is the hybrid engine setups like Jeep is using. A 28 mpg Wrangler is impressive.

Diesel everything without the exhaust filters and other junk.

 

[thatJeepguy]

Whats with all the EV shills on this site lately? I didnt know Shareblue operated on truck forums. Makes sense tho.

 

[GTTXRAP]

I laugh because in CA only 1.8% of cars registered are EV's and that's similar in other large states. It will be generations...not decades, before all you will see a tectonic shift (and even then fossil fuels will not go away -- jet fuel anyone).

Same goes for 'green' energy becoming dominant energy source. Generations. This 'it's changing overnight' is a joke. I know the crowd that buy hair products for their man bun and the 'hip' crowd will be disappointed, but it's reality.

Hey CA how's the charging of those EV's coming this weekend...?

 

[thatJeepguy]

I laugh because in CA only 1.8% of cars registered are EV's and that's similar in other large states. It will be generations...not decades, before all you will see a tectonic shift (and even then fossil fuels will not go away -- jet fuel anyone).

Same goes for 'green' energy becoming dominant energy source. Generations. This 'it's changing overnight' is a joke. I know the crowd that buy hair products for their man bun and the 'hip' crowd will be disappointed, but it's reality.

Hey CA how's the charging of those EV's coming this weekend...?

I cant wait until they start taxing EV drivers by the mile with on board tracking devices. Hopefully it will red pill some of them , but my guess is no. Too much cognitive dissonance at that point.