Ford's New Electric Truck!

[dalekphalm]

6 hours ago, TempestCatto said:

My answer from earlier: Hydrogen Electric.

Or go the way of "Great" Britain, a bus that runs on poo! (I don't think they still operate those)

Hydrogen is a horrible system for vehicles though.

 

Why? Despite being the most abundant element in the universe (by far), hydrogen does not exist naturally on earth on it's own.

 

So that means we have to manufacture hydrogen gas before we can fuel a hydrogen vehicle (hybrid or otherwise).

 

There are 2 main ways to effectively create hydrogen:

 

1. Coal - you use high pressure steam to create a chemical reaction that separates hydrogen (and other materials) from the coal. This process obviously requires mining and blasting coal. It's resource intensive and terrible for the environment.

 

2. Electrolysis - this method uses electricity to split hydrogen from water. This method is pretty "clean" (depending on energy source), and is more ideal than option #1. But it's INCREDIBLY energy intensive. So much so that you could just use that amount of energy to power or charge an EV more efficiently.

 

Having a vehicle that has an onboard hydrogen manufacturing system (Eg: you fuel up with water, and use electricity to convert it into hydrogen, which is then burned for fuel) could work - but it's very electricity intensive, so you'd still need batteries or some other electrical source.

 

Using a fuel cell (A Hydrogen gas container that is then burned for fuel) is the more common method, but as stated above, manufacturing hydrogen is very cost intensive in terms of electrical requirements.

 

If you're going to do a Hybrid vehicle, you might as well just do a standard ICE/EV Hybrid (HEV or PHEV).

 

If you're going to do a straight Hydrogen vehicle (whether you're burning the hydrogen to produce electricity, or to produce direct power to the drivetrain), you're still better off just doing a straight EV.

 

Not to mention that we'd still have the same "Infrastructure" problem as with EV's, in that we'd need to build Hydrogen fuel stations (or possibly convert gasoline stations).

[Monkey Dust]

9 hours ago, TempestCatto said:

My answer from earlier: Hydrogen Electric.

Or go the way of "Great" Britain, a bus that runs on poo! (I don't think they still operate those)

They do still have at least one of those in Bristol, I sometimes see it on my way into work. It is on the number 2 route, seriously

 

I'm not sure there is enough poo to run every bus in Bristol however...

[TempestCatto]

Just now, PacketMan said:

supercharged-turbocharged diesel monsters

Those trucks are not monsters, just the people drive them.

Like, for real, most of those people don't actually do much of anything with their trucks. It's just a status thing, like wearing Gucci socks. Those people and their trucks are what we call "mall crawlers" or "pavement ponies". Granted, some of them do get used for actual work by actual companies, but individual people are usually just assholes (usually, not always).

[Blademaster91]

25 minutes ago, PacketMan said:

an all electric truck should provide more power than those supercharged-turbocharged diesel monsters

if you have a farm, or a separated house with a garage or porch you can just plug your truck to the wall and charge it

it will be huge so I imagine the batteries will be enough for at least 600km

it's a nice alternative for those ridiculous trucks and its pooooooooor fuel consumption, we are all entering an era in which fossil fuels are no longer relevant for the future

an hybrid would be the smartest choice if one doesn't trust the electric range per charge

An all electric truck would probably be fine for those doing some do it yourself work around the house, short trips, and as mentioned theres people that drive a truck because they like it or to look cool. Although for those that need a truck for farming,work or hunting aren't going to stop what they are doing and wait for the truck to charge, until a car or truck can charge as fast and you can re-fuel with gas or diesel it isnt nearly as convenient. A hybrid system might be a viable alternative but for people that need a reliable work truck its just more stuff which can break.

[Ezzy-525]

On 1/17/2019 at 11:13 PM, BuckGup said:

Instant torque and the truck weighs 3X as much. Sounds good

It only weighs half as much, once the American gets out of it.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

5 hours ago, Monkey Dust said:

...I'm not sure there is enough poo to run every bus in Bristol however...

There's enough produced in Washington, D.C to run the world.

2 hours ago, TempestCatto said:

Those trucks are not monsters, just the people drive them.

Like, for real, most of those people don't actually do much of anything with their trucks. It's just a status thing, like wearing Gucci socks. Those people and their trucks are what we call "mall crawlers" or "pavement ponies". Granted, some of them do get used for actual work by actual companies, but individual people are usually just assholes (usually, not always).

Excuse me? Many, if not most, people with pickups have them for very practical reasons, especially those with families. Just because you frequently see pickups with only a driver doesn't mean that is the only way they get used.  One reason I have an F150 Supercrew is so I can haul passengers around comfortably and still be able to haul a load. I remember back when I had a little Ford Ranger (mini-pickup), anytime I needed to haul more than a couple of passengers, I had to rent a car. If I had a large load, I had to pay for delivery. I graduated from the Ranger to an Isuzu Rodeo to get more passenger room but missed the cargo space I could put anything into, no matter how nasty. Since no one made a practical 4 door mini-truck at the time (or since), I got the F150 and do not regret it. I can haul up to five people comfortably and safely (six, if one has short legs) and haul a load in the back. I may not need all that capacity all the time but, when I do need it, I need it. Having two vehicles--one for short commutes and one for large loads--is not cost effective or practical so I have the F150 for both.

 

Added to that, larger vehicles are usually safer than smaller ones. My F150 got sideswiped on a freeway a little over a year ago. The damage to the truck was mostly cosmetic ($2500 worth, fortunately covered by insurance) and the damage to me was just jangled nerves. After dealing with the gendarmes, I was able to drive the truck away (abeit carefully because the driver's sideview mirror got knocked to Kingdom come). Had I been in a small car, it probably would have been totaled, not to mention undriveable, and my carcass probably would have had far more damage than just jangled nerves, assuming I wasn't totalled.

[TempestCatto]

7 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

There's enough produced in Washington, D.C to run the world.

Excuse me? Many, if not most, people with pickups have them for very practical reasons, especially those with families. Just because you frequently see pickups with only a driver doesn't mean that is the only way they get used.  One reason I have an F150 Supercrew is so I can haul passengers around comfortably and still be able to haul a load. I remember back when I had a little Ford Ranger (mini-pickup), anytime I needed to haul more than a couple of passengers, I had to rent a car. If I had a large load, I had to pay for delivery. I graduated from the Ranger to an Isuzu Rodeo to get more passenger room but missed the cargo space I could put anything into, no matter how nasty. Since no one made a practical 4 door mini-truck at the time (or since), I got the F150 and do not regret it. I can haul up to five people comfortably and safely (six, if one has short legs) and haul a load in the back. I may not need all that capacity all the time but, when I do need it, I need it. Having two vehicles--one for short commutes and one for large loads--is not cost effective or practical so I have the F150 for both.

 

Added to that, larger vehicles are usually safer than smaller ones. My F150 got sideswiped on a freeway a little over a year ago. The damage to the truck was mostly cosmetic ($2500 worth, fortunately covered by insurance) and the damage to me was just jangled nerves. After dealing with the gendarmes, I was able to drive the truck away (abeit carefully because the driver's sideview mirror got knocked to Kingdom come). Had I been in a small car, it probably would have been totaled, not to mention undriveable, and my carcass probably would have had far more damage than just jangled nerves, assuming I wasn't totalled.

You misunderstood my statement. There are loads of people who will slam their truck, throw a turbo on it, low profile mudders, and roal coal and do doughnuts in the Walmert parking lot. Those are the people I called monsters. I also said not all people or trucks are like this either. I own a truck myself, a retired fire cheif truck. It got used to plow township roads, run emergency supplies to fire scenes, and even go into brush fires. Its a classic now, and when it retired they sold it to me before I left the station for school. I keep that truck protected and hardly use it to preserve it. But I do want a truck I can use and abuse. My statement was not making fun of trucks or their owners, just select ones. I should have my statement more clear on that, thats my bad.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

11 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

You misunderstood my statement. There are loads of people who will slam their truck, throw a turbo on it, low profile mudders, and roal coal and do doughnuts in the Walmert parking lot. Those are the people I called monsters. I also said not all people or trucks are like this either. I own a truck myself, a retired fire cheif truck. It got used to plow township roads, run emergency supplies to fire scenes, and even go into brush fires. Its a classic now, and when it retired they sold it to me before I left the station for school. I keep that truck protected and hardly use it to preserve it. But I do want a truck I can use and abuse. My statement was not making fun of trucks or their owners, just select ones. I should have my statement more clear on that, thats my bad.

The "monsters" you are describing are actually a minority of truck owners. Granted, a very noticeable minority  but a minority nonetheless.

 

While I understand what you mean by abuse (you sound a bit like my Daddy putting down people who wouldn't use their trucks for trucks because they were afraid to scratch them), considering I paid more for my truck, which was gently used (7200 miles on it) when I got it, than I ever paid for anything else in my life, including a three bedroom house, I use it for a truck (heck, that's what I got it for) but I still do my level best to keep it nice looking (and have done so quite well).

[Drak3]

11 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

people who will slam their truck

Sup.

12 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

throw a turbo on it,

Mine came with one from the factory.

 

13 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

and roal coal

If it didn't mean fucking over the damage long term, and that it'd be a 24/7 affair, I would consider it as retaliation against jwalkers and ricers that jut out in front of me.

 

15 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

do doughnuts in the Walmert parking lot

Mmm. Donuts.

[TempestCatto]

54 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

you sound a bit like my Daddy putting down people who wouldn't use their trucks for trucks because they were afraid to scratch them

Quite the contrary to that actually. I myself don't use my truck for this very reason. I hate seeing vehicles in a shambled state, just makes me sad. I would honestly use a truck as a daily back and forther, because I'm just used to driving in one, I'm very comfortable in it. I hate sitting low in general, I like to be higher up on the road. But I paid $6,000 for mine, with 79K miles on it, and kitted out with emergency lighting still. So I'm gentle and nice to to my truck. While, if I had another truck I didn't value near as much, I wouldn't mind actually using it, but I would still want to keep it well maintained and nice looking.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

3 hours ago, TempestCatto said:

Quite the contrary to that actually. I myself don't use my truck for this very reason. I hate seeing vehicles in a shambled state, just makes me sad. I would honestly use a truck as a daily back and forther, because I'm just used to driving in one, I'm very comfortable in it. I hate sitting low in general, I like to be higher up on the road. But I paid $6,000 for mine, with 79K miles on it, and kitted out with emergency lighting still. So I'm gentle and nice to to my truck. While, if I had another truck I didn't value near as much, I wouldn't mind actually using it, but I would still want to keep it well maintained and nice looking.

I was talking about babying a truck. You can use a truck like a truck without beating it up if you're just a little careful. I put a bed liner inside the bed of my truck shortly after I got it so I didn't have to worry about dinging up the bed with stuff I hauled in there. I'm careful not to bounce it off trees and rocks (not to mention other vehicles, streetlight pole bases, small children, etc.). But I use it like the truck it is.

 

I plan on installing some Thule tracks on top of the bed cap (which has tool boxes on the side instead of windows) and the cab of the truck so I can put removable cargo bars on top whenever I have something long to haul so I don't have to worry about scratching up the top paint and finding a place to tie the load down to. The last long load I had was 9' long and I had to haul it by sticking it through the rear window of the cab and the front window of the cap, which was a bit of a nuisance (it's not the first time I did that, either, but I would like it to be the last).

[Zannah]

On 1/20/2019 at 4:54 AM, PacketMan said:

an all electric truck should provide more power than those supercharged-turbocharged diesel monsters

if you have a farm, or a separated house with a garage or porch you can just plug your truck to the wall and charge it

it will be huge so I imagine the batteries will be enough for at least 600km

it's a nice alternative for those ridiculous trucks and its pooooooooor fuel consumption, we are all entering an era in which fossil fuels are no longer relevant for the future

an hybrid would be the smartest choice if one doesn't trust the electric range per charge

That's fair, I don't think they'll sell where I live though. I think the hybrid will sell better here. It takes a very long time to charge, I wouldn't want to go on a road trip with one myself. I'm not fully convinced that farmers will necessarily want to buy them, I've seen farmers drive hundreds of kilometres a day and they wouldn't buy a vehicle they'd have to charge a couple times a day. 

[dalekphalm]

25 minutes ago, Zannah said:

That's fair, I don't think they'll sell where I live though. I think the hybrid will sell better here. It takes a very long time to charge, I wouldn't want to go on a road trip with one myself. I'm not fully convinced that farmers will necessarily want to buy them, I've seen farmers drive hundreds of kilometres a day and they wouldn't buy a vehicle they'd have to charge a couple times a day. 

How often do you go on road trips that last more than 400 KM?

[Zannah]

On 1/21/2019 at 2:54 PM, dalekphalm said:

How often do you go on road trips that last more than 400 KM?

I have several farmer friends that drive 12-20hrs a day on a busy harvest season and during calving season if they have a lot of land. I myself go on a 1,200+km road trip every year. I live an hour drive from the nearest charging station for an electric vehicle and they are few and far between. 

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

On 1/18/2019 at 8:48 AM, Subway said:

I am not a fan of electric cars because it will be way more complicated to fix it yourself. 

i'm not fan of cars that use fuel, it's complicated to replace them. jokes aside, it's the same way how physical things have gone digital or how technology has increased 10 folds compared to Nokia 3310, imagine if people stuck to old products for the sake of replicability and repairs. 

[dalekphalm]

7 minutes ago, Zannah said:

I have several farmer friends that drive 12-20hrs a day on a busy harvest season and during calving season if they have a lot of land.

Farmers aren't normal people, therefore they have unique needs that are not representative of the overall population.

7 minutes ago, Zannah said:

I myself go on a 1,200+km road trip every year. I live an hour drive from the nearest charging station for an electric vehicle and they are few and far between. 

Just rent for that once-a-year 1200KM trip - and for home use, you don't need a charging station, since you charge up at home every night anyway.