Would you buy an electric Chevy today? What about an electric GMC?

[Grumpy Bear]

I live almost dead smack center of two larger cities that are 36 miles apart and we go to both for various reasons. This is a trip that  is just too short even round trip to either. Hardly gets the oil warmed up. Electric would be good for those trips BUT I don't need a half ton pickup to run to the grocery, doctor, movie, eat out. For the one or two trips a year the truck is the right choice, it won't kill it, Lowes, nursery and such.

 

What would be handy then is a Bolt type. Thing is, I'm not paying 35 to 40K for a butt ugly cracker box.  I would pay 25K for a Hybrid not to ugly cracker box like a Corolla Hybrid.

 

Now if they just made a half ton with a Ecotec3 based 4.3 Atkinson cycle hybrid with Koenigsegg Free Valve tech sans GDI and a say 50 hp electric motor for the assist.....Ten speed? Oh and in a RCSB for say $35K. In WT1 trim of course. Power of a 5.3 and fuel economy of Prius without AFM or start/stop. 

 

 

   

[Pat Wma]

On 10/23/2019 at 8:21 AM, Zane said:

I'm interested in a quick read of the room. How does everyone feel about the news that GM is moving in the direction of an battery electric truck? Does the brand it's sold under influence if you'd be interested? Are you ready to buy one now or do you think we should wait it out?

 

Thanks for your opinions! 

This is a no brainer!

Just look at what is already being produced or has existing models made/demonstrated and will be in production VERY soon.  Take the new Hummer as an example.  The machine is introduced with over 1,000HP.  That's more than Trophy Trucks.  So at the very beginning that beast has more power than 99/100 guys on here could handle and I doubt more than a handful of guys on here have ever experienced.

Look at what Rivian did driving chase for that Long Way Up "documentary" driving two prototypes that we went from clay models to being shipped to Tierra Del Fuego in < two months.  They drove all the way to LA and only one had a problem.  Moreover, Rivian went in a built a network of charging stations every 100 miles between TDF and LA proving that building a network of charging stations across 10,000 miles of what most modern countries would call "wilderness" was no big deal.

Even perennial junk seller Harley Davidson built two electric prototype motos in almost no time from scratch and they went an even harder 10K miles with only one having a problem.  Both machines that had a problem were replaced rather than sending in a team of people with a container of parts.  If you've ever tried to ship racing parts into 3rd world countries like South Africa or anywhere in South America you'll know why they simply shipped in new vehicles.

Look at what Porsche has already done with their 919 Hybrid Evo car.  It's the fastest racing care ever.  Period.  And not by a small margin.  That 919  beat the previous Nurburgring record by ~52 seconds!  And that thing came out in 2014.

Electricity is gonna be close to free soon to incentivize everyone to move on from petroleum.  That will save every country billions or trillions of tax dollars just in the medical expenses from living with the ubiquitous use of petroleum.  Anyone here ever go down to a very busy harbor like LB/LA and look at all the kids who have asthma in the surrounding communities?  It's heartbreaking what that diesel exhaust does to the innocent.  It should be illegal.  And if you don't think so just go to one of those places and ask to see the kids who can't breathe.  See if that softens your cast iron heart.

These new vehicles are just electronics and we already know how to move the tech at a pace of twice as much for half as much every 18 months from our recent experience with computers.  Only this time it won't be a bunch of nerds and weirdos in Silicon Valley.  It will be the best engineers in the the USA, Japan, and Europe going for the gold or losing everything.  Think what that should mean for capture and storage of energy too. 

Remember that 80% of the people on this planet live in so called "Developing Countries".  So they are gonna want to just skip petroleum and go right to green energy.

Before anyone wastes our time droning on about the cost of going green, let us know how many trillions of dollars and how many thousands of lives have we thrown away because of our desire to burn fossils for fun?

I'm 62 and my generation will be the last to burn fossils for fun from birth to death.

Finally, look at the places that matter; where all the people live and where ICE cars have been king.  Places like LA.  LA has largely moved on from ICE engines.  There are no more race tracks here.  You might argue that Fontana is a race track here in So Cal.  But Fontana isn't really a race track.  It's just an event center.  Guys who were here when I was young will tell you about Riverside where lots of races happened across the spectrum of racing.  (Same for Drag Boats here.  We created that sport near Bakersfield and races wear held all over down here.  Hell, they'd flood fields to race boats at places like Ski Land.)  But Riverside was bulldozed well over 30 years ago.  The nearest real track like Riverside is Sonoma.  It's the real deal too with old time events like Family Drags on Wednesday nights that are free for spectators!  There are no more ICE cars built here in LA either.  Car mods are just a hobby now even though we still lead in the design of race engineering and style.  (Unless you consider the design and engineering of Nascar stuff cutting edge cause they are still using the rear suspension out of an early 1960s Chevy pickup!)  You can still go to races here with twin turbo EFI big block Chevys are pulling water skiers at well over 110MPH for an hour in the ocean and at the River.  And the SCTA still has great events on the dry lakes.  And there's a lot of semi-secret racing styles still happening but that stuff never travels east of the Colorado River.  Racing died here long ago and only lives in the places that have little else to do but watch cereal box cars that all fit the exact same template drive around in a circle for three hours and pretend it's racing.  Nascar is nothing more than a VERY expensive reality TV show and the spectators are really just there for the gossip and drama.  I remember a time here in LA when we tested race cars out on the highways here.  I mean like Indy cars and Shelby stuff and a lot more.  Families used drag boats for ski boats at Parker and no one thought anything of it.  No one is talking much these days about the future of all that.  Why?  Because gas engines are kinda at the end of their development.  Diesels are a joke.  Electronics has done amazing things with ICE cars but that is about done.  Electric cars and trucks are starting at more power than ICE can do now.  Think about that.

I have a '91 Crewcab Dually that we are restoring after wearing out and I'll electrify it in a minute when the kit is right.  Sure the Luddites are gonna whine about charging times but that is gonna change too.  And even if it didn't and my wife and I had to layover at our campsite in the Redwoods while our batteries recharged, well, am I gonna cry about that?   Our '17 Sierra Crewcab Denali 4X4 6.2L is awesome and will be the last ICE truck we buy for sure.

Of course the usual people in the abandoned places will cry foul cause life includes change.  Yawn.

Look, it was a great ride.  But there was a ride before this one and there will be another after this one.  

So let's get on with it!

Oh, and by the way, I work in the petroleum industry as did my father.  I don't know anyone in this industry who isn't at least as forward thinking on this as I am.  Especially the young guys who know they aren't gonna retire in this industry without surviving some sort of swim with sharks.  But the smart ones aren't gonna be left behind like people on the Great Plains and Rust Belt.  So, like always, the smarter people are making plans now for their 2nd career.

[Grumpy Bear]

And people think I'm wordy

[Grumpy Bear]

18 hours ago, Pat Wma said:

This is a no brainer!

 

Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. If it were then self governance would have solved climate change, hunger, sickness and death. 

 

I to worked in the oil/gas/chemical field for over 40 years. Could as easily been coal, solar or nuclear. Simple truth? Man has no idea. Electric world? It brings its own problems that are just as large and just as unknow as fossil was 100 plus years ago. Every time man thinks he has its figured something out, he figures wrong. Asbestos ring a bell? Tabaco? Thalidomide? 

 

One thing man has perfected. Arrogance. 

 

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/is-there-enough-lithium-to-maintain-the-growth-of-the-lithium-ion-battery-m

 

We have less lithium than oil reserves. Read it all...not just the parts you like. Then delve into the notion that this resource will be mined on the backs of the exploited. Lord man, think past your nose. We have no solution to the problems of humanity. 

 

God gave us the freedom to choose as we please. Just not the ability to do so. 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Grumpy Bear

[rosidian]

Depends if I could afford it.

[Earl Cordova]

I hope the day never comes where I have to purchase an electric vehicle.

[Likarok]

Where I live in Canada a major portion of gas/diesel sales at the pump is tax that pays for upkeep of the infrastructure road system. I hear that Oregon for example is collecting extra fees when you register an electric vehicle. This will no doubt be the new normal.  Electrics will still travel down the same roads that are there now, and in cold climate countries pot holes and frost heaves are still going to happen requiring maintenance through some sort of tax. And when you charge your car at home in your garage (sounds like you will have to have a 220 current) that sure as hell is not going to be free,  So to say electric will be free makes no sense to me.

 

And no doubt GM, Ford or whoever is not putting charging stations in for free. The cost of those stations is going to be recouped in the price of the cars and trucks. 

 

Free????? Nothing is free in this world!

 

Then there is the construction and style of what is coming out. Glass roofs and wedge shaped bodies, I can really see how successful the current electric style trucks we are seeing are going to be in a work truck environment. As I have also said, why does EV have to stand for Butt Ugly? Now add common sense styling to the mix!

[Rockrz]

Quote

Would you buy an electric Chevy today? What about an electric GMC?

That's a big NOPE for me...

[1997SierraSLT]

Any vehicle that has "Electric" and "GM" combined into the same sentence would be "HELL NO"

[Smrtasp]

When we start seeing 450+ mile ranges, it may start to make sense. The range numbers being provided are a bit misleading and it’s only a matter of time before manufacturers will have to publish city and highway ranges like we see with ICE cars. For the typical driver, the published ranges are not going to happen unless its downhill with a tailwind on the highway. City driving will use a lot more energy and that 350-mile published range will only come at a full charge and for daily driving scenarios, you don't want to charge the battery full each time. It will be more like 90% for daily use plus upwards of 25% loss for city driving. That gets even more compounded in cold climates where the electronics will keep the battery warm which will burn even more range. Now imagine all of that towing or carrying a few thousand pounds and pretty quickly having a truck for anything beyond city driving and the occasional road trip will not be very convenient. Also note that the examples of fast charging we are seeing in commercials and marketing materials assume level 3 charging. I know there has been a big investment to roll out more charging but most of what was available a few years ago was level 2 at best. 

 

I come from the experience of having owned a Tesla for 9 years now. I have a 2013 model S with a VIN under 5000 (there are over a million on the road now) and just about to break 155K miles on it. It’s our around town car now. When it was new, we did lots of road trips in it, but the charging thing got old after a while. Tesla has invested heavily in this and there are a ton more charging locations around now but there was a point where it wasn’t as convenient. With so many more Teslas on the road now, charging on the road can be full and it takes a while vs getting gas. With quite a few impending electric vehicles on the way from Ford, GM, Cadillac, Rivian, etc. we are going to see an explosion of people charging. I recall a time when Tesla was sending notices to people who would not charge at home and instead use their superchargers which is one of the reasons they no longer give supercharging for free with new cars.

 

On the plus side, at 155K miles I have had very few issues with it outside of some early on stuff that were handled at less than 25K miles. It drives like the day it was delivered. Using it for local commuting and city driving (errands, local stuff) and having the truck for road trips/camping/mountains is a good combo. I would encourage anyone considering this as their only vehicle to really think about where it will be parked, access to charging stations in areas they usually travel, electricity rates for charging at home, etc. As an only vehicle, it will require some adjustment compared to having an ICE vehicle.

 

 

[d_todd_phelps]

I talked to a person who runs a company that does the big power lines, briefly this morning.  I asked him if the power grid could supply the electric if all vehicles were electric.  He laughed, said the price of electric would double, and said he'd make a lot of money doing infrastructure upgrades because it isn't even close to being able to support such a thing.

 

[Peter land]

Wouldn't say no maybe. 

[KARNUT]

I think we should be learning with the events of the last 18 months the following. Things that are critical to our health, mobility, and financial well-being should be produced here. There’re just a few exceptions like Canada and Mexico. We can’t use its cheaper to import anymore. All the rapid push for green is sure making life miserable for a lot of people. 

[Big_Kahuna]

*****RATS can take those EV and shove them where the sun don't shine.

[BigBadSierra]

They need way more range towing over 7000lbs way more range.

 

Plus virtually no charging stations accommodate for trailers being attached.

 

So if you use a truck like a car then buy it.