If reality and the retail market come to bear that cold feeling might be sooner than expected.

Based upon what testing of an actual production model?

 

Just to illustrate my price point a bit more, this article from Bloomberg NEF pegged the cost of the average battery pack to be $151/kWh. That article is from a few months ago, and things have declined since then, but those prices would put the Ram’s 229 kWh battery at $34,500 to produce. The Lightning’s much smaller 130 kWh battery would be about $19,600.

I expect these prices will decline further between now and 2025, but it’s unrealistic to expect a truck with a much bigger battery to be sold for a similar price to a smaller one like the Lightning. If Ram can match the Lightning’s current pricing, the current-gen design would have to go through a Tesla-style price haircut to sell at volume. Drawing that out further, would you choose a $60K Extended Range Lightning over a $75K Ram? I probably would.

The more important thing for Ford is the likely effect this competition will have on their next model that’s coming out just after the Ram. Are we going to see supersized battery choices? If Ford wants to command the same premium they’re asking now, they need to provide a much better product two years from now.

Of course not. I’ve never been in a gas or diesel pickup that would do that, either. Even my Excursion with its 44-gallon tank would only get ~250 miles at 8 MPG dragging a 14K trailer. Range loss for an EV is even more significant. I pulled my boat for the first time with my Model Y on Monday, and the experience was amazing. It did a better job handling my boat than almost anything else I’ve pulled with, and the power was unreal. It would blow the doors off any of my EcoBoost trucks while pulling, but my efficiency numbers showed that it would only get about ~130 miles of range at 68 MPH. Towing range is a hard problem to solve, and the Ram’s 230 kWh battery would be a huge improvement over the little 82 kWh battery in my Tesla.

 

I cannot speak to the newer EPA edition diesels, but my 23 year old dinosaur 7.3L diesel is pretty close to that at 12.3 MPG towing a 5th wheel and cargo at 20,000 lbs GCVW and 65 - 67 MPH. That was over 5,500 miles from GA to ID to MN to GA.

 

It isn't like yuuuge companies are laying people off and banks are failing... Oh wait...

I read an article the other day that Ford is projecting a loss of up to $3,000,000,000 this year in their EV division. Good thing they can fall back on the ICE division and their piggy bank.

 

I had 2008 and 2011 diesel Super Duties that wouldn't, so that may have something to do with it. That Excursion never saw 12 MPG empty. I don't think it was capable of that rolling down a hill with the engine off.

 

My 2000 7.3L diesel gets 18.5 MPG unloaded. Perhaps I am just lucky as I have about $15,000 total into the truck over the past decade including purchase price, tires and upgrades. We travel with it cross country and I have complete confidence in it to get the job done. At 265,000 miles, injectors are coming due and they will cost about $1800, but I can do the job myself in a couple of hours and then it will be good for another 300,000 miles or until the gubment tells me it is not efficient enough.

 

I don't think anyone is being a pessimists, just not drinking the kool-aid.

 

exactly. If not whole sale believing everything the media tells is considered being a pessimist, who do we call people who are willing to throw away a mature energy paradigm that's been around for 100 years, and instead believe that propulsion usage batteries will finally be affordable a perpetual 5 years from now, since the 90s?

 

Be sure and replace those UVC harnesses while you're in there. Glow plugs as well.

 

UVCH's and glow plugs were replaced at ~240,000 miles. Only 3 of the 8 GP's were bad and both UVCH's tested and were performing good. I replaced them so that I could get another 20 years or 250,000 miles out of them.

Thanks for the tip though, it is appreciated.

 

Another step closer toward a solid state battery EV.

Stellantis (RAM) seems to be heavily involved in the advancement of the technology.

Link: https://electrek.co/2023/05/23/facto...batteries-evs/

 

I think solid state batteries are really slick, but none of it will matter to the consumer until they make it to market. I don’t think they’ll be production-ready by the time Ram’s first-gen electric truck makes it to market, so it would probably be a few years later when they go through a redesign at best.

GM is coming in hot with a 450-mile rating on their initial large-pack models. I’ve read speculation that this model has a whopping 200 kWh battery pack, which handily trounces the extended range Lightning. GM is also keeping their base MSRP estimate of $41,595 on their reservation site, but that won’t be the long-range model. Some articles suggest the base Silverado will have over 330 miles of range, which could disrupt the market in similar fashion to what Tesla did with their price cuts in January.

I think Lightnings are no longer scarce; my local mega-dealer is showing four in stock, and they are commonly found on the used market at or below MSRP. I’m very curious to see if Ford adjusts their pricing as the Silverado comes to market. I’ve kept my Silverado reservation and just made one for the Cybertruck as a hedge against my 19-year-old Expedition that I again depend on to get to the lake. I don’t have the guts to put my new boat behind my Tesla.

 

Isn't that what EV's are about though, the future?

I also do not believe the solid state batteries will not be production ready for a few years, but this is a big step forward and I am encouraged to see them coming from a stateside company.

 

That was true a few years ago. The Lightning is about the present, and the competition isn't far off.

 

I'm not talking about what is presently available for purchase and especially not from Farley Ford. I'm talking about the EV being the "future" of transportation.

Well, that is what we are being told by the elected officials anyway...