Looks like some comical marketing by the Ram folks. Looks like RAM is being honest about the EV trucks being used as trucks and will possibly have a real solution.

 

This made my day. Whoever came up with this deserves a big promotion.

I think most people who have never owned an EV have an overstated sense of range anxiety, and Ram plays off this perfectly. It's a real concern for people who tow, but I think the added complexity with a gas-powered range extender may be too much of a compromise. This is a fair and humorous way to generate interest at this stage, though.

Munro did a good video on the complexity of having complete ICE and BEV powertrains in a single vehicle with their review of the Grand Cherokee 4xE system. I think long-distance towing may be the only case where that much added complexity is worthwhile.

 

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The guy with the broken fishing pole was great. I am surprised something like this was created with all of the hurt of feelings that happens in modern times.

Great post sir.

 

 

EV's have been around, the battery is not ready yet. It is cool to be the first kid on the block to own one but Ford failed Big Time with F-150 and expectations. Hoovies Garage and several other YouTube personalities put a Fork into the Heart of the F-150 and shared Ford's response on how to cure range problems. Cold Weather did the rest to shove it into an early grave.

Local Ford dealer here had one and it had lot rot when another dealer traded for it. With the small battery and an XLT, the truck sat for $52k on the window sticker. Yes I am not a fan, pretty obvious but it is what it is. Guy I worked with bought the Hybrid and he loves it, I have driven it several times and like it, they use it to pull an Airstream to Texas all the time. So far so good. GM had a Hybrid 20+ years ago at the race track, but only for sale in California.

Add a bigger battery to get more range, you lower tow capacity. Everything is here, just need the battery to catch up. Right now it is up to the buyer, if fits your operation, that is good.

 

It's obvious this RAMs marketing video was directed at the F150 and has fired a shot at Ford's Lightning with some comedy injected to reduce the blow, but we'll see how well they execute their technology. Having said that, at this point if I were interested in an EV truck, I would wait for the RAM truck performance results, knowing the F150 is unacceptable for my needs at this time.

 

If they're talking about two different power trains to improve range then why don't they just concentrate on the Hybrid system?

I've seen exactly one Lightning at my local dealer and just one in the wild though not the same truck. This truck is cost prohibitive for anyone who can't write a check for at least half of the MSRP and yet Ford states that they are all selling and can't build them fast enough. If that's the case, where are they?

 

Modern hybrid systems are much simpler than a plug-in hybrid. The batteries are tiny(think 1-2 kWh vs. 20-40 kWh) and the electric powertrain doesn't have to be anywhere near as powerful. You gain a lot of complexity when you build a system that's robust enough to move the truck on battery power for more than a few feet at a time. The video I shared above shows just how much complexity is added.

It's much simpler than a gas powertrain by itself, but stuffing both into a vehicle is a packaging and design nightmare. A full EV is much simpler than a conventional ICE-powered truck. Add in a gas powertrain and you've become much more complicated than 90% of the vehicles made today.

They're out there, but I suspect their order books will get much smaller unless they do something about their pricing. Many of us initially made the deposit before the ~40% price hike for 2023. Every Lightning that goes to a dealer comes at the request of a customer who agrees to the deal before the truck is even made. Sooner or later, their production will chew through that pent-up demand. I think that will happen even faster if GM holds the line on pricing.

I pulled my Lightning reservation when I bought my Model Y. It's an EV that will pull my boat, so I don't have a use case for a Lightning that would cost $20K more. I'll look at an electric pickup in a few years when there's more competition. The price wars are raging in the SUV/CUV segment, and we will soon have electric pickups from Ford, GM, Stellantis, Tesla, Rivian, and perhaps the Volkswagen group fighting for our dollars. The market will look very different three years from now.

 

And yet....Ram continues to give ZERO numbers, specs, or goals for their truck. They make claims and show off doo-dads but they never give us numbers. Price? Range? Payload? Charging speed? Anything?

 

I still think we are in the infancy of electric vehicles, more of a Trinket with limited use, if it meets your needs, great. Price does not even come into my thoughts of owning one, I watch, talk to EV owners, everyone has different experiences or reasons. Practicality for me is just not there yet, I eye balled a couple of Mach E's and they disappeared, even the dealer charge station. I didn't ask, I know one tech at that particular dealer, get the skinny of what happened someday. I drive a Grand Cherokee and the 4xE will be like the Diesel they offered and soon disappear.

Salesmen, I loathe them. One day they are selling carpet and refrigerators, next day they are experts on vehicles. Then you have the Ron Popeil sales guy.........

 

Jesus Christ they just announced they were making one this month, give them some time to get it all worked out on the drawing board. They're not due to start production until the end of next year.

 

How many more times are you going to regale us with how much an ev isn't your cup of tea?

 

There are 2 sides and debate is healthy. We know you backed out on your purchase.

 

There's debate and there's beating a dead horse, guess which category your posts fall into. And yes I did back out of not 1 but 3 different makes of ev's for very good reasons.

1) Rivian flip flop bait and switch bs lead me to not have trust in the company itself.
2) Ford same as #1 but still some what trust them as they are established.
3) Chevy body style never grabbed my attention like I thought it might and I still might look at it again when the time comes.
Now I'm looking at the Ram and yes I did put a deposit down on it, we'll wait and see what shakes out of their tree and I might back out of that one, so what's your point? My point is people are getting sick and tired of all the ev hate you and others like you espouse on a constant basis, WE GET IT ALREADY! Don't buy one and move on!

P.S. I got one of those pocket fisherman poles for my 10th bday, first cast it went about halfway out locked up, bait slung off, line and hook fell into the weeds and the reel wouldn't budge. I tossed the whole damned thing in the river.

 

I think there are plenty of use cases where a full BEV won’t work with current technology. To pull long distances, you’d need much bigger batteries and pull-through charging stations. I don’t think we’ll see either for the foreseeable, but that doesn’t mean people who tow aren’t curious about the technology.

I think a gas-powered range extender would add enough complexity to make for compromises that aren’t worthwhile, but Ram has the opportunity to prove me wrong. I hope they do.