this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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Electric Vehicles
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Electric Vehicles are a key part of our tomorrow and how we get there. If we can get all the fossil fuel vehicles off our roads, out of our seas and out of our skies, we'll have a much better environment. This community is where we discuss the various different vehicles and news stories regarding electric transportation.
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If you're in the US, wait about a year and you'll have a bunch of better options from the traditional automakers.
The thing that makes Tesla compelling to me is their charger network, and Ford, GM, etc are adopting the Tesla standard in upcoming models. I think Ford is doing the switch in 2025.
I'm a truck guy, and the F150 lightning looks way, way more compelling than the Cybertruck, because they're making what I want. A truck that happens to be electric. Ford has been making F-series trucks for over 75 years and has made a pretty refined package in that time. They took that design, put in an electric motor and used the space savings for a frunk.
That's what I want. The revolution should be in how it's powered, not in how it operates.
The F150's design is nothing what it used to be, and it's a horrible car for road safety. But their branding is undoubtedly very successful, for the US-American market at least. And it's not like the competition hasn't been moving in the same direction.
The size isn't a branding thing. It's a US legal thing.
Since 2012, the CAFE (fuel economy) standards have been based on vehicle footprint, not classification. It's why 2011 was the last year model of the S10, Dakota, and Ranger.
As the CAFE standards get stricter and stricter, the auto companies have to make cargo vehicle footprints larger and larger. It's why when the Ranger was relaunched, it was bigger than the 2010 F150.
It's also why the small cargo van class of vehicle stopped existing in the last few years. The Transit Connect, Ram ProMaster City, and Nissan NV200 were all just discontinued because they can't make a cargo van with that footprint that meets the new CAFE regulations.
It's also why the Maverick has the hard-to-buy hybrid listed as the "standard" model with the traditional engine as the "upgrade."
Making the vehicles electric will allow them to start making them reasonably-sized again. Right now, the frame of the F150 is really large, and after the Mustang Mach E fiasco, Ford is scared to use a different chassis for the electric truck.
Give it a few generations, and it'll be perfect. In the meantime, the Lightning is still way better than the Cybertruck at almost everything, better than the Rivian for hauling things, and way cheaper than both.