Are Electric Trucks The Future? No, You're Wrong! Ep.2

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[christianvilcaromo]

Y’all forgot that electric isn’t affected by altitude.

[crowsfarm]

Nathan is arguing the present, but the debate is about the future.
And future ev looks awesome.
Points not mentioned are:
Regen while towing is a gamechanger, for range and control
Water and electric work fine together, submarines are electric...
No infrastructure... what? U telling me there are more gas stations then power outlets in the world? And there is nothing better then leaving home with a full tank everyday.

[Webcrawler]

Coal is only 32% of the US power grid. Also, even if a electric vehicle is powered 100% from coal based electricity it is still cleaner than any ICE that gets less than 45mpg. On the average grid that increases to over 50 mpg. On cleaner grids like the mid west and west coast that number jumps to about 90mpg.

[lambotama]

Nathan's arguments are pretty weak at best. Everything he brings up(aside from vehicles from companies not in production) is contingent upon current tech or old tech, and no argument is more outdated than the grid. Using coal to charge a car is exponentially more economical than going through the whole finding, mining, refining, shipping, storing, dispensing model of Fossil fuels. The American grid is already capable of handling the increased load of EVS. And the best thing about charging EVs from the grid is, every year the grid becomes more economic and renewable based, therfore making the EVs charged by the grid more economic and green. The only argument that holds weight against the EV is charging time and infrastructure, which is getting better every single year. Nathan's arguments live and belong in the past, not the future.

[ColeSpolaric]

Wow are you wrong Nathan. The electric grid wouldn't have to increase as electric vehicles can be set to charge at night when demand is low. And even if the electricity is produced with "dinosaur juice" it is still more efficient to generate electricity at a plant than using gasoline.

[Stevonoles]

Unfortunately, this will be the norm by 2030. Did anyone think 3 years after 1998 they would never use a film camera again? Uber is nothing but software, they own no vehicles but they are now the largest cab company in the world. Did the cab company's see that coming? GM, Ford and Dodge better be proactive or Tesla, Google and Apple will reinvent the car business.

[SirBoden]

Considering that the vast majority of trucks will never see a bed load over 200 lbs or tow anything, there’s definitely a place for electric trucks. An electric Toyota Tacoma would sell like hot cakes.

[acelee]

I'm honestly disappointed in how overwhelmingly negative they are about electric vehicles. They aren't perfect for every job. But there are a lot of jobs that they are great for. Everyone is worried about range especially with hauling, but combustion engines lose a ton of range as well. Their Ford F150 video that they just put ou was rated at 19 and under 10 for both the v8 and v6. Less than half the range. So if you have 400 mile range, and can still have over 200 miles with hauling, that's better than combustion engines. I think they are just sh*tting on electric vehicles just because they are unwilling to change

[pcpwcail]

As someone who owns a chevy bolt, which is full electric and also owns a powerwagon. If I I had my way my wagon would be electric, the torque and quietness of the electric motors would be sweet

[Spyder]

Towing something will lower range on an ICE truck too.

[logtothebase]

What I find compelling for me is that the electric cars I have driven were better cars than ICE for regular driving

[bbbf]

You guys have no idea .. (or rather Nathan is)
400 mile in day and you are not satisfied. I seriously would like to see how many days you actually do drive that are over 400miles. I doubt many
But 600 mile and 800mile range coming soon.
By way of example - My BMW i3 had 80 mile range in 2014, The 2016 model had 120mile, current model has 180mile and there is test model now out there supposedly with 400mile range. All contained in same size 380kg (800lb) battery pack.
And solid state batteries are on their way . You get the idea. There is rapid and exponential growth in range.

About the range: So let's say you've been driving for 12 hours straight on your 800 mile journey - no break, no retsroom stop (what a heroe)., , and yet you (Nathan) can't stop for 1 hour refuel yourself and let your truck charge-up to do another 12hour haul?
You sir, are a danger to yourself and to others on the road. My guess is you would be dog tired and would need not just a 1 hour rest but a proper night's sleep. Probably your macho truck man persona just wants to keep truckin' and won't admit it needs sleep.

p.s. if you did run out in middle of Moab (by the way - some bad planning there - and perhaps you deserve to be stuck and stranded ) then you don't necessarily need a tow out - you call up mobile battery truck (they exist!) and they come and charge you up to get you to nearest next stop.

[christopherhaueter]

Everyone needs to go watch "Engineering Explained" where he compares the emissions from producing and powering electric cars to emissions from gas and diesel cars/trucks. It's very informational.

[saoirsepaisley]

EV's don't have to be made out of exotic materials to give them a long range. My Model 3 is made mostly of steel, and has over 300 miles of range. And enough torque to blow the doors off of most of the ICE muscle cars out there =D Electric vehicles are the future, but it's okay if you don't believe that now. You'll believe it when you see it, when these trucks and cars are made, and they're outperforming gas-powered vehicles in every imaginable category.... torque, towing, speed, fuel cost, maintenance cost... and eventually, even range. Even then, some people will still want to drive gas trucks and/or cars, and that's totally fine. It's just that, at some point in the not-too-distant future, that will be akin to riding a horse today.

[RemoteSpeed]

Statistics show On average, Americans drive 29.2 miles per day, your electric car can have a full charge every morning after charging at home. In the event of a long trip, you use the chargers and wait 40-60 min, small price in time for not going to a gas station all year round. The small percentage of People that do long trips daily will be better served with an ICE-Hybrid for now, and will switch once faster charging is available for electric cars.
Electric will always win against ICE, just need to scale production and get the prices down, will eventually be much cheaper than ICE vehicles. (they use less components than an ICE equivalent)
Just like steam engines gave way to diesel engines in their time.(1950)

[Webcrawler]

I converted a VW Thing to electric drive in 2012. I loved the vehicle so much I bought a Tesla Model S in early 2014. After four years I bought a Model 3 and gave the wife the Model S which she loves. I put almost 100, 000 miles on my Model S including a few cross county trips. I kind of know that electrics are the future because they just make better vehicles.

[jghall]

The thing that most people miss in these discussions is (1) battery costs are dropping quickly as investment and production scales up and (2) the vehicles don't need to be fully electric to have a huge impact. A PHEV truck with 30 KWh battery could get 50+ miles of EV range, which would be perfect for daily driving and towing around town. You wouldn't burn a lick of gas during daily driving, and still retain towing capacity. The same vehicle with a turbo ICE, like the 3.0 turbo in the new Aviator, could be used to tow heavy loads over long distances without stopping to charge. The grid question is a none issue. Wind and solar deployments are increasing exponentially as costs continue to drop. Plus, most of these vehicles will charge at night when demand is very low. Widespread availability of PHEVs will turn more people on to the benefits of driving electric. From there, the transition to full electric will be easier as costs continue to drop.

[beastie_]

Apparently people don't realize this but researchers are pulling boats 3% effort and money into battery research that they're putting into gasoline
I guarantee you're going to have a thousand Mile pickup truck by 2030 that can recharge can 10 minutes
We do technically have the technology right now this just in very early stages and very hard to mass-produce like with all technology it will advance more and more and not 30 here's not in 70 years but probably less than 15
In 2008 flip phones and box TVs now we have send smartphones that have more computer power than they did in 1995 and TVs that are thinner than half a millimeter with a millimeter of bezels
Technology advances extraordinarily quickly but you can't look at the past and base your findings for the future

[tony_orto]

They ignore regenerative braking when towing.

[bbbf]

You guys have no idea...

It takes about 7kWh of electrical energy to actually drill, pump, process and distil that oil to get one gallon of gas. The oil rigs, refineries, oil lines don't run on magic pixie dust...ya know?
In a combustion engine car that one gallon of gas will get me about 30miles in a decent car . Funnily enough that 7kWh will get me the same miles in an electric.
In other words if you stop using electricity to produce the oil
and put it direct into battery - then you win. I don't need any extra electricity!

Truth is you do need some expansion - but the capacity of the electric grid hardly has to expand by very much at all - maybe 50% ove rnext decade to cope with all EV. Easily to do over 10 years
Can you do it tommorow - or by next week. No. But can be done