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'We're going to electrify the F-Series,' Ford exec says

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Re: 'We're going to electrify the F-Series,' Ford exec says

#111

Post by tlb »

Scoundreller wrote: post #93
secabeen wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plus however long it takes to drive to u-haul, wait for them to check-out the trailer, hook it up, use it, then drive back to u-haul, return it, etc. Time is money.

Trailers should lend themselves well to the sharing economy, no? Minimal maintenance, largely stored sitting idle, no cleaning required. You don't even need to unethically deem your workers as contractors.

Untrained people pulling poorly maintained trailers with under-sized vehicles and without the brake lights hooked up properly because there are several connector standards will cause a lot of wrecks.

Re: 'We're going to electrify the F-Series,' Ford exec says

#112

Post by madengr »

mikekchar wrote: post #106
StillBored wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started driving a truck 15 years ago after a number of sports cars/sedans/etc. I will never go back. Its not insane when you consider any number of factors, starting with the fact that Americans are BIG. As a large person myself (although not overweight), I'm here to tell you that what a 120 pound 5'6" person finds comfortable frequently is painful for me. Second, I spend upwards of 2+ hours a day sitting my my car…

Interestingly (perhaps?) we got a Leaf a few months ago and the biggest thing that surprised me is that it is massive inside. I guess because the battery is stored under the floor. Although I have relatively short arms for someone my height (5' 10"), I still think it's instructive to say that when I'm sitting in the passenger seat, I can't touch the dash without leaning forward. And, again, I have slightly shorter le…

Ditto on the Leaf. I’m 6’5” and still have 2” headroom, and most importantly, clear line of sight (not looking into visor).

I can also put the seat all the way back and still fit someone behind me.

It has much more passenger room than my Toyota truck. Very happy with it.

Re: 'We're going to electrify the F-Series,' Ford exec says

#113

Post by nradov »

exabrial wrote: post #16

I really hope they don't ignore fuel cell technology or other phase change energy storage systems when they do this. Batteries are not convenient for the vast amount of their consumers in non population dense areas. (For those of you from cities, an F150 is a status symbol everywhere else in the USA).

Fuel cells appear to be a dead end. There's no efficient way to produce hydrogen, unless electric power becomes far cheaper than it is today.

Re: 'We're going to electrify the F-Series,' Ford exec says

#114

Post by zaroth »

mikekchar wrote: post #106
StillBored wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started driving a truck 15 years ago after a number of sports cars/sedans/etc. I will never go back. Its not insane when you consider any number of factors, starting with the fact that Americans are BIG. As a large person myself (although not overweight), I'm here to tell you that what a 120 pound 5'6" person finds comfortable frequently is painful for me. Second, I spend upwards of 2+ hours a day sitting my my car…

Interestingly (perhaps?) we got a Leaf a few months ago and the biggest thing that surprised me is that it is massive inside. I guess because the battery is stored under the floor. Although I have relatively short arms for someone my height (5' 10"), I still think it's instructive to say that when I'm sitting in the passenger seat, I can't touch the dash without leaning forward. And, again, I have slightly shorter le…

Do you own a house? Do you do work on it yourself? Do you maintain a lawn?

How about sporting activities? Own a boat? A snowmobile? A few kayaks maybe? Dirt bike?

I assume you have a trash pickup at your place. You know a lot of towns don’t, and you have to haul your own trash to the town dump?

Perhaps there are a million reasons why it’s great in your life to not own or even feel like you need a car. Perhaps there are a million other reasons people want and need a truck to drive.

Personally, once I started maintaining a house and an acre of land, the way I wanted to maintain it, it gets very difficult having to wait hours for someone to return with the Home Depot truck because I need to get xyz thing home. I mooch off my brother a lot to move heavier equipment around, because he has a truck and a trailer, but there are a lot of projects I can’t get done for lack of a proper work vehicle.

I order a lot of stuff off Amazon. But every time I’ve tried ordering groceries I’ve regretted it. Mostly because they insist on delivering from a store 13 miles away when there’s a perfectly good Whole Foods 3.5 miles down the road, and it just seems so asinine.

Re: 'We're going to electrify the F-Series,' Ford exec says

#115

Post by slededit »

graycat wrote: post #66
azhenley wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the OP, but I've recently had several similar discussions with friends/family about trucks when I bought my Tesla. I live in Tennessee, a popular truck area. They claimed to like trucks for the convenience. Being able to throw stuff in the back and not have to think about whether it will fit in a car. While I do understand this advantage, it would only help me 2-3 times a year, and I aim to optimize for the 95% o…

I like light trucks because they are for people who plow snow, carry bricks, lumber, cinder blocks, lawn mowing equipment, hogs, chickens, bails of hay, etc. in all weather over all roads and even no roads. E.g., there is good ground clearance for charging through snow, over rough ground, jumping curbs, etc. The suspensions are stiff, rugged, and long lasting, can take bad bumps and keep going with no damage. The lig…

I’m guessing your not happy with Ford and GM’s all new aluminum beds then?

Re: 'We're going to electrify the F-Series,' Ford exec says

#118

Post by mastrsushi »

I have a really worried feeling about this. Don't get me wrong, it needs to happen, but why start off the transition with commercial? It's the consumers who are concerned with buying gas, environmental, and politics. The elephant in the room is Tesla and of course every auto company will follow, further eating into the consumer sedan to SUV market. So why doesn't Ford start there, then work there way up to migrate its trusted largest asset F-Series? I worry Ford is about to look really stupid, sticking out like a sore thumb.

Re: 'We're going to electrify the F-Series,' Ford exec says

#119

Post by darkpuma »

sjwright wrote: post #58
ip26 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... Although now I'm reminded of the bit I read recently that noted in thirty minutes a two-stroke leaf blower emits as much CO & NOx pollution as driving an F-150 3,800 miles. https://www.citylab.com/life/2016/11/the-case-against-neighb...

Possibly, as two stroke burns oil intentionally. But the actual volume of carbon dioxide emissions is a function of the volume of fuel consumed. A small handheld tool won’t use much fuel compared to the (napkin math) 500 liters of petroleum in the vehicle.

Note that he said CO not CO2. Carbon monoxide is produced from incomplete combustion, which two stroke engines are notorious for. Leaf blowers lacking catalytic converters (which as the name suggests, catalyze the conversion of incomplete combustion byproducts like CO) only make this worse.

Re: 'We're going to electrify the F-Series,' Ford exec says

#120

Post by protomyth »

make3 wrote: post #28
ProfessorLayton wrote: post #14

This is a big deal. The F-Series is the single most popular vehicle in the US, and nearly 900K of them are sold every year! In fact, the top 3 models in the US are F-Series, Silverado, and Ram, so the environment will definitely appreciate the electrified competition the F-Series will force.

I can't believe that pickups are the three most sold models in the US. That's really insane. https://www.businessinsider.com/best-selling-cars-and-trucks...

Think fleet vehicles and you will get a lot of those numbers. https://www.fleet.ford.com/
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