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A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

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Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#171

Post by 7thaccount »

brad0 wrote: post #41

I put down $50 to reserve one. I grew up with an old car that I tinkered with endlessly. Mostly because it was simple enough for me to get my head around! This car reminds me of that time. I'm hoping that they go with a lot of "off-the-shelf" electronics and mechanical parts. Standards are a blessing. It feels like they're going with a different business model to traditional car manufacturers. AFAIK most manufacturer…

You could buy an old Volkswagen bug (not the new models) for cheap. They are dead simple too with tons of parts available.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#172

Post by alistairSH »

~$30k for a manual-window, slow-charging truck? Will anybody in the US actually want one?

It's a cool concept... looks good to my eye, small trucks are neat, etc. But, I'd want push-button windows, up-to-date charge controller/battery tech, and the normal EV integrated app. Maybe if it was really a $20k truck (they're advertising the price after incentives, many of which are either going away or vanish for higher income earners).

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#173

Post by quantadev »

This Truck is gonna be a big Hit with consumers!

But once it starts selling like hotcakes they'll jack up the price to "Whatever the Market will Bear" relative to how many they're able to produce.

With most people struggling to get by nowadays (economically) we'll love the "less gadgetry" option because all that advanced technology stuff (and I do mean even power windows!) is, as my father always said, "Just something else that's going to eventually break, and was designed so it must be replaced not repaired."

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#175

Post by Nux »

taylodl wrote: post #43

I LOVE it! THIS is the kind of truck I'd be looking at to replace my 1998 Ford Ranger. Here is what could be potential deal-breakers: - Lack of a mobile app. Minimalist design is great, but I still want an app to manage charging and be alerted to any vehicle issues. - Lack of good charge management and battery conditioning. Either that, or a cheap and easy to replace battery pack. I'd really like both! - Comparable h…

Hopefully it comes with an OBD socket you can connect to as with all other cars.

That should provide basic diagnostics/stats. No need for "apps".

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#176

Post by dogline »

stefan_ wrote: post #66
dogline wrote: post #11

It's a $20k, street-legal, EV modding platform. Sounds like you can mount your own infotainment system. Just an electric motor, battery, and chassis, and the rest is up to you. Isn't this what we've been asking for?

Is it? They show speakers mounted in the front as a "soundbar". Will people figure out there is a reason cars with good sound systems have them mounted all around the vehicle?

I just want some power ports and good mounting points, then I can put whatever I want there, and upgrade it. I'd imagine that people will come up with a mountable radio kit, like the DIN format radios of old, but with less restrictions.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#177

Post by instaclay »

ryandrake wrote: post #136
taylodl wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd want the mobile app to be an auxiliary, not a requirement for operating the truck. Keep the dashboard simple.

I'd be worried that once an app got a foothold into the product, the company would be unable to resist the urge to spread the app's tentacles across the entire vehicle, adding connectivity and telemetry and DRM, integrating it into the other car's systems, adding remote-this and wireless-that, and then inevitably the product would end up just like the turd cars we have today.

I have a iron filter that works via app. All configs can be done with button presses on the valve but in a much more tedious process/workflow.

It connects via bluetooth and not WiFi. If the company goes belly up, I'd just need the APK and an android phone to continue using the app to configure the valve and see/download water usage data.

Fast forward 20 years when I can't install the APK on android v79, I'd need an older phone to run the APK.. but that seems to be pulling hairs.

Apps would be great, it's how you handle the backend to it that's the gotcha.

I also have a water softener with an app that no longer works that had it's backend shut down. It can still be configured via the valve head button presses, but none of the "smart" usage data is available. As an example of good design, this is a perfect dichotomy of one company doing it well and one company doing it un-well[sic].

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#179

Post by danans »

ldoughty wrote: post #147
danans wrote: post #90

From the related Ars article[1]: > Rather than relying on a built-in infotainment system, you'll use your phone plugged into a USB outlet or a dedicated tablet inside the cabin for your entertainment and navigation needs. How is a "dedicated tablet" different than an infotainment system, other than not having vehicle telematics and controls? Also, a regular tablet UX would be dangerous while driving, and typically th…

It's exactly what I think a lot of techies want. Highly technical people tend to come in two varieties when it comes to electronics in their personal life: 1. Absolutely nothing smart that's not under their direct (or highly configurable) control. 2. Sure just take all my data I don't care. I'll pay subscriptions fees too. Modern cars mostly do #2... to the point we potentially faced a subscription being required to…

It's not clear what they mean by "dedicated tablet". If it's an integrated add-on provided by the company that just does Android-Auto/CarPlay, then that seems OK. If it's just a holster for a tablet, not so much.

> It's exactly what I think a lot of techies want.

> Highly technical people tend to come in two varieties when it comes to electronics in their personal life:

I get it, I'm one of them. But using a tablet while driving is fundamentally dangerous to other people on the road, drivers or pedestrians. Android Auto and CarPlay are barely constrained enough to allow for distraction free driving.

I've lost hope that we're going back to days of people actually paying attention to the task of driving (even I take phone calls and play media while driving), but normalizing distraction by encouraging use of a tablet or phone seems like a public safety mistake, even if it appeals to the techie crowd.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#180

Post by seplox »

hansvm wrote: post #87
ty6853 wrote: post #35

I love it. However I wonder about the overlap between people that need a truck and this particular truck. I have only owned trucks when I needed to go out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere with a payload, in places with poor access to electricity. If I need to go in bumfuck nowhere without payload then there is no need for the truck, and if I need a payload in the city it's just way way cheaper to have it delivered wh…

I definitely worry about the ability of this thing to drive through a couple feet of water safely.

I mean... the same should be said for pretty much every vehicle. The F150 maxes out at the bottom of the hubs.
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