Tacoma -vs Ranger 2019 sales figures...it aint pretty

Just think about it. No more oil stains on the driveway, water pumps, belts, replacing corroded exhaust systems, spark plugs, air filters, oil changes, complicated and expensive to repair automatic transmissions, transfer cases, etc.

 

And no more bitching about low end torque, you can go 0-60 in 2.9 seconds if you would like.

 

How much will the batteries cost to replace? The electric motor when it goes? They’re not just buy once and drive forever.

 

Hmmm, interesting. Thanks for the detailed answer. I've read some pretty disconcerting stuff about our grid down here in the states, and we have issues with brownouts due to current consumption that the grid can't handle. I wonder how much power rates are gonna rise in order to pay for the infrastructure improvements that will probably be needed?

 

My wife and I own a convenient store and sell gas and diesel. I see dump trucks fueling up everyday paving new roads, repaving old roads, hauling debris off where they are clearing lots for houses, hauling all kinds of stuff, log trucks hauling logs to the mill, etc. A lot of the people around here are hauling this stuff with old trucks because they can’t afford a new dump truck, they for sure won’t buy a new electric one to save the planet. Gas and diesel vehicles will never go away.

 

It’s not without its challenges, especially in areas where infrastructure maintenance and upgrades have been deferred. The problem is not unsolvable, mind you, and does not require any new technology. As I mentioned, it is fairly easy to just keep burning the oil, but to make electricity, if that’s the quickest solution to meet growing demand coming from consumers who want EVs, because they are the new yoga pants.

 

The steam station that provides power to us bought the gas company that provides natural gas in this area and guess what? They are running a gas pipeline to the steam station so they can quit burning coal.

 

Owning that old diesel dump truck is going to become an extremely expensive hobby. As demand decreases in the urban centres, the cost of fuel is going to skyrocket in rural areas, because the burden of refining, storing, and transporting the fuel will fall wholeheartedly on the remaining pay-at-the-pump consumers.

When it goes, it’s gonna go. You’ll be in or out.

 

F250 Superduty with the 7.3 L Powerstroke was was an outstanding vehicle. Just sayin’

 

I don’t think we have anything to worry about anytime soon. See all these little dots? That’s the tank farm on the gas pipeline that runs through the city beside us. I’m guessing these tanks are a million gallons each? This is only a handful of them in the picture.

 

I was talking to a fellow who works in grid management at our large Utility in British Columbia (BC Hydro). He told me this:

In the foreseeable future: the rich folk, and middle classes will all buy EVs. The poor are going to have to take the (electric) bus.

He was referring to the fact that the cost of owning an old gas-powered car “beater” will be beyond the reach of low income families once everyone else goes EV. They won’t be able to afford to fuel it, and there won’t be a gas station anywhere close if you wanted to.

 

As mentioned, we are not ending up with EVs because we are out of oil, or to save the planet. It’s because that’s what most people want. The driving force is the consumer demand for these vehicles. We can certainly keep burning the oil to make electricity, power ships, make plastic etc. Oil isn’t over, it’s just not necessarily going to be carried around as gasoline inside our cars, which is fine. I don’t see an issue, especially when EVs will be better performing trucks and cars.

 

I don’t think most people want an electric car. I know I only know one or two people that may admit to wanting one. The rest would look at you with a silly face.

 

I just don't know that's it's that simple. I work in road construction, and it's already absurdly expensive. All the equipment uses diesel fuel and there is no way it's gonna get replaced with some kind of electric engine equipment. And if it did that cost will get passed on to the DOT, which means the taxpayer. So fuel will still be available for commercial applications, and probably pretty easily attainable for people to get I would think for the foreseeable future.

 

I've wondered about how the power grid would handle electric cars as well and did some napkin math a while back. If I remember right, if every gas vehicle were replaced with electric today, it would amount to at most 20% of the US' total electricity usage. I didn't include diesel when doing this.

Over a period of a decade or two, this seems very attainable for our grid.

 

That’s changing. Even in motor sports. Again, I’m just responding to what I see. I’m not here to advocate anything.

 

This is really interesting, I would be curious to see how you arrived at that number. I'm assuming you have some base of knowledge of existing power demands and what the EVs would add to come up with this?

 

I think they mentioned in the video that their model X used 3.37 times more battery juice towing this 4460 lbs trailer. They almost got stranded, had to reduce speed, turned off AC and barely made it to the charging station.

BTW just ended a week long trip to Big Bend NP. Remote area. Didn't see a single Tesla while there. Saw a few Prius hybrid. Did Black Gap trail on my stock Tacoma. Fun times.

 

The grid pretty much sucks where I live, lots of power outages, can not imagine everyone around here plugging vehicles in.