Tacoma Vs. Rivian

I definitely understand the life of simplicity and limited possessions. I live in a 20’ trailer and everything I own minus the trailer and truck fits in a 10x10 storage unit with plenty of room to spare. A lot of what is in the storage unit is stuff required for my job or things that I don’t actually use but haven’t gotten around to getting rid of yet.

 

You’re living the dream man!

Growing up in a family owned construction/distribution business, with all the vehicles, warehouses, and inventory. It is a ton to take care of, beyond over it. Now that I am older want to own as little as possible. Tell ya the less you own, the less stress. Bonus is that it is better for the environment too. 5 year plan is to sell most everything and do the RV thing. There is some debate on which consumes less resources the RV or a house. All depends how much you move around.

 

I know I use far less electricity and gas for my trailer than when I had a house. I think I averaged around 450kWh monthly at the house, now I use about 45kWh monthly but generate that from solar. Not sure what my natural gas usage was but I’m sure it was more than the 35ish gallons of propane I average per month now.

 

I wish that were the same in BC. The pay off, after having solar properly installed by certified electricians and inspected/approved + tied into the BC Hydro grid (crazy expensive) in one of the sunniest cities in the province, while using your electricity AND selling excess will take about 17 years to break even on the install. If you go full off-grid that's fine, but shit happens if batteries go or panels short circuit etc. Could be out of power for a little bit.

 

what size array did you have installed and at what cost ?

 

The looks of the Rivian ruin it for me. Hopefully future gens change the front end

 

It's not that much different here to be honest. If you purchase a solar system from a solar company the return ends up being close to 20 years.

It's a racket
I priced out a few systems and was getting quotes in the $50,000 to $60,000 range. Pricing the equipment myself put the hardware in the $30,000 range, you can't tell me there was $30,000 of labor costs in installing it. I could get a whole new roof, materials included, for $30,000.

 

Rivian to update towing cameras and other updates

Other features that will be included in future software releases are as follows:

• Towing profiles
• Integrating text messages on the screen
• Activating cameras via blinker
• Navigation improvements to support adventure planning
• Valet mode
• More entertainment apps
• Holiday modes

 

My friends and a couple clients in Tucson do the same. Was going to do mine, but knew we were moving. Solar makes sense in the Southwest. The ROI wasn’t the best, even if I kept that house as a rental. Takes years and years to get that back, I am not any younger, my days of becoming dust are getting closer.

I actually like the looks of the Rivian, totally unassuming non-chest thumping that everything else has become these days. Still a robot faced truck, but indifferent instead of angry. All business underneath, decent payload, and maybe too much torque and horsepower. Would take lower power ratings for more range.

Current styling of trucks, it is clear that the target market is insecure men with erectile disfunction. I mean…why else for the overcompensating design language ???¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

That is just the cost of doing business. Not a racket. Generally you take the cost of materials and double or triple it. These days more likely quadruple. Have to pay for overhead, and need to make a profit to pay for their private life.

18 years ago it was $25K if I did it myself. My grandfather was an electrician , so not much of a big deal me doing all the work. Still didn’t feel like spending $25k. Housing market crashed two years after I bought that house. Took 16 years to recover my losses from that.

 

Yeah, humans need very little to live on, however *they (governments and big industry) aren’t pushing “reduce, recycle, reuse” very much. What we are getting is buy the new shiny thing, and a lot of it. We live in a consumerist society, the goal is to keep on buying more and more. Keep on going the way we are going not much of the natural world will be left. Why I don’t think this major push to EVs has anything to do with saving the planet, and all to do with making a buck or trillion. It is going from exploiting oil, to exploiting minerals. I grew up in business, and own a couple myself, I get it, though I do things a bit differently. Believe in getting to a point then maintaining. Instead of the constant need for growth. My way of doing business is bad for business. The Elon Musks of the World frown upon guys like me.

I errr on the side of consuming less, it is economical for the individual, and easier on the environment. Not perfect, but certainly less impact.

Do like the EVs, though think we are going about it all wrong, not alone on that thought.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/a...c-vehicles-suv-battery-climate-safety/672576/

 

Well I still think Battery EV's are the middle man in a sense to hydrogen EV technology. As has been show, the impact of an EV and it's production is still less than an ICE after 2-4 years of ownership. And like every capitalist for profit company they are taking this EV transition and running with it. Just the way capitalism works.

 

I hire people, some of those are literal rocket scientists, others are experienced software developers or other functions, ALL of them have VERY restrictive certifications. At their rates (their cost, not the salary) $30,000 is six full weeks of effort.

Solar is not just competitive market pricing for what is mostly manual labor.

 

Of course the laborers get the shaft. The people who work the hardest get paid the least. Just think of those poor people in China assembling the panels, probably making next to nothing. Upper management will always reap the most reward. There is an old saying: “if people are willing to pay, charge them!”

Cost wise it is better for the homeowner to pay the local utility. Currently here in Idaho we get 70% of our energy from renewables, by 2045 they want it at 100%. Makes much financial sense just to pay the them, especially since we plan on leaving in 5-6 years.

There is a dirty little secret, we do import some of electricity from other states that use coal fired plants. Believe Oregon is one of them. If you think about, that is stored solar energy, all natural created by our planet and the sun, so there is that…

 

Not sure why you quoted me to just to have random ramblings on different topics.

Great, coal is natural, it's even organic and vegan. Doesn't mean us burning the crap out of it is natural in it's scale.

Are you purposely trying to segment the conversation off onto random topics so that it can't ever solidify into something cohesive you don't like, or are you doing it by accident? I really don't give a crap about your political agenda

 

Ummm dude, you quoted me…so I quoted you back. Are you ok? You seem full of hate and anger. Are we not casually talking about energy needs for recharging EVs? It isn’t going to magically appear. Mentioned what is going on here in Idaho, because of renewables, which is good right? However you have issues with that.

Apparently my little bits sarcasm being thrown in is waaaay over your head.

You have no idea what my political agenda is. You know what they say about assuming, right? Just because someone questions the motives of EVs, does not mean they belong to one particular political idealism. We aren’t allowed to discuss politics here, you can PM me if you really want to know what my party affiliation is. Probably not what you guess it is.

 

You have not "discussed" anything here, a discussion requires listening. We might have listened to you had you not just provided FUD.

Either way when pressed you just turn to petty insults and gaslighting.

And no, it's not hate, it's disgust.

But have fun, there is nothing to get from you I could't just get from Fox news anyways. Later

 

So.... how bout them Rivian's, huh?

 

Ha

Still kinda ugly but Tesla is close with a "hold my beer".

So what's this talk of another truck from Rivian? R2?

 

Lol! Sure I have, no one else seems to have issue with what I have discussed except you. If I upset you so much, suggest you put me on ignore.

I don’t watch Fox News, but keep on assuming. Not sure why you’re trying to drag politics into this. Sorry you’re dealing with your hate, anger, or disgust issues whatever you want to call it. Hope you the best. Have a wonderful day, perhaps go for a walk and get some fresh air. Don’t know about Oregon, but it is beautiful here, just got back from a bicycle ride, and hitting the trails tomorrow.