You sure about that? The Cybertruck, ugly as it is, is a king size vehicle with plenty of range. There’s also the Rivian truck. Plenty of size and range. Hummer — huge, currently gets 315 miles on a full charge. Dodge RAM full size EV, will go 619 miles. Will be interesting to see what Scout ships.
But were these problems ever solved for non EVs? I mean the bigger and less aerodynamic the car, the more energy it takes to move it. That’s simple physics no matter what technology you’re using. That’s why IMHO SUVs and trucks are a pretty bad choice for an everyday vehicle.
Yes, they’re easily solved with a larger fuel tank that can take you further before refilling. “Doubling the range” on an ICE vehicle is as simple as some extra plastic/sheet metal with very little cost. The same isn’t true for battery packs. The physics of it is that gasoline and diesel have more energy density than lithium (or other current compounds) batteries.
Energy density of batteries is getting higher while prices are shrinking year by year. You can of course question if makes sense to keep throwing more and more batteries at a car with the size of a yacht instead of building a more efficient vehicle. But it’s not unresolveable.
The unresolveable from my perspective is the underlying physics of more weight, big tires (at slow speeds) and poor aerodynamics (at higher speeds) increase consumption. And that problem was there all the time.
If you want a decent electric pickup truck from the likes of Tesla or General Motors, be prepared to drain your bank account. The non-work-truck version of the 2025 Chevy Silverado EV starts at around $70,000 before destinations and fees. The Tesla Cybertruck starts at $79,990. The GMC Sierra EV starts at $92,000. They also have massive battery packs, as big as 212 kWh on the GMC Hummer EV, for example, and deliver terrible real-world efficiency.
Consequently, the sales of electric pickups didn’t look great in 2024. Sure, the Cybertruck was the best-seller among these EVs. However, the truck was once rumored to have a million-plus reservations, and Tesla was preparing a production capacity of over 250,000 units a year. Its sales fell far short at 38,965 units, according to Cox Automotive. Plus, the hype is already cooling off. Sales of Ford’s F-150 Lightning grew year-over-year but paled in comparison to gas-powered pickups. The company has had to cut production multiple times to keep it in line with demand.
“Retail customers have shown that they will not pay any premium for these large EVs, making them a really tough business case,” Farley said.
It’s not that they can’t be built, but not at prices most people can afford. And even then people can’t easily use those trucks for things like towing a fifth-wheel camper; they won’t be getting 400 miles range while hauling a 4 ton trailer behind the truck.
Of course, saying these problems can’t be solved is a cop out. Maybe they can’t be solved now with current technologies, but we’re still very early in exploring what electric powertrains can do. Look how far we’ve come in the last ten years, and imagine what could happen in the next ten!
You sure about that? The Cybertruck, ugly as it is, is a king size vehicle with plenty of range. There’s also the Rivian truck. Plenty of size and range. Hummer — huge, currently gets 315 miles on a full charge. Dodge RAM full size EV, will go 619 miles. Will be interesting to see what Scout ships.
Yeah, they added more weight with more batteries but they didn’t solve the problem.
But were these problems ever solved for non EVs? I mean the bigger and less aerodynamic the car, the more energy it takes to move it. That’s simple physics no matter what technology you’re using. That’s why IMHO SUVs and trucks are a pretty bad choice for an everyday vehicle.
Yes, they’re easily solved with a larger fuel tank that can take you further before refilling. “Doubling the range” on an ICE vehicle is as simple as some extra plastic/sheet metal with very little cost. The same isn’t true for battery packs. The physics of it is that gasoline and diesel have more energy density than lithium (or other current compounds) batteries.
But how is that an unresolveable problem?
Energy density of batteries is getting higher while prices are shrinking year by year. You can of course question if makes sense to keep throwing more and more batteries at a car with the size of a yacht instead of building a more efficient vehicle. But it’s not unresolveable.
The unresolveable from my perspective is the underlying physics of more weight, big tires (at slow speeds) and poor aerodynamics (at higher speeds) increase consumption. And that problem was there all the time.
From the article:
It’s not that they can’t be built, but not at prices most people can afford. And even then people can’t easily use those trucks for things like towing a fifth-wheel camper; they won’t be getting 400 miles range while hauling a 4 ton trailer behind the truck.
Of course, saying these problems can’t be solved is a cop out. Maybe they can’t be solved now with current technologies, but we’re still very early in exploring what electric powertrains can do. Look how far we’ve come in the last ten years, and imagine what could happen in the next ten!
Escalade IQ also looks amazing, is a gigantic suv and has a 460 mile range.