So... How about them gas prices?

[Mr. Flibble]

Remember the oil shocks from OPEC in the 1970s? The demand for consumers to move away from big car boats with V8's to little Honda Civics that sipped on fuel was a pretty big sea change.

I am willing to bet that the current price shocks in oil are about to help accelerate the demand for EV's in a pretty big way.

What do you think?

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[vandy1981]

I was thinking about this today. The Lightning is rolling out at a perfect time in history.

We have 1500-mile road trip planned in late May. Assuming $5/gallon gas, it would cost about $400 (@18 mpg) if we took our Ram 1500 Hemi eTorque and $1000 (@8 mpg) if we also towed our RV.

The same trip in the Lightning would cost $60 (@440 Wh/mile) without the trailer and $230(@950 Wh/mile) with the trailer per A Better Routeplanner.

Our build week is 5/2. If the Lightning arrives in time we'll be driving that for the trip. Otherwise, we'll probably just take the I-Pace and leave the camper and Ram 1500 at home.

 

[JimL]

We have 1500-mile road trip planned in late May. Assuming $5/gallon gas, it would cost about $400 (@18 mpg) if we took our Ram 1500 Hemi eTorque and $1000 (@8 mpg) if we also towed our RV.

The same trip in the Lightning would cost $60 (@440 Wh/mile) without the trailer and $230(@950 Wh/mile) with the trailer per A Better Routeplanner.

How long would the trip take with the Ram, and how much longer would it take with the Lightning -- recharging time? Serious question, I'm not trying do be a toolbag.

 

[parkerdog]

Everybody thinks the electric vehicles is going to solve our problems and be cheap. No one seems to be remembering how the infrastructure of all the roads is paid for by taxes on usually gas. (motor fuel tax)

The powers that be just haven't instituted the charges that are going to have to be paid to keep the lights on so to speak.

 

[vandy1981]

How long would the trip take with the Ram, and how much longer would it take with the Lightning -- recharging time? Serious question, I'm not trying do be a toolbag.

We'd have to spend about 2 hours charging to go 720 miles without a trailer. Most of that time would get eaten up with bathroom breaks, meals and dog walks on a gasoline powered trip anyway.

The trailer would be painful--around 6 hours of charging for the same distance. We'd probably split the trip into two days we'd do that with the trailer even if we took the Ram. In that case an overnight charge to 100% would knock an hour off the charging total.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

Everybody thinks the electric vehicles is going to solve our problems and be cheap. No one seems to be remembering how the infrastructure of all the roads is paid for by taxes on usually gas. (motor fuel tax)

The powers that be just haven't instituted the charges that are going to have to be paid to keep the lights on so to speak.

A good point. Where I live, my EV is Over-taxed with tags because of the lack of gas tax. Its really annoying that I pay about 10X what I would in gas taxes. I am sure government being what it is will figure out a solution to this right quick, they dislike not being able to tax things.

 

[JimL]

We'd have to spend about 2 hours charging to go 720 miles without a trailer. Most of that time would get eaten up with bathroom breaks, meals and dog walks on a gasoline powered trip anyway.

The trailer would be painful--around 6 hours of charging for the same distance. We'd probably split the trip into two days we'd do that with the trailer even if we took the Ram. In that case an overnight charge to 100% would knock an hour off the charging total.

Great insight, thanks. I just wish the Lightning wasn't so danged expensive.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

We have 1500-mile road trip planned in late May. Assuming $5/gallon gas, it would cost about $400 (@18 mpg) if we took our Ram 1500 Hemi eTorque and $1000 (@8 mpg) if we also towed our RV.

The same trip in the Lightning would cost $60 (@440 Wh/mile) without the trailer and $230(@950 Wh/mile) with the trailer per A Better Routeplanner.

Yeah, we have a long road trip coming up this summer. We won't be getting our lightning until next year (2023 model year - not selected yet in waves). We will be driving through Canada, where gas prices are much worse than here in the US. So it is going to hurt. Our current EV cannot manage that kind of trip - so diesel it is then. Its going to be costly.

 

[rdr854]

Everybody thinks the electric vehicles is going to solve our problems and be cheap. No one seems to be remembering how the infrastructure of all the roads is paid for by taxes on usually gas. (motor fuel tax)

The powers that be just haven't instituted the charges that are going to have to be paid to keep the lights on so to speak.

Virginia has a special tax for EVs and fuel efficient vehicles that get 25 mpg or better.

 

[kevdog0710]

I am all for electric vehicles and I think it will be interesting learning how people plan trips, especially towing. I wish more people realized they are not clean, emissions free vehicles though. Batteries are an issue and they are charged in 80 percent of the cases with coal.
Does anyone know what the carbon offset is? Is it less, more? I always heard the Prius was an ecological disaster, is that true of Ford EV's?

 

[F150ROD]

Gas prices are set to stay at around $4.00 permanently $5.50 in California. They always go up and never come down to what it was, even when the price of a barrel goes down. There is always some excuse: refinery closed, summer gas, winter gas, someone farted…..

Whatever.

 

[beatle]

I am all for electric vehicles and I think it will be interesting learning how people plan trips, especially towing. I wish more people realized they are not clean, emissions free vehicles though. Batteries are an issue and they are charged in 80 percent of the cases with coal.
Does anyone know what the carbon offset is? Is it less, more? I always heard the Prius was an ecological disaster, is that true of Ford EV's?

So where are your sources for that? Coal provides 21.8% of the power in the US:

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

And the Prius being an ecological disaster? Here are the carbon break even points for several types of EVs and their respective energy sources:

https://www.reuters.com/business/au...lectric-vehicles-vs-gasoline-cars-2021-06-29/

 

[kevdog0710]

So where are your sources for that? Coal provides 21.8% of the power in the US:

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

And the Prius being an ecological disaster? Here are the carbon break even points for several types of EVs and their respective energy sources:

https://www.reuters.com/business/au...lectric-vehicles-vs-gasoline-cars-2021-06-29/

My post is a question mostly. I should have put "fossil fuel" rather than coal.

 

[Tell It Right]

I am all for electric vehicles and I think it will be interesting learning how people plan trips, especially towing. I wish more people realized they are not clean, emissions free vehicles though. Batteries are an issue and they are charged in 80 percent of the cases with coal.
Does anyone know what the carbon offset is? Is it less, more? I always heard the Prius was an ecological disaster, is that true of Ford EV's?

You make good points, though I don’t think nationwide 80% of our power comes from coal. Perhaps in some areas.
I don’t have an EV yet. But I do have a large 10kW solar system on my house with 30kWh battery storage. Plus my house is now all electric. Even if I do like planned and replace my old used gas truck with a Lightning, thus adding to my power consumption, I’ll still be pulling less power from the grid than I was before I went solar and before I converted my natural gas appliances to electric. This past year 55% of all power we consumed came from the solar system.
If I get an EV my wife and I already decided to double our solar panels and triple our storage. By my estimate 85% to 90% of all power will come from solar.

 

[kevdog0710]

You make good points, though I don’t think nationwide 80% of our power comes from coal. Perhaps in some areas.
I don’t have an EV yet. But I do have a large 10kW solar system on my house with 30kWh battery storage. Plus my house is now all electric. Even if I do like planned and replace my old used gas truck with a Lightning, thus adding to my power consumption, I’ll still be pulling less power from the grid than I was before I went solar and before I converted my natural gas appliances to electric. This past year 55% of all power we consumed came from the solar system.
If I get an EV my wife and I already decided to double our solar panels and triple our storage. By my estimate 85% to 90% of all power will come from solar.

I have solar on my house, no battery back up though.
I'm definitely off on the 80 percent and I should have qualified my post as fossil fuel, not coal.
I have a buddy with a Lightning reservation for his wife and a super duty on order. I told him thats like a vegan marrying the butcher!

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