First Off the Road Dead

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Gas is almost $5 a gallon right now, how much non-hybrid cars on the road in Seattle are making 80mpg?

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Hey, at least they are making these changes to be more profitable…or and better serve the customers.  The statement for “increased profits” was made more than once in the article. Honestly the idea advanced hybrids and focusing on smaller EVs and “extended range EVs” sounds great on paper, but I can only imagine their quality will nose dive with all these reshuffling and drastic changes.  I think the idea of hybrids that run on electric for the first 40-50 miles (which already exists) before the gas motor kicks on is a great option for a lot of people. Electric for the daily drive but extended range for the occasional road trip. 

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Those are all the things I would take an EV for. EVs can run the AC for a week in the woods off one charge. EVs can crawl off road at walking speed for days. You’d need a lake of fuel to do that in a gas vehicle.

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All of the big 3 do a shitty job with EVs. Let me explain. Either they don't actually want to make a good car. Or they don't know how to make a good car. The EVs have been underpowered, with middling ranges, with prices that are too high to make sense for almost anyone. The hybrid is what they should have been doing 20 years ago. but instead they laughed in oil. They kept full ICE vehicles and put an outrageous markup on EVs and anything close to a Hybrid. Teslas would probably still sell really well if Elon hadn't gone and got into politics. The problem is, conservatives tend to dislike EVs. And there is a lot to dislike EVs from a visceral level. 1.) They take at a minimum 30-45 minutes to fully charge. At best. Is that a long time, well, when you're used to 2-5 minute fill up times, yes. It's a long ass time. If you run out of energy on the side of the road, a tow truck or an electric generator is the only thing that can help you now. 2.) They cost more than comparable ICE Cars. They use less parts, but the parts are more expensive. They also know that people who want an EV will pay through the nose for it. At least that was the thought. They saw Teslas and thought - Boy, I bet we could crank out a piece of shit EV and it would sell like hot cakes... Except, The reason why Teslas were so coveted, is Elon made an expensive car, that was fun. It seemed futuristic, and it didn't feel like he was shitting them out as the lowest bidder. And the ones that he was shitting out, those were priced similar to a midsize sedan and STILL went faster and further than the Big 3's EVs. paying an extra 20k for a car, just doesn't work. 3.) They don't have as many options as ICE cars. They are so worried about making a car that goes as far as an ICE car, that they cut out all the bells and whistles because it reduces range. 4.) They are heavier, and thus cannot pull as much as an ICE vehicle. And lose charge when under load (not much different than a big engine using more gas, but the difference is, the ICE F150 has a towing capacity of 8,200lbs - 13,500lbs. vs the Lightning of 7,000 -10,000lbs.) 3,500 lbs is significant. especially if you're buying the truck to tow. 5.) They have a maximum range that is less than a current ICE vehicle, and the re-fill structure isn't nearly as well developed as ICE vehicles. And they haven't cracked the code on fast refill. 6.) EVs are a direct competitor to most of the secondary market for the auto industry. - The companies that make the parts (replacement and otherwise) for the cars are suddenly not going to have as many parts, meaning hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs are gone. Your car doesn't need an exhaust, anything in the engine block, it needs 4 identical motors, (well maybe 2 sets of 2), you need chassis and suspension, you need, electrical, a heater, an AC, a wiper system. But the big ticket items of a transmission and engine are gone. replaced with a battery pack and wiring harness. 7.) Range anxiety is a stupid but real thing. Oh no, my car only gets 200 miles to the charge. The average rural driver drives around 40 miles per day. Do some drive more than that? yes. But we're talking averages. That is from home, to work, and all side trips, 40 miles. In the harsh winter that means you're probably needing to charge due to the 39% drop in efficiency (ICE vehicles tend to use 15-24% more gas on cold days). But it's still WELL within the range that most people drive per day. but because it's not 500+ miles, we all freak the out. 8.) The Oil and gas industry is literally a MAJOR part of the american economy. It is one of the largest employers in the US, and you won't find most of its workers switching to EVs anytime soon. That's like watching someone from GM drive a Toyota. Here's what Tesla did to make themselves successful. 1.) They pulled an APPLE. They made something fun, that just seemed to work. 2.) They were a vertical monopoly. They build all the components themselves. ALL of the software/hardware was developed by Tesla, all of the batteries were built by Tesla. That's HUGE difference in how the software worked. It's why most other makers touchscreens and media centers feel like total dogshit. Because every component was made by a different manufacturer. And all told to "Just work together". Instead of building a single unified software/hardware package. They had tons of individual lines doing a segment, then slapped them into a different hardware package. And it feels clunky and unintuitive. Because they KNEW we'd buy it no matter what. afterall, almost no one chooses a car based on the media center. So why spend the money on it, just make it mostly functional. The problem is, most of the parts to these cars are the same way. They work, and they mostly work together, but they don't feel made for the vehicle they are going in. instead they feel like they are just sourced from a big bin of "generic parts" and made to fit. It's really just a slap in the face of anyone who wants to be in one. They are actively made them underpowered. You know what sold 50% of the people on a tesla. Insanity mode. The ability to go from 0-60 in about 3 seconds. That sold more Teslas than ANY OTHER THING. The next biggest thing was "He released an update over the air, increasing range , no need to take it in, it just updates wirelessly." It was cool, dangerous as fuck and not a great idea to allow a car to be "always tied to the manufacturer" but cool. It is hard to sell "We purposefully made your life harder, to help you". Hybrids are a good route for them to take. it allows them to figure out the fucking battery problems, it gets everyone used to the angel halo sounds, and excitement at getting more than 20mpg while still driving a big ass SUV. and they can charge "a bit" more. Not waaay more, but a bit more. Politics of the current admin wanting to gobble Oil Exec's giblets while handing their asses to OPEC. All while basically cutting out ANY price incentives AND adding tariffs to all foreign cars and any EVs and EV parts. It makes sense that for the next 3 years or so Ford, and GM are going to say "We can't survive a lack of demand" And instead of learning the "lesson we keep trying to teach you old man" they are going to just stop, and switch only to hybrids. Which is still a step, but a 1/2 step at best. But you know what... maybe this will give them the chance to figure out how to make a decent car.

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I wouldn't call it a stopgap necessarily. This really gives you the majority of the benefits of battery electric, with none of the range anxiety. In some respects, it's just a better solution for the way we drive in the US currently, especially for those long road trips. Sure, you do have a small gas engine to maintain and the associated weight, but you do actually get a ridiculous amount of electrically propelled range from these systems vs a regular battery electric.

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Ford finding out the only reason ppl buy F150s is to be an asshole on the road. They want loud noises to tailgate with and spread exhaust to pedestrians, not whining EV noises

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Whole world is fake and 🌈 and everybody is pretty much in on it. Don’t care if I die anymore. People will sit there with a straight face and argue they should be allowed to camp the left lane. Half the people on the road are 1,000 years old. And this is just my need to like get around to do all the other shit I don’t want to do. Which you assholes are also in the way of. Have fun dude I’ve been to the grocery store on winter nights enough to know that the cold and dark you feel when you come outside and you’ve grabbed another bag of calories to sustain you for the next round of absurdity—yeah that’s all there is. It doesn’t get any better. And then you die. And all the while you’ve got a bunch of dumbass apes around you like “ooh ooh football and McDonalds life good mm” and it’s just like dude fire me out of a cannon 

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Solid point but I would think bumper height also plays a pretty significant role in the severity of collision damage. I saw a great YouTube video on how bigger cars make everyone on the road way less safe. Found it: https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo?si=EQv80og6PnljgaM8 It’s a long one!

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F150 Lightening and Cybertruck have like zero overlap in audience. People buying the F150 Lightening wanted an electric F150, people who bought cybertrucks wanted a "exoctic" car to stand out, and to throat Elon. Rivian is way up market with the R1T and it's range drops to half at like 50% towing capacity. Rivian has way more crossover with people buying top trim Rangers & Colorado/Canyons and probably upmarket "off road" SUVs as well than than the F150. Silverado EVs are nonexistent except for municipalities buying them to hit their EV requirements. I've literally never once seen am EV Silverado without county/state decals. Business class trucks that tried EVs also had nonexistent sales for the same reason as the F150. People are looking for an EV equivalent to their ICE trucks and unfortunately the range goes to zero the second you tow or load anything. Great opportunity my ass lmao, EVs are still garbage for people who want to use an actual truck.

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