Captain Aggravated@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works

Replying to @⁨LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net⁩

An electric pickup isn’t a no-brainer for the US market. It’s a big-brainer.

Most EVs are shaped like running shoes for aerodynamics. Pickup trucks are big air smacking slabs. Larger pickup trucks advertise towing capacity as a major feature, EVs are bad at towing, again because of aerodynamics. The additional batteries and such required to make an EV pickup work are large, heavy and expensive. I think the technology needs to cook a bit before we get there.

Now on the compact pickup truck front…those are basically extinct. The Slate is almost a good attempt, the problem is it’s almost the anti-cybertruck. The Cybertruck is what you get when a billionaire nazi notices how thoroughly the drugs have emptied his scrotum. It’s the costume a truly awful male wears to cosplay as a man. The Slate is almost the equal and opposite, it’s what r/fuckcars thinks of when they start a sentence with “Can’t you just make do with…” A 20 year old S10 kicks the Slate’s ass in every way because the Slate is designed mostly to play dress-up like a barbie doll. They’re taking pre-orders but they won’t show you where the tie down points in the bed are.

jmp242@jmp242@sopuli.xyz

Replying to @⁨captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works⁩

Gas trucks suck fuel when towing too. It’s the nature of the task. The question mostly imo is - are you towing long distances? (well are you going long distances is a big EV question generally). If you’re towing stuff back from the hardware store then EV is fine for towing. If you’re doing some sort of small hauling job going hundreds of miles then not so much.

Where I end up is - how often generally are you towing? If it’s 2x a year or less - rent a truck and otherwise save craptons of money. I know - I have wasted 10k splitting a 2003 f250 with my sister to get a tractor home “and we would need to tow stuff semi regularly and renting from Enterprise was a PITA”. Yea sure - we used it for towing twice. Finally managed to sell it.

I think we tow more on a 8x10 landscape trailer for bringing lumber home etc and tow with my Outback and now Pilot than we tow with the 1500 we have for “bigger stuff”.

Though maybe that’s because we sort of stopped going to farm auctions…

en
Captain Aggravated@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works

Replying to @⁨jmp242@sopuli.xyz⁩

The folks who really care about tow ratings and range are those who have boats or campers. Which means they do road trips while towing. Do you want to tow a camper on a road trip in a rented vehicle?

Yes, gas trucks also suffer poorer fuel economy when towing. It’s less of a practical problem because it means more 10 minute fuel stops. With an EV, it means more 3 hour fuel stops. It’s fairly easy to equip a gas truck with a larger or additional fuel tank. My S10’s fuel tank is on the left side of the bed; it would be fairly trivial to mount another tank on the right side, or, a Blazer’s fuel tank isn’t that hard to install behind the axle where the pickup hangs its spare tire. Doubling or tripling a pickup truck’s range is something a guy can do at his house. It’s functionally impossible with an EV.