I forgot to mention that makes the data collecting more attractive yet. I was in an industry that had front, both sides and rear facing drive cams. The telematics systems such as Qualcom/Omnitracks and ELD tracked your speed, braking, steering, shifting, acceleration, idle time, fuel use and every single thing you did in the truck. So this is not new to me and I actually like it.

All that data collecting saved my bacon when a car squeezed between me and a driveway during an Arco gas delivery. I heard a horn honk, looked in my rear view mirror and saw or felt nothing. I did hear the impact though. It happened all too fast. The Karen claimed I shoved her into the curb screaming at me the sheriff. I was investigated by panel of 2 drivers, my terminal manager, both Arco terminal/regional manager and safety management. I was found 100% in the clear after cameras and truck data determined I was not moving and idling for at least 10 seconds when she slammed into the back of the rig. It ended up in court and Karen perjured herself.

The only bad thing that came of it is the accident stayed on my DL939. It finally dropped off in 2019. It's a California thing. Anything more than 1000.00 damage or injury/death must be reported to the DMV within 10 days via SR1 form regardless of fault. It's a serious thing as you lose your license for a year if you fail to report. It then stays on your record for 10 years. Reputable companies don't like to hire drivers with accidents on their record and insurance rates go up (regardless of fault).

The bottom line is it saved my job and career. I believe in data collecting so much I have a drive cam in my personal vehicle. I'm also a proponent of speed and red light cameras and radar detectors. The more enforcement of driving privileges being severely punished or taken away to make the public safer the better.

 

supply demand....gas prices went up since they were .99 so will electricity rates...that's common sense too.

 

Tax the heck out of utilities and have them pass it on to the consumers. We will be paying for it one way or another.

 

We don't have the infrastructure to handle home charging if everyone electrified tomorrow. Even now CA does rolling outages during heat loads in the summer ... increased ambient temperatures + A/C usage overloads the system ... so how does an increase in electric vehicle charging fit into this equation ? ... and they are the state pushing EV's the hardest.

 

Now imagine that plus the idiot politicians pushing non-realistic anti-fossil fuel stuff reducing the output of energy generation domestically. It’s a perfect storm of a really bad time coming.

 

Amazing ... and this is not even politics ... it's simple math ... and math does not lie.

 

No, but math is racist. But, I digress.

Seriously though. What will the US do when it’s mandated for EV vehicles only and we are experiencing brown outs everywhere because of it?

 

The US will put the gas power generators back to work 😁

Most folks can only absorb the push for EV as a movement towards better Earth.

What you mentioned below, power outage and overloading the grid, is beyond what the average can handle.

 

It's the great do do Cali.. lol Enough said!

 

I am not against EVs, I was actually considering solar panels and at least one EV in the family we could use for trips around town. My concerns are the followings (and just using very rough numbers here):

1. An EV typically costs around $10k more than a combustion equivalent. Assuming you have to replace the battery pack once in the lifetime of the vehicle that's roughly $20ks. That money pays for approximately 80k miles for the GX @ $5 a gallon. That's up front cost and you need to drive 80k miles to break even assuming you can charge your EV for free.
2. The US currently does not produce batteries for EV but mostly imported from foreign countries. If there's an issue with the "supply chain" your EV can become useless. Having a nationwide gas shortage is unlikely since we have many untapped resources of our own.
3. EVs typically depreciate faster.
4. While the overall maintenance is much less for an EV when repairs are needed the parts and labor comes at a much higher price then traditional vehicles.
5. EVs are pretty much useless for longer road trips as of today.

 

Back to the F150 Lightning…

How was trade in process? Any recommendations?

 

The only EV that’s remotely intriguing to me is the Ford Lightning. It’s the only one that looks like a regular/good looking vehicle. My brother in law bought a Nissan Leaf and got all sorts of tax exemption's and is really proud to be paying like $5 to “gas” up for the week. Me being a car guy am like cool story but you paid 35 grand to drive a rolling toaster.

EV’s will depreciate faster than anything we’ve ever seen because the used car market will be scared of the eventual hit of having to buy new battery packs. They are also heavily marketed as cool, cutting edge, the future! (Most anyway) Next years model will have something cooler that can’t be upgraded and owners will be sad. No one would spend big money on a IPhone X 4/5 years later. They make sense for some people but not for most. One of the managers at a Data Center I work in drives 100 miles each way to work. He has a Tacoma that he loved but he bought a model 3 that he plugs it in for free at work every day. He’s also a techy guy so he loves all the gizmos and for him it works out. I still think that’s not the norm and they will continue to live in an almost niche segment, especially once the federali’s figure out to recoup all that lost income.

 

The government always gets its money.

Not paying the gasoline tax on your EV?

Well, we estimate at an average of 15.000 miles a year. You should pay around 500 dollars a year in gas tax.

So, we will just add 500 to your annual registration fee.

 

Ohio does this now. Hybrid registrations are +$100 and EV registrations are +$200 annually more expensive than registrations for gas or diesel vehicles.

 

During state vehicle inspections, they will record mileage and tax accordingly. These EV's have twice the manufacturing carbon footprint of an equivalent gas burner that takes approximately 80k miles of driving to overcome. They are telling you to buy EVs and at the same time they are telling you to turn your AC down to reduce the rolling blackouts because the electrical grid can't handle it.