Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle?

Less than 10 years ago, we bought a few mid-tier F-150's (3.5 ecoBoost motor, 4x4, XLT, supercrew) for foremen that were decently equipped at a shade over $40k each. Just ran a similar configuration through the Ford website, and they equivalent is now north of $70k. Like houses, vehicles got expensive. Folks are used to carrying big debts now, I guess...

Pickup trucks are profit pigs for the automakers and they’re not afraid to even say that. My bet is that they could still be making these trucks at a $50K price tag but have just slapped on $20K in extra padding because they can. Because they’re still selling.

Unfortunately with the broad financial illiteracy in today’s society people only see the monthly payments and don’t understand anything else.
 
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Pickup trucks are profit pigs for the automakers and they’re not afraid to even say that. My bet is that they could still be making these trucks at a $50K price tag but have just slapped on $20K in extra passing because they can. Beside they’re still selling.

Unfortunately with the broad financial illiteracy in today’s society people only see the monthly payments and don’t understand anything else.
The F series are the best selling vehicles, in NA. I believe they sell about 1 per minute.
 
Because pickups are the new grocery getter for a family of four.
I believe it's been the best selling vehicle for 46 years, so maybe not new. 😁
 
Because pickups are the new grocery getter for a family of four.
They are also socially acceptable for a wide range of incomes/jobs. A real estate agent can't drive a Kia but people are happy with them if they drive a truck. Lots of the big money crowd that used to have fleets of range rovers have replaced some with trucks as they are more reliable. And we can't forget mall-crawler Karen that wants to sit up high and has been in so many crashes that she likes the safety the truck provides (by killing her victims).
 
They are also socially acceptable for a wide range of incomes/jobs. A real estate agent can't drive a Kia but people are happy with them if they drive a truck. Lots of the big money crowd that used to have fleets of range rovers have replaced some with trucks as they are more reliable. And we can't forget mall-crawler Karen that wants to sit up high and has been in so many crashes that she likes the safety the truck provides (by killing her victims).
There's another point. Safety. These big (tall) trucks are so much more deadly to pedestrians than trucks in the past. Before you got broken legs and landed on the hood. Now all your vital organs are in the impact zone.
 
There's another point. Safety. These big (tall) trucks are so much more deadly to pedestrians than trucks in the past. Before you got broken legs and landed on the hood. Now all your vital organs are in the impact zone.
Back to stupid government regulations. Call things a truck and everything changes. Emissions change, pedestrian safety changes, etc. That's BS. If regulations are to ensure pedestrian safety, you should have to prove why you need an exemption. Just because is not a suitable excuse. Alternatively, tack a huge premium on vehicles that don't comply and put that money towards pedestrian safety measures (eg. bollards near intersections to give pedestrians a fighting chance against vehicle intrusion on sidewalk).
 
The USA (and by extension, Canada) doesn't have pedestrian-impact collision standards.

Europe does, and there has been recent talk of implementing those standards here (and for heavier vehicles than Europe requires them for). Whether that actually happens, is up in the air. I'm all for it. It will change the way the front end of pickup trucks look.
 
It will change the way the front end of pickup trucks look.
It will be far simpler on electric trucks (although it will probably hurt frunk capacity). On ICE trucks with a huge engine, rad and ground clearance, it's difficult to package for pedestrian safety.
 
It will be far simpler on electric trucks (although it will probably hurt frunk capacity). On ICE trucks with a huge engine, rad and ground clearance, it's difficult to package for pedestrian safety.

Maybe light(?)-duty trucks shouldn't have 15,000 pounds of towing capacity (that can't be used legally on a standard driving license if it were not for that stupid RV exception).

Maybe trucks shouldn't have 700 horsepower.

Radiator design needs a re-think.

It wasn't all that long ago that "quarter-ton" trucks sat lower, and some of them (I'm thinking '96-on F150) even had somewhat-sloping front ends.

The nose of my Fiat-design-origin van is sloped and the bumper is in the crash-compatibility-recommended height range. Sprinters and Transits are the same way. The grille is of reasonable size, and cooling capacity has never been an issue. Doesn't have 700 horsepower (has 280), doesn't have insane towing capacity (5000 pounds), but there's plenty of wiggle room to have a nose shaped somewhat like that and have more cooling if needed. There's lots of space on top of the engine, too. (Only has a mail-slot opening to get in there, but that's a separate matter.)
 
It will be far simpler on electric trucks (although it will probably hurt frunk capacity). On ICE trucks with a huge engine, rad and ground clearance, it's difficult to package for pedestrian safety.
Honestly??? You could fit a 454 in an old C10 just fine.
 
The F series are the best selling vehicles, in NA. I believe they sell about 1 per minute.

Which is exactly why they can price them at what they’re priced at. Because they’re still selling. If numbers suddenly fell off a cliff, the price would too.

There's another point. Safety. These big (tall) trucks are so much more deadly to pedestrians than trucks in the past. Before you got broken legs and landed on the hood. Now all your vital organs are in the impact zone.

Imagine what will happen with the first cybertruck pedestrian accident. It’s only a matter of time.

Anyhow, as for truck sizes, look at the photo of my 1997 one ton dually that I posted here in this or some other thread recently. 21 feet long, crew cab, diesel….and from the factory rode at about 1/3 the height of a lot of the new pickups today.

And I agree the towing capacity and horsepower wars have got out of hand. We literally have people out there pulling loads that should demand a class 6-7 tractor now with a 1 ton pickup.
 
A Cummins ISX15 engine, available in Class 8 trucks (tractor-trailer tractors), has between 400 and 605 horsepower depending on application. Does a pickup truck really need that much to tow the puny-by-comparison trailers that a Class G license-holder is legally allowed to tow?a

Back to EVs. I spotted a blue Silverado EV in the RST trim level at the GM dealer in Orangeville, parked amongst the regular T1XX trucks. The nose is notably lower and the hood slopes down more towards the front. And that is a GOOD thing.

This is the first Silverado EV that I've seen in anything other than black or white, which were all that was available at launch.
 
A Cummins ISX15 engine, available in Class 8 trucks (tractor-trailer tractors), has between 400 and 605 horsepower depending on application. Does a pickup truck really need that much to tow the puny-by-comparison trailers that a Class G license-holder is legally allowed to tow?a
To answer your question, obviously not really but the HP is also for an entirely different purpose. The cummins is designed to work and can put out rated power up a long incline. The pickup is a duck measuring contest and if you kept it wide open for a few minutes I expect it to get very unhappy. Pickup hp is for speeding away from lights or racing to a tow. It's much easier to get big intermittent hp numbers. Continuous hp in a small package is really tough.
 
They are also socially acceptable for a wide range of incomes/jobs. A real estate agent can't drive a Kia but people are happy with them if they drive a truck. Lots of the big money crowd that used to have fleets of range rovers have replaced some with trucks as they are more reliable. And we can't forget mall-crawler Karen that wants to sit up high and has been in so many crashes that she likes the safety the truck provides (by killing her victims).
In all honesty...the GTI is the first car that I actually feel vulnerable in since I started driving. It feels tiny.

I've had Sentra, Civis, Volts, Genesis Coupe, Hyundai Elantra and have never felt so small in comparison to other vehicles on the road.

It's one of the reasons I want a Maverick, or something bigger. I just feel tiny, and I don't want my kids to get injured if we get hit by one of those things. Especially the Cybertruck.

That thing will literally open up the GTI like a can opener. At least with a bigger car those high bumpers are closer to my mid-section instead of my head.
 
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