People have tons of questions about owning and driving an electric vehicle (EV). There are also a bunch of people that nay-say and make assumptions about EVs without first hand experience.
I look at the new Ford F-150 Lightning as a truck of the future. The base model is around $40k, it has a 230 mile range, and can tow 11,000 lbs.
Here are some common concerns/complaints:
You’re not going to get 230 miles range while towing.
Well duh! We have a Highlander Hybrid that gets 24-27MPG normally but when it’s pulling a boat it gets 10-12. Towing cuts the effective range of any vehicle to about half. Anyone that thinks it would be otherwise is fooling themselves. Why is this such a surprise?
There’s another article covering the same topic that’s much more click-baity. The bottom line is, no matter if you’re using petroleum or electricity, towing reduces range. The Denali they used gets up to 20MPG (unladen). It was getting 9MPG while towing. The difference is the Denali has a 24-gallon tank, putting the range between 216-480 miles – towing and unladen. Range is still (equally) greatly reduced, but the longer starting range of the Denali provides a greater range cushion.
It’s not going to get me to my mother-in-law’s house in rural North Dakota
Again, you’re probably right, but how often are you actually going there? In 2022 I did one road trip that was longer than the total range of my electric vehicle. You know what I did? I took the van. Most couples/families have two cars. Even if both were full electric, you could rent a gasoline car if you’re driving to BFE where there are no charging stations. Guarantee the money you saved on fuel the rest of the year would cover your rental.
EVs don’t charge fast enough
This complaint is only valid on road trips (see above) and how many are you taking a year? I’ve driven my Chevy Bolt EV to Chicago multiple times and it is one of the slowest charging EVs – accepting a max of 53kwh. It takes about 45 mins to recharge so I plan my charging stop around my lunch break. Literally every other EV out there charges faster. Without experience, you have nothing to complain about. 99% of the year it will charge in your garage and be fully ready to use every morning. When was the last time your gasoline car did that?!?
Another thing that I think people tend to forget and/or disregard is that these are the statistics and CURRENT state of things. Every generation iterates and builds better than the previous. I doubt people would get the results we do now, if they had to go back and use the Ford Model T.
Another thing people forget or don’t realize is, many of these cars actually *improve* while you own them through over-the-air software updates. 📈
The hyperlink to “BFE” should have been a map of Pipestone.
😂