Can I put a sheet of plywood or drywall in the back? If not, then just make another SUV like everyone else... an extended cab with a tiny truck bed makes no sense to craftsmen.
You can on the Maverick. The tailgate has a "middle" position that puts its top edge level with the tops of the wheel well humps in the bed, and you put your sheets on top of them.
Well they make sense to more casual users, being able to throw bikes, gear, or tools in the back is great. How big that market is however is hard to say. The Subaru Baja certainly wasn't a big success
I think the Slate 20-25k pricetag includes the 7500 tax credit, which will no longer exist when it comes out. They'll both be around 30k. Slate has announced they're no longer targeting sub-20k after the EV credit.
It also looks like their simpler EV process (ie cost saving) is basically to do what Tesla does, and use the same battery pack and platform for all their vehicles, as well as simplify the design down as much as possible. I think it'll be exciting and I hope they're successful with it
We need 50 mile PHEVs more than anything. I think there's two decades of these while EV economies of scale and charging infrastructure builds out.
Basically, you design a skateboard EV, but way less batteries and you put a recharge engine instead of the frunk. So I don't even think it would be a major departure from the current generation of EV engineering.
I think this can challenge a new price point until sodium ion batteries hit their stride and really change the economics of EVs.
Don’t worry, when they release 50 mile range PHEVs they’ll just move the goalpost to 100 mile range. It’s like hydrogen, meant to maintain the status quo vs zero emission (via solar, hydro, wind and nuclear).
I believe 50 miles is commonly chosen because something like 70% of non-rural drivers drive less than 50 miles per day. With a 50 mile PHEV and level 1 charging at home at least half of non-rural drivers would be able to operate most of the time in EV mode.
Can I put a sheet of plywood or drywall in the back? If not, then just make another SUV like everyone else... an extended cab with a tiny truck bed makes no sense to craftsmen.
You can on the Maverick. The tailgate has a "middle" position that puts its top edge level with the tops of the wheel well humps in the bed, and you put your sheets on top of them.
Well they make sense to more casual users, being able to throw bikes, gear, or tools in the back is great. How big that market is however is hard to say. The Subaru Baja certainly wasn't a big success
Because it's all a lifestyle signal, not for actual use. The Baja sent the wrong signal. Simple as that.
I'm all for it - I want it to happen, but I'm driving a used EV right now living the good life. The age of EV hype is gone, now we need real products.
A truck for who though?
If the truck is intended to tow, it will need a reasonable range to be useful.
If it's just intended to be a shiny large vehicle for suburban people buying their way to an identity, then we might be talking.
And isn't the Slate aiming for $20k? Maybe they're cutting out more features?
I think the Slate 20-25k pricetag includes the 7500 tax credit, which will no longer exist when it comes out. They'll both be around 30k. Slate has announced they're no longer targeting sub-20k after the EV credit.
It also looks like their simpler EV process (ie cost saving) is basically to do what Tesla does, and use the same battery pack and platform for all their vehicles, as well as simplify the design down as much as possible. I think it'll be exciting and I hope they're successful with it
Same truck, but Ars Technica's article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44865075
We need 50 mile PHEVs more than anything. I think there's two decades of these while EV economies of scale and charging infrastructure builds out.
Basically, you design a skateboard EV, but way less batteries and you put a recharge engine instead of the frunk. So I don't even think it would be a major departure from the current generation of EV engineering.
I think this can challenge a new price point until sodium ion batteries hit their stride and really change the economics of EVs.
So take out about $2000 worth of batteries and add $10000 worth of engine, transmission and other complexities to lower the price?
Don’t worry, when they release 50 mile range PHEVs they’ll just move the goalpost to 100 mile range. It’s like hydrogen, meant to maintain the status quo vs zero emission (via solar, hydro, wind and nuclear).
I believe 50 miles is commonly chosen because something like 70% of non-rural drivers drive less than 50 miles per day. With a 50 mile PHEV and level 1 charging at home at least half of non-rural drivers would be able to operate most of the time in EV mode.