Anyone thinking about a new Truck

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If you are planning on putting a brick like camper in the back of an electric truck you can forget about stated range with your batteries. The aerodynamic loss is going to be brutal. We've all seen it with ours. I dropped mileage in mine by 25%, some of that was the gain in weight, but most of it was aero drag.

That loss of range will suck for playing off road. Remote areas like valley of the gods, San Rafael Swell and other areas in Utah. Then think about Death valley, Mojave Road or heading out to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Driving at low speeds with the heat or AC going is going to cut into range. It's hard to find a place to get fuel in those areas much less a high amperage charging station.

I'm in the auto industry, electric vehicles are coming there's no doubt in that. Are they going to be the mainstream choice for trucks in two years, no. They will be a choice, but they won't work well for everybody. Add to that the grid that others have spoken is woefully unable to handle the capacity of charging a higher percentage of electric vehicles. Towing a 35-40 foot 5th wheel toy-hauler RV trailer isn't going to happen with an electric truck. Towing a decent sized boat from my side of the rockies to Lake Powell isn't going to happen on 1 charge either. When folks only have a week or two off in a row for a vacation the last thing they will want to do is kill time waiting for the vehicle to charge for half the day when they could still be on the way to the destination. Somebody going full time that's retired and not limited on free time isn't the norm either.

Part of the argument is that the electric is better for the environment due to the lack of fossil fuel consumption. Sure that's true about vehicles lack of emissions at the vehicle itself. What about where that electricity came from? Not all of our grid is renewable. It's mostly fueled by coal or natural gas. So there's sill fossil fuels being consumed to power that electric vehicle, it's just not at the vehicle itself. As others have said the battery production is very dirty from mining the materials and such.

There will be a place for the electric trucks, but I don't see them replacing conventional trucks completely in two years. Once the technology gets cheaper and drives the price down and the electric infrastructure has greater capacity to cope with a higher volume of electric vehicles then you'll see them take a bigger dent out of the conventional truck sales.

 

[PaulT]

Search for "lifetime environmental cost hummer prius"

Results are dismaying and that was not for an all electric vehicle where having a massive battery encourages much higher use of electric energy consumption. I was interested in a hybrid but am waiting for more mature technology.

Paul

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Paul, I for one think you would be more comfortable in a rig like this.

 

[windy]

If I sell everything I own I could go in halves with someone!

 

[PaulT]

Paul, I for one think you would be more comfortable in a rig like this.

Missed my planning budget by that ...............................................................................................................................................much.

Paul

 

[Kolockum]

Paul, I for one think you would be more comfortable in a rig like this.

My house costs less than that car!

I like the amount of torque that is available from an electric motors and they will have a lot of potential off road when the battery/fuel cell technology matures. The removal of drive shafts and axle shafts (assuming the motors are in the wheel hubs) will allow for great ground clearance. However I will miss my stick shift.

I like idea of my FWC camper covered with high efficiency solar panels charging the batteries of my truck while I am out hiking around in the desert. Although it would not do much for when I am skiing on a snowy day in the Cascades. Technology is coming but we still have a ways to go.

 

[PaulT]

Remember that a stick shift is a millennial antitheft device and should be considered as part of the security system.

Paul

 

[JaSAn]

 

[ski3pin]

Remember that a stick shift is a millennial antitheft device and should be considered as part of the security system.

Paul

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[JaSAn]

I thought long and hard before replacing the un-syncro'd tranny in the Power Wagon for just that reason.

 

[rubberlegs]

iowahiker, your numbers for power generation efficiency sound way high. Do you have a source? I recall from engineering school numbers way under 50%, but perhaps things have improved.

My biggest problem with electric trucks, carrying campers or trailers, is range. Instead of 300 mi range, drop that a lot for carrying more weight or drag.

I think it'll be much more than 5 years before there's ubiquitous electric vehicles. But it's coming, and it's probably a good thing. Maybe not for overland camping (yet).

 

[DavidGraves]

I think about a new truck all the time.....

I think why can't they make them as comfortable, reliable and durable at they once were.

I must be getting old and grumpy.....

97 T100 with 250K far better than our 2016 Tacoma.

93 Chevy K2500 with 305K miles serves well with our Hawk.

David Graves

 

[SunMan]

93 Chevy K2500 with 305K miles serves well with our Hawk.

impressive!

 

[smlobx]

I had an interesting conversation with one of my former clients a few days ago at the gym.

He has a nicely kitted Land Rover and his wife drives a Tesla. He mentioned that they drove to the Grand Canyon this summer (from Virginia) in the Tesla. He said the car automatically plots your route for you and they picked Marriot hotels that had charging stations to overnight at. He said it really didn’t take much longer than if they drove a gas vehicle...just a different way to think about planning your route.

Since most families have at least two vehicles I think that over the next 10 years or so one of those vehicles will be an electric one if for nothing else but driving locally. My client ran a 50 amp circuit to his garage and plug the Tesla in every other day. It seems to work for them but as far as overlanding off the grid I think we have quite a way to go.

I did see on the news tonight that there is a service station owner who pulled up his gas tanks and installed several charging station at the bequest of his daughter. They said he was the first station owner in the country to do it.

 

[klahanie]

I think it's terrific that the OP is excited about the future of Evs. Although I don't agree with 'his' thoughts on timeline and obsolescence, his adoption and enthusiasm of the technology is critical for much needed change.

And for sure change is coming to transportation. For eg. BC Ferries has 6 hybrid ships coming (diesel electric). First one has completed sea trials and is scheduled to start service early next year. Harbour Air, a local commercial airline, plans to convert it's entire air fleet to electric with reduced maintenance costs mentioned as a major benefit. Had their first test flight recently on a converted 62 yo Beaver air frame. Over on ADV there's a tread on Yukon Gov planing to install charging stations along the Dempster. (altho I note, the promised BC to CA Hydrogen Hwy never happened)

I love Old Crow's post about the couple towing cross country with an EV (and thanks for the trailer mfr plug ). What a great idea to plug in at CGs. Many have substantial electric service, perhaps there could be an opportunity for drop in charging. Funny, I suspected a fellow camper might have been charging in a CG we stayed at, on Fogo Island of all places. They had a fair sized teardrop as well.

Sure, the above scenario not work for the current, "but then I can't do what I do now" truck + camper guy. For the rest it might be an alternative way of recreating. Nothing saying we're going be able to continue doing what we do now. I mean, at some point the climate has got to matter. Or, matter in a way that impacts what we'd like to do. Who knows what may be coming in the way of restrictions, changes to access or added costs.

I do like the idea of the second household vehicle being an EV. Would have liked that personally but we continue to hang onto our old car rather than replace it. I think a PHEV could be great for a commuter / weekend warrior, only wish the mfrs would package the feature on more basic equipped models.

That said I do wonder if, at least in my area, this might already be in the golden time to own an EV. There are still purchase subsidies (now cancelled in another province) and charging has been free in some locations. My local grocery store had 2 spots installed in the parkade ~2 years ago. That worked great for the few. Recently another 2 were added. Those are well used now. Going forward I can imagine how more demand is going to be a headache for both the store and their customers. I already pass on cheap gas if there's a crowd at the station - too much potential for agro. I could charge at home in a garage but in my area a lot can't. And the future here is high density housing, some in car less developments.

Finally, back to the OP,

Manufacturers are not quite there yet but they certainly are racing in fast. Two, three years maybe.
...
What do you all think? Would you still buy an ICE truck or wait and see what happens with electric?

If I wanted to buy a camper truck right now I go with known, ICE. Concern would be that, "two, three years maybe." could turn out to be 5, 10 years. At my age that's too long, BTDT. Now, if I was 20 yo, maybe. But then again if I was 20 I might not even drive ! I might be part of a group that leap frogs EVs and goes straight to no vehicles.

The future is famously had to predict, I claim no special insight. I'm not much of a gambler but looking at the news, Victoria Falls, whats been happening in Australia, their Federal Gov response, Madrid, I don't see waiting being a very good bet. I figure run with what ya got and go now !

 

[Old Crow]

This is a bit off-topic but kind of a fun blast-from-the-past on electric vehicles.

Back in the 1970s I worked with a guy named Ed who had a Citicar. In trying to find a photo of it, I found this video tour of one just like his (but for color--- his was red)...

(CAUTION: Viewing this video may be hazardous to your pocketbook!)

I didn't see Ed's Citicar in the parking lot a whole lot and I believe he was driving it more as a novelty or experiment than a money-saver. When I hadn't seen it for a while I asked him why and he said it didn't have heat or AC and wasn't very comfortable to drive. But the main reason at the time was it needed a new set of batteries.
.

 

[Foy]

We have a 48 volt golf cart we keep at the beach house which is more of a car than the Citicar! Ours is lifted and runs on tall, fat sand tires and it's quieter than this unit!

Foy

 

[Flyfisher]

Great discussion! Here is a tangent. Have to agree that electric trucks that will work for Overlanders are a ways off. (How long until the roof of our campers are covered with solar panels?)
However, I am tired of the panning of EV's in general. People will move to them for the same reason they tend to make other decisions - simple economics. It is much cheaper to own an electric car than an ICE car. The Major car companies know this - look at how they are rapidly moving to electric.
Are EV's perfect? No, but it is new technology. The first production EV only came out only 12 years ago! There will be longer range batteries that recharge faster and don't use rare earth metals.
The people citing all the problems with EV's mirror the people with horses over 100 years ago citing all the problems with cars, and we all know how that turned out. I can recharge the battery on my EV to 80% in about 30 minutes on a fast charger.
Problems with mining for batteries? Yes, but please don't ignore the environmental damage caused by oil extraction and burning over the last 100 years.
We have our campers because we love getting out into the environment, but we are destroying it with our lifestyle. Will we have to make infrastructure and lifestyle changes in the near future? Yes, but consider the alternative.

 

[DarinH]

I think the transition to electric trucks by consumers will be real slow and demand for gas and diesel trucks, new and used, will increase. At least for those that take long trips with a load.

 

[BBZ]

We own 3 vehicles. Truck - needed for our work (own a roofing company) and for our FWC. I drive a 2008 Prius for all my running around, not uncommon for me to drive 500-600 miles in a week during busy season. My wife drives a Kia EV6 that now has 21,000 miles on it. We have never charged it anywhere but the garage, she also drives about that same as me. Its been a great addition to the family, lots of fun to drive, no gas, no oil changes.. last month she drove 1664 miles and the cost to charge was $64. We feel its been a great purchase for how we use it.