Oddball EV's from the Past

 I occasionally come across odd EV's from past years, some trying to become the new thing, others intended as commuter vehicles, some just glorified golf carts.... I'll post them from time to time, as they are interesting (at least I find them so!) and some of them actually did advance the technology, although most had such limited funding that they barely produced any vehicles. 

Here is one I came across today via BarnFinds.

Cybertruck Drive!

 As some of my regular readers may know, I have had a Tesla Cybertruck on reservation for several years, and have actually received a couple of emails from Tesla inviting me to configure and order a truck. In all likelihood, I won't end up with one for reasons noted below, but had the chance to do a demo drive last week.

Even though I see them quite frequently now, almost daily, I still really like the truck. Many of those that I see are wrapped, black being the most popular but I've seen a rainbow of colors. 

My son Rob and I took one out from the Lawrenceville NJ location. They had several available, all of them the dual motor model that lists for about $80,000. There were also a couple awaiting delivery which, as a stockholder, was nice to see...

The first impression you get from seeing a CT in person is that it's pretty big - certainly as large as a 'regular' full size truck, although the styling masks that a bit. And considering how angular it is, it's actually quite sleek with no exposed edges or anything sticking into the airstream other than the massive windshield wiper. The car is pretty quiet, with the little wind noise coming from with the wiper or the point of the roof above your head... Even at the 'entry' suspension setting, it is a bit of a climb to get into the cab. And once in, the view out the front is definitely a bit.... Odd. The top of the dashboard appears to recede into the distance, meeting the bottom of the flat windshield about half a mile away from you, or so it seems... It's a little disconcerting for sure and it takes a few minutes to acclimate. 

A big difference between this truck and my Model Y is that the steering column stalks are gone. All of the controls operated by them are on the spokes of the steering wheel, except the gear selector, which is on the left side of the display. Moving the controls off of the stalks definitely takes some getting used to. Fortunately, the horn is still in it's normal place.... To change from Park to Drive, you swipe up on the far-left section of the screen. Reverse is a swipe down, while for Park, to press and hold an icon on the screen. It's also equipped with AutoShift, where the car sense the direction to go when starting off, but I didn't try that out.

The rear 'vault cover' (bed cover on other trucks) is pretty cool. It's motorized using a switch on the top of the driver's side of the rear fender (and on the screen as well). It ratchets up and then down into a well behind the rear seats, exposing the 6 foot bed as well as a rear window in the cab (useless when the cover is closed). There is strip lighting along the sides of the bed and plenty of tie downs. There is also a trunk below the bed that is lockable. 

The front truck (frunk) isn't very deep but is the width of the truck, making it useful - I didn't test whether a golf bag would fit, but I guess you have the bed for that. But it's actually the perfect height for seat at a tailgate party....

I mentioned that the rear window is useless when the vault cover is closed (which will be most of the time to aid aerodynamics) - when closed, the rear camera is automatically turned on and appears in a strip above the map section of the screen, making it easy to see and very clear. You can see it in the sixth picture below. Cool feature.

The inside is very roomy - I'd say maybe 8 inches wider than my Model Y. Back seat is very large, and the seat bottom flips up against the seat back to create a lot of interior hauling space. And even with the slope of the rear part of the roof, there is a ton of headroom. 

I mentioned above that I am not going to get a Cybertruck, mostly because it's simply a bigger vehicle than I need, like any full-sized truck would be. I don't think it will fit in my garage and frankly, with the size battery it has (100 kWh-plus) that range should be better (currently rated at around 315 miles). Range isn't a deal breaker for me, as I've posted before, but the vehicle size means that it won't be as efficient as a smaller car and I hate the idea of lugging around a battery that's about 20% larger than my Model Y and getting the same range, if not a little worse. The size of my Model Y is perfect for me.

Updated Supercharger Visits Map

65 separate Superchargers visited to date...... I need to head out west now!

Road Trip!

 

We just returned from a great road trip to Florida via Washington DC! This was far and away our longest trip in the Model Y, and one I had been looking forward to doing since I bought the car. My wife and I have done a few long runs - twice to central Maine and once to southwest Virginia - but those were relatively quick - two or so stops each. Driving to Florida requires multiple stops and 'Supercharger hopping'... So I was really looking forward to doing that.

The occasion was my brother's wedding in Washington on Friday, October 26. My wife and I had planned a trip to Florida for earlier in the month, but decided to shift it to after the wedding since we'd be 4 hours closer. We left DC around 10:00 am that Saturday morning and planned to drive straight through to St Augustine FL - planning on about 13 hours including charging stops. The car was just under 50% state of charge (SOC). That was a little lower than I had wanted, but we went about an hour and 15 minutes before stopping in Fredericksburg VA for our first charge of the day. We ended up stopping 5 more times, although the last one in Jacksonville was really just to charge enough for a few days in St Augustine. Total charges were $84.40. Just for comparison, using my old Mazda CX-5 as a comparison, it would have cost approximately $90.00 - so saved a little bit of money.... (Supercharging on the road is way more expensive than charging at home, by a factor of 5 or so). We arrived at 11:30 pm, right at the 13 hours we had planned. 755 miles covered in total.

We spent a couple of days in St Augustine and the nearest Tesla Supercharger was about 15 minutes away, but there was a Florida Power & Light fast charger a minute away from our motel. Fortunately, I have an adapter to use CCS chargers (different plug design from Tesla) and was able to plug right in and juice up. Very convenient, and actually less expensive than the Supercharger.... We also charged up there the night before we left for Clearwater and my sister's home, so we only had to stop once going across Florida, in Celebration. About 250 miles total.

Before we left Clearwater, I charged at a local Supercharger so we could get a good start the next day. We had planned to drive from Clearwater to Rocky Mount NC, where we would stay the night. We stopped 5 times, including a Buc-ee's in Florence SC which I wanted to see. We arrived in Rocky Mount and went to a charger about 2 minutes from the hotel to charge up for the next day. It was a 'slow' fast charger (V2, which gives you about half the power of the newer V3 and V4 units, and you share one power unit between 2 cars, cutting the charge even more) and only charged to about 50% as we were tired. Total elapsed time was about 13 hours again, including stops. Mileage was 720 and cost was $70.00.

The next morning we left Rocky Mount and made our first stop in Stoney Creek VA, after which we stopped at Springfield VA, Newark DE and then home, covering 436 miles. Cost for this leg was $54.00.

So for the entire trip, we drove 2,395 miles and spent $270 for charging, or 11 cents per mile. If I still had my CX-5, the cost would have been approximately $280 or just under 12 cents per mile. Of course, gas prices are very low right now; if I had done this trip last year, the difference would have been greater as gas prices were quire a bit higher back then. And again, just like gas which tends to be less expensive off the highways, charging at home is significantly less expensive than charging on the road.

The (relative) frequency of the stops didn't bother us at all. I can't really go longer than 2 hours without needing a bio break, and the opportunity to walk around a bit actually kept me pretty fresh and alert. The adaptive cruise control in the car is great, it rides well and is very quiet. We had no issue finding chargers - the car does it for you - and most of them are within a minute or two of the highway. Most of them have good amenities as well. We did not have to wait to charge at any of the stops. And we saw many Cybertrucks charging as well! All told, the trip went really well and I can't wait to do it again!

Pull-through stalls in St George SC

CCS charging in Vilano Beach FL

Charging at Bucc-ee's in Florence SC

Sitting next to a Cybertruck while watching another come in - Yemassee SC

(Lead photo - charging at V4 stalls in Emporia VA)

EV's in the Comics

 

The grid can't handle EV's!

Spoiler alert - it can and will....

One of the many examples of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) sown by the anti-EV crowd is that the electrical grid in our country won't be able to support the EV transition. This is patently false, for a number of reasons. This article lays out why.

The Grid Can Handle It!

Long-Lasting Tesla Batteries

 It's been a while since I've posted but I recently came across an interesting article about battery longevity, which is another piece of misinformation that the anti-EV crowd use to try and stem the shift towards EV's.  Here is the article -

Tesla Model S with 430,000 Miles!

This is just one example - there are others. So don't worry about longevity, especially if you take care of your battery!

EV's in the Comics

 

Cybertruck!

 

Tesla recently (finally!) had a Delivery Event for the Cybertruck, 4 years after announcing it.... Although the specs seemingly have dropped a bit, and the price has certainly increased, it's still a very different type of vehicle, very much in the mold of the original Tesla Roadster announced in 2008 and the Model S of 2012. Both of those vehicles were initially very polarizing but in the case of the Model S especially, became almost mainstream and segment leaders. Will the Cybertruck do the same?

I have had a CT on order since early 2021, right around the time I bought my Model Y. It was $100 to get a reservation, which seemed like a no brainer at the time. Tesla reportedly has over 2 million reservations, although perhaps that number has declined a bit since the event last week. 

To me, the Cybertruck isn't a competitor for a gas-powered 'working' truck. People that use their trucks in support of their businesses aren't going to buy the CT (or a Rivian, for that matter). These are 'lifestyle' vehicles, used for off-roading, camping, trips to Home Depot for DIY projects, etc. I think a LOT of people that drive pick-ups, frankly, use their trucks for this purpose. That's the context to think about these trucks. They aren't really suited for long-distance towing or constantly carrying heavy loads. Being an EV, you don't really pay a penalty for around-town use of a truck - no horrible gas mileage, for example. 

I did have the chance to check one out in person in Boston last weekend. There are about 20 CT's on display in Tesla stores around the country - the closest to me is NYC, but since I was in Boston for a family holiday party, I took the opportunity to see it there - much easier to access Boston from where I was staying, then getting to NYC from home. I thought it was awesome! It looks so much better in person than in pics (although I am posting my pics below). It IS big, but the styling actually minimizes the bulk to a great extent. So without further ado, here are my pics (and video)!

Walk-Around Video

Good view of the 'squirkle' steering wheel...

Minimal front overhang.

The massive front wiper blade.

Supercharger Visits - Updated

 I've taken a few road trips this summer, so though I would update my Supercharger list....

Now I really would like to take a trip to Florida and extend the list.....