New p/u set to MSRP at $28K. Ford’s new electric pickup will cost $28,350. It’s an extremely expensive bet on a very cheap truck | CNN Business
Yep -- EVs will go nowhere, without highly-expensive changes to infrastructure, period. And no one wants to be that guy -- who takes the career hit for the huge amt of local / state gov't spending, with no guarantee of any return on investment. Any buyer with a functioning brain will ask first, 'where can I charge this, if on a roadtrip'? And if the answer, as has been the last decade, is still 'way too few places to not be a PITA', they'll flock as with the Mav to hybrids, if they care at all about fuel economy (despite all the domestics and many imports sucking more and more reliability / durability content out of the hard parts, to support their bloated-multinational ambitions). There's no way I'd finance an EV here for even $40K, fifteen grand less than median EV MSRP -- no way in hell. And whilst this island was never great for EV prospects outside buses and large transit vehicles, just the state of what is there in 2026, should be a clue -- damaged and not repaired, or ground broken and curbs laid, but no componentry as someone cut the project loose and took the loss. And seems mainlanders outside the Coasts are getting the jist too re: hybrids -- at least where it's not frozen 9 mos out of the year.
this pickup came out of their ev skunkworks. if they can pull it off, it might do well against slate.
. Simple (?) here … I thought that EV buyers just set up charging units in their garages off their own electricity?!? After that, isn’t there an online network to show where charging stations can be found?!?
--- Those who can afford them, usually have no problem installing 240VDC or even faster-charging components in their homes for two-car-garage duty. As a virtual retiree tho... can't afford a $50K first vehicle, nor the $4.5 - $6K to install the charging stuff in a 70yo house. My voice is for the vast majority of current owners driving (increasingly-very) used vehicle, esp those that haven't yet bought their first new car yet -- think that's gonna be a $50K one? Sure, you can use an app to find charging stations... in big cities / metro areas, or packed POIs. Try doing that on a roadtrip going anywhere pretty and out of the way in this country -- best of luck And if you're having to structure your roadtrip / holiday around charging infra... is that really progress? Some seem to think so here... normally w\ median incomes waaay higher than mine. The neighborhood I walk daily thru ($0.9M - $1.7M homes), albeit on an island with no roadtrip prospects past ~100 mi one-way... these loaded homeowners overwhelmingly prefer EVs. They make sense here, if only to commute to work and back and maybe some middling restaurant trolls -- which on this island... your first year (first few months, really), you'll have driven to all POIs worth the trip, on offer
Didn't they make a similar promise with the Maverick? Does that MSRP has tariffs built-in or is that an added value proposition?
. Whenever it was a few years back that I got my G2, when I joined here shortly after, I wanted to get a Chevy Volt. At that time Volts hadn't been out long enough for me to get anything used that was affordable (that being what I paid for my G2). All things being equal ... I am not at all sorry. I don't think I would have been unhappy with the Volt, I have just been very happy with my G2.
Well that's a relief The Volt couldn't compete with esp later Priuses for efficiency, just due to the losses their hybrid system incurred. There were other factors involved but GM has a history of contention with anything not ICE-only (RIP Chevy EV1) -- attitude which, of course can't be clung to these days. Both EV1 and better Volts* were killed by lack of spinal integrity in the boardroom... shame, they might've led the world in both kinds of vehicles. Can confirm dusting the later Volts, Bolt and new hybrid Civic in Normal mode, and still get 63 mpg at end of day -- so fair to say Toyota's not felt the least bit of guilt, eating both their procrastinating lunches --- * Volt, as in hatchback to directly compete with Prius
The Volt died because GM's sedan sales were poor. If the Impala, LeSabre, or CT6 were selling, GM would have kept the their factory open. Which happened to be where the Volt was made. They made a hatchback Volt. As a Buick. For China. IIRC, Velite was the name.
$28K Ford Fathom will be over $30K with destination fees and tax for sure. I have been looking for EV pick-up for years. I had money down for SLATE, but backed down now there is no tax credit. It would be fine small EV pick-up for all my purpose. $30K base line Fathom would be better buy compared to $27K bare bone SLATE or SLATE with options added. But, I decided to look for an used Lightning instead. I can get '23 or '24 Lightning for mid $30K if look hard.
Used Lightnings are the only good Lightning buy -- apparently a good truck aside from the usual Ford content-chiseling in the hard parts. Check gov't vehicle sales, or auctions where those are represented -- should be lightly-used and well-maintained, vs. civvie ones.
If the Fathom comes off at the same price as the Slate, it will slaughter it in sales if for no other reason than the extensive dealership network, and the normy interior. The reason that the Lightning is selling like P47's Iran Strategery is that it's WAAAAAAAAAAAY too expensive for commuting duty, and not nearly capable enough to replace a similarly priced petrol or oil burning counterpart. Heck, once the early adopters pay for all of the non-recurring developmental and engineering fees and they work the bugs out of the thing I might get a gently used model for a knock around town car - it IS a car after all, which is why they really should have stuck with the Ranchero name - but lately companies like FoMoCo never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Ford's marketing team needs to familiarize themselves with a group of people that they seem to hate. I can think of at least a couple of OTHER brands that suffer from the same flaw.....
Didn't stop them from making the CT6 a MY past the last G2 Volt. Doesn't matter if they sold a derivative / evolution in China -- the choice wasn't made available here. Or perhaps it was just far more cheap to both build and profitable to sell hybrids there, as far more demand + fewer regs and unions to contend with. Doesn't change the fact suits killed it here, rather than federalise this PRC version. If support were behind hybrids from the top for vehicles sold here, there'd still be an HEV Volt -- may've morphed into a wasteful crossover like everything else, perhaps. But actual corporate focus then were on EVs, as seen in how many models exist today (Blazer, Equinox, and even Silvies). Unlike Ford, GM seems committed to staying on message re: EVs, as their Buick Envista Only now sports a 1.2L turbo Triple and 137 bhp in a 3000-lb crossie -- so basically 4G Prius performance, but w\ 30 mpg. OTD for less than 27K is significant tho, as most of its demographic doesn't care about specs other than infotainment options and MSRP anyway (and GM want profits from much-more expensive EVs as the only options for return buyers) For 30 mpg, much rather get a 4yo Camry or RAV4, perhaps even a NA CR-V or Accord. Guess we'll see if GM's gambit paid off. Now that the tax credit windfall's over, Honda's pulling the Prologue, a Honda-cosplaying Blazer EV. Not surprised -- I wouldn't buy any EV either, esp not one based on a GM product
EVs are GOING to have a bright future. Just not today. We will know that day has arrived when government stops being so generous with other people's money by bribing people to buy EVs - and they start taxing the bejeebers out of them. AND...while we're on the subject of why it's important to go '10 questions deep' somebody needs to remind the EVangelists that EV's are mobile. That's sort of what the V stands for - as in "vehicle." This is going to place more and more of a demand on an already ossified, outdated, and vulnerable electrical grid. ...a grid that is already supporting the suckerfish industry of bit-mining, a necessarily UNregulated one because THAT's how crypto rolls. SO.... if we have a relatively sudden, HUGE demand for electricity from a STATIONARY load from a private company with a ginormous developmental budget? THIS would be a GOOD thing........riiight? HECK....Maybe even a GREAT thing! 30-40 percent of a data center's electrical load goes for cooling - and THIS is if you keep the ambient room temps at 75-80 degrees. TRUST ME when I say it's usually a lot closer to 80. You're only getting about 150-250 watts per square meter from solar with um...'current' tech - which is something that we need to work on - WITH DATA centers perhaps? Either way.... THIS large demand is going to incentivize the various electrical utilities to maybe modernize our grid and who knows? MAYBE even begin to understand that we NEED to HARDEN it against things like wild fires, weather, idiotic investment schemes by utilities, and cyber threats..... The 'useful idiots' who are being paid by the MSS, SVR, IRGC, et al, can even be used as a counterpoise to get some of the builders to...um....'juice' the various electrical entities. Who knows? MAYBE (just maybe) we can get them to stop playing in the street (WALL street) and then we will not have some dystopian future where an ACTUAL ELECTRICAL company who was already on federal criminal probation FOR KILLING PEPLE - would get to plead guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for a repeat offense......with ZERO people going to jail. NOT....that this would ever happen in real life...... I mean, NORMALLY people get BIG mad when there is a mass murder of 84 souls......riiiight?
