What vehicle do you drive?

Lightning Lord Rule said:

Looks too much like a brick, but it could grow on me. Partial hybrid system ftl. Lexus version all electric for the massive lose, though those interior trim parts look pretty good IMO. Concept car minimalism is odd on a 'Lexus', looks like that should be on a Volvo or Saab or something with their interior design language of minimalism.

I like that they're going through this design exercise for this thing though. It shows a commitment to this type of car going forward from the Japanese car industry, as Toyota is the un-challenged leader there now with Honda and Nissan floundering.

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I agree its not the best looking. But, there will be a huge aftermarket for it that will provide good upgrades, like a front lip. I'm just excited to see something Japanese that isn't crap and boring. The power isn't huge, but the experience could be fun.

I like the simple design. It isn't going to be mistaken for anything else. Somewhat simple design approach to everything is interesting.

It's huge. Makes the LFA look small.

Cad said:

I think I saw it's supposed to be priced around $100k? If so, it will be a huge seller.

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I've read $100,000, $200,000, $250,000 and $500,000. Clearly, no one knows.

Ford killed the Lightning. Took a 19.5 billion writedown while they were at it.

Fucker said:

Ford killed the Lightning. Took a 19.5 billion writedown while they were at it.

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If they made it affordable, it would have taken off like crazy.

Two of my team leased one a few months ago when they did a special lease for like 350$ a month.

1 is exactly as prescribed in range and charging.

The other - about 50mi less range and charges at 25% slower… he ended up convincing ford to buy back his lease…

Fucker said:

Ford killed the Lightning. Took a 19.5 billion writedown while they were at it.

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I laughed so hard my balls hurt.

lurkingdirk said:

If they made it affordable, it would have taken off like crazy.

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Nearly impossible to pull off when you need a gigantic battery to not severely compromise its ability to function as a comparable truck to the gas offerings. As it stood, even with the big ass battery they had, range while towing was a non-starter.

The EREV they're replacing it with could be a monster seller. I think series hybrids are almost perfect for a truck. It'll be able to put up some huge numbers. The one huge challenge is sizing the engine, I'm really curious what they're going to put in it. It needs to be big enough to be able to supply sufficient energy during its most taxing task - a heavy tow up a steep grade. Too big though and you lose out on efficiency and it becomes a packaging nightmare. Downhill towing is also a huge challenge - you don't have a very big battery to dump energy into and you can't utilize any engine braking. I wonder if they're going to implement braking choppers.

Kobayashi said:

Nearly impossible to pull off when you need a gigantic battery to not severely compromise its ability to function as a comparable truck to the gas offerings. As it stood, even with the big ass battery they had, range while towing was a non-starter.

The EREV they're replacing it with could be a monster seller. I think series hybrids are almost perfect for a truck. It'll be able to put up some huge numbers. The one huge challenge is sizing the engine, I'm really curious what they're going to put in it. It needs to be big enough to be able to supply sufficient energy during its most taxing task - a heavy tow up a steep grade. Too big though and you lose out on efficiency and it becomes a packaging nightmare. Downhill towing is also a huge challenge - you don't have a very big battery to dump energy into and you can't utilize any engine braking. I wonder if they're going to implement braking choppers.

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It will be powered by ICE generator/battery and driven by electric motors. Basically a small locomotive. Downhill braking is dead easy...energy recovery.

I doubt it will be a big seller. Ford has shown that it can't do inexpensive, and the added cost of this will never be realized with the fuel savings.

As for the engine. They will throw a generator onto the back of one of their ICE engines and call it a day. It won't be cheap. Ford will delete the transmission, add a generator, battery, and electric motors.

The smart thing to do would be to design something new from the ground up specific to the application. It could be simple, too. No VVT because it will only need to make power in a narrow RPM range. 4L, 4-cyl turbo diesel would be fine. Nothing fancy. 2V. It wouldn't have to make monster power, either. Add a generator/electric motors in place of the transmission, reduce the size of the battery pack, and Bob's Your Uncle.

VW shutting down Dresden plant today. Production will be moved to China. Merz blaming Trump. German cars built by Chinese workers in plants running off Russian energy.

LOL, Krauts.

Fucker said:

VW shutting down Dresden plant today. Production will be moved to China. Merz blaming Trump. German cars built by Chinese workers in plants running off Russian energy.

LOL, Krauts.

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lol they spun up that plant bc of trump 1… lol

Or am I thinking of Volvo’s new American plant?

Fucker said:

It will be powered by ICE generator/battery and driven by electric motors. Basically a small locomotive. Downhill braking is dead easy...energy recovery.

I doubt it will be a big seller. Ford has shown that it can't do inexpensive, and the added cost of this will never be realized with the fuel savings.

As for the engine. They will throw a generator onto the back of one of their ICE engines and call it a day. It won't be cheap. Ford will delete the transmission, add a generator, battery, and electric motors.

The smart thing to do would be to design something new from the ground up specific to the application. It could be simple, too. No VVT because it will only need to make power in a narrow RPM range. 4L, 4-cyl turbo diesel would be fine. Nothing fancy. 2V. It wouldn't have to make monster power, either. Add a generator/electric motors in place of the transmission, reduce the size of the battery pack, and Bob's Your Uncle.

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The energy recovery is easy until you have nowhere to put it. Most series hybrids use a pretty small battery. If you're doing a long descent while towing - a situation where you would normally be utilizing engine braking, it's very conceivable you can fill up the battery, then components start popping. Diesel locomotives utilize a braking chopper, which basically diverts that energy to a large resistor bank. That is going to pose a big packaging problem in a passenger vehicle, so, I'm curious how Ford decided to deal with that.

The article I saw was claiming it would have a price in the 30s, but I'm thinking they're possibly conflating that with the mid-size truck ev they were developing. In theory, if you do it right, the system could have little or no price premium. Nissan's claiming their e-Power series hybrid has reached price parity with their ICE vehicle. I think if they can only command only a 5 or 6k premium over ICE, they potentially have a hit. I have to think they've got to be targeting something like that considering the anemic sales they've had with their current hybrid F150.

In total agreement about the engine, another reason I'm curious about it. I wonder if they're going to plop in something that already exists and if it's going to be purpose built.

All said, you're probably right. This is going to be an overpriced, half-baked, parts bin special that is going to be DOA.

Full EV and Hybrids and plug in hybrids all have "unavailable" battery in the top and bottom - reality is your using / have available about 80% your battery with 15% of "free" space and about 5% of "Used" space - so when your at 100%, and you go out and drive, and then start stopping- if you happen to live / charge on the top of some hill...regen has a place to go. You also have some space for safety if you get to 0% to turtle mode home/to safety.

They also... have normal breaks ... and if you are going down hill forever and truly top off your battery - it will just turn off regen and go full normal breaks - slam on your brakes and it will hit into "normal" breaks as regen is not suited for that.

On a trip from NC to Tenn via the fun mountain route - I had a long downward passage that regened me to about 85% - and yeah, that is a small plug in hybrid van battery, I think its about 16khw - its unlikely to find a place that is going to have an issue with the larger batteries trucks would have.... and even so, it would just top off and turn off regen.

The battery in a series hybrid is going to be considerably smaller than an ev or phev truck - potentially almost 2/1 orders of magnitude smaller respectively. A traditional parallel hybrid also still has the engine coupled to the drivetrain through the transmission, so, it can contribute engine braking if necessary. Couple that with brake fade and I think you absolutely have to consider dumping excess energy somewhere. You're not going to be able to ride the brakes while towing a trailer down a sustained 7% grade like in the Ike Gauntlet.

What ones are out now to use as an example? Ramcharger? The little BMW w range extender?

I would think their battery would be bigger than a plug in hybrid. Series EVs are still able to be plugged in and “run X full ev”?

And truck…like..f150 or Semi?

Here is AI answers

• Friction Brakes Engage: The car's computer seamlessly blends in traditional brakes (pads and rotors) to provide the necessary stopping power, converting kinetic energy into heat.
• "Hill-Top Reserve": Some EVs (like the Chevy Bolt) offer features to intentionally keep the battery from charging to 100% (e.g., 95%), creating space for regen to work on downhill stretches.
• Brake Choppers (Advanced): More sophisticated systems can divert excess energy to a resistor bank, which dissipates it as heat, acting as a controlled electrical resistor instead of just using friction brakes.

Series hybrid trucks? Literally nothing currently exists. It wouldn't need to be plugged in. I think the only true series hybrid on the market is the Nissan E-Power overseas. They've also only put it in small passenger vehicles. A lot of OEMs are afraid of them since they can be sort of confusing to the driver since the engine response is completely disconnected from the accelerator pedal.

That Ramcharger was canceled, but it was an EV with a range extender. Same goes for the i3. I finally found an article - seems this F150 is going to be the same thing. Doubt this is going to be affordable at all - I'm no longer interested.