Stellantis-brand BEVs featuring the J3400 port should arrive in showrooms in the second half of 2025 as part of the company’s 2026 model year.
So this makes the plug universal in the U.S.–however there is no mention of a deal with Tesla to use the Tesla supercharging network.
I’m curious about a little bit of American automotive folk wisdom. Did you, or anyone you know, once believe that it was important to set a battery on a piece of wood, rather than directly on concrete? Maybe the belief was carried over from when batteries were of a different construction, rather than sealed in plastic?
Oh yeah. Learned this tidbit from my father probably in the late '70s. In my “teenager with a shitty car” cohort in the '80s, this was common ‘knowledge’.
Cold slows down the chemical reactions that batteries rely on to make their power. A cold battery can have difficulty delivering enough amps to a starter to get an engine running. I’m told in severe cold climates the plug-in engine heaters are actually a trifecta of block heater, oil pan heater, and battery heater – and sometimes a small space heater in the cab. Setting a battery on a cold concrete floor can, of course, cool down a battery to the point that it will need warmed up a bit before it can deliver its full potential (or at least be closer to its full potential, I suppose). Setting the battery on a board or other somethingorother to insulate it from the cold ground can help. (I’m not a electricologist so that’s about the extent of my knowledge.)
Perhaps you have heard the misconception that you should never store a battery directly on concrete to avoid damaging it. You were more than likely told to first place a piece of scrap wood or cardboard underneath the battery. Maybe you heard this from your father, a friend, a mentor or even a trusted mechanic. Maybe you wondered if it was true, or you simply followed the advice.
At one time that may have been good advice. Through the years battery cases have been constructed using a variety of materials for the outer case—including wood, steel and hard rubber to name a few. Hard rubber can eventually deteriorate, develop cracks (no matter how small), and if placed on the damp ground or concrete, the battery can self-discharge.
Today however, the truth is that it is perfectly fine to place a battery directly on concrete. That’s because today’s battery cases are made of tough plastics such as polycarbonate or polypropylene for greater impact resistance. These plastics are strong and don’t degrade the way hard rubber can.
According to the President of UAW Local 862 in Louisville, Kentucky, Todd Dunn, battery tech is the main holdup in why purchasing has slowed…
Ford’s CFO John Lawler also reassured investors at a conference earlier this week that the company is adjusting its strategy, including purchasing decisions, to remain competitive in a saturated and tough market.
Admittedly, Lawler says Ford may have pushed capacity past the point of demand when it started building EVs.
“We definitely need to work to match capacity with demand. Demand is much slower than the industry expected when it comes to EVs,” he said.
How are the other EV trucks doing? I suppose the Cybertruck is doing well (with all the early reservations that there are).
The Lightning is such a letdown. It was touted as having it’s full range with a thousand pounds payload. It can’t achieve its stated range empty. It’s far far too expensive. I reserved one but backed out.
Yep. I was looking forward to it, but it’s really, really compromised - especially in winter, or when towing. This is a problem all the electric trucks have.
I don’t think electric trucks are doing well at all. Rivian stock was $128 in 2021. It’s currently around $10. Ford’s stock price cratered with the Lightning, and has recovered since they announced they are backing off on production.
The reality is that trucks operate in high energy modes, and batteries just can’t keep up. EVs get their range from extreme tweaking of aero, tires, etc. The current trucks get about half the miles per kWh as most EV cars, and that’s before towing anything.
The saving grace for trucks will be plug-in-hybrid, IMO. The new Dodge RAMCharger retains a 175hp engine under the hood that is used exclusively to charge the battery. The vehicle is otherwise a pure EV. I think that may be the only way electric trucks are going to really be practical for most people until we get some kind of new battery tech.
Rivian would be doing fine if they could figure out how to be profitable. Their trucks are well-regarded, as are their vans for Amazon. Their sales numbers aren’t great (14k in the last quarter), but they could survive as a premium automaker if they could get their costs down. They don’t seem to be succeeding at that.
Ford also doesn’t seem to have figured out how to profitably make EVs. From the market’s perspective, the fewer of those they sell the better.
It’ll probably be a year before we know what’s up with the Cybertruck. But Tesla and the Chinese seem to be the only ones actually making money on EVs, so they’ll probably be fine once production ramps up a bit. We’ll know a bit more when they announce Q1 results in a few weeks.
The Cybertruck has a problem in that Tesla does not make gas engines. Their range extender is just another battery, which eats up a third of the bed and doesn’t really solve the problem.
This may be a case where the unique styling of the Cybertruck saves it. Traditional truck buyers are fleeing electric trucks. Rivian might find a niche market among well off ‘adventurous’ types. Tesla Cybertruck might wind up being the new Expedition - a cool ride urban dwellers with money might choose. Get a few Hollywood stars or rappers cruising around in them and they might develop a cachet.
Also, as carjackings continue to increase, A Cybertruck’s handgun-bulletproof body and gorilla glass windows might actually become a selling point.
More like the new Hummer H2 then (IMO).
I do agree with you, the pickup/large SUV segment will likely be best served by PHEV for a while if you’re looking for actual truck utility.
Range isn’t important to everyone. Just has to be good enough for the application. Hardly anyone actually uses their trucks to tow things in the first place, but even among the ones that do, it may just be to tow the boat to the lake 30 miles away.
One problem with the Lightning is that it goes head to head with the standard F-150. And by a lot of metrics, it doesn’t do so hot in comparison. Assuming that you don’t appreciate the EV-ness by itself. Most people that don’t drive EVs underestimate these factors and so they don’t weigh into the selection criteria as much as they should.
Rivian is marketing themselves as an “adventure” truck to avoid that sort of problem, and seems to be partially succeeding. And Cybertruck is just totally different.
Seems like that’s already happening to some extent:
Pharrell, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, Jay-Z, etc. I think the article is overstating the case, but it’s at least a little true.
As I’ve said, that’s my expectation of the trajectory.
That’s all very true, and the last sentence is really key to fingering the underlying issue. Which issue appears often in every EV-related thread we had / have.
The ICE-experienced skeptics can rattle off every EV disadvantage, and inflate the most minor of them to major proportion. While totally discounting any/every EV advantage as speculative at best, and pure feel-good BS at worst.
While the EV-experienced folks patiently (or impatiently) explain over and over that you just don’t get it. Nobody will until they’ve had an EV for a few months. Then the advantages are oh so obvious. As are all the ICE disadvantages you put up with for decades, mostly unaware of how much putting-up-with you were doing.
I’ve said this before too, but it reminds me of a series of ads for Guinness ale from the early 1970s when they were trying to become a mainstream US product, not a rare niche item found only in ethnic Irish enclaves. The ad series tagline being:
Guinness. I’ve never tried it and I don’t like it!
Human nature is such a blind and stupid bitch.
I personally am an EV virgin. But I’m past the irrational discounting part and happily but patiently awaiting the opportunity to get an EV supercar of some sort here in a couple years. That vehicle being a CT is unlikely, but not impossible. Meanwhile, the machines on offer only get better and better at a pretty good clip.
I don’t see that at all. For the most part the EV discussions here have been pretty good, and I think the participants understand the tradeoffs well enough.
The big disconnect for a lot of people is that they generally apply their own use cases to the argument, and don’t understand what other people use their vehicles for. This isn’t an Ev thing as much as it is parochialism. Your own use cases are absolutely critical. Other people’s use cases are something they need to ‘get over’.
It’s gotten better over the years. But I’d expect the SDMB to be better than average–I was speaking generally.
I still get a lot of questions about EV ownership, particularly from my parent’s friends and acquaintances. They lean more conservative and are obviously older. I have noticed that the tone of the questions has changed–what used to be dismissive is now more likely to be genuine. But there’s still a lot of ignorance about charge times, etc. And the occasional “I’m too old to learn this stuff, and I’ll be dead in 10 years anyway, so I’m not interested.” Which is probably true, actually.
That’s always a possibility, but we know how much the typical person drives, and their charging availability, so we know the extreme use cases are exceptional. These people with 500 mile commutes or whatever can’t be more than a tiny fraction of the population. Though they might have an outsized voice on various forums.
It’s not about getting over anything–it’s about actually having a realistic view of one’s own use case and properly understanding the pros and cons. Plenty of people still haven’t internalized the benefits of home charging, and also exaggerate the time needed at public chargers. There’s also lots of exaggeration of the costs of a home charger–they usually think they need something beefier than they do. If you get enough of these things wrong, of course an EV starts to look bad. But they’re often unrealistic.
Follow on to the automobile mods I posted above (#361).
The paving blocks worked well for the truck’s ride improvement, but I tired of removing and replacing them for various loads. So I changed to a 45 gallon water tank over the axle. This allows easier removal and replacement since everything’s lightweight once drained. Another bonus is it can be used to extend the fresh water tank in the camper (I have pumps to transfer it).
Tank, under the bed cover. Framing around it removes easily. That the gap between tank and fender exactly fits a 40qt. cooler is pure chance. Honest. 
Also, decided to go ahead with some security mods. Due to the startling rise in car thefts around here, and the fact we’ve lost 3 cars (and had significant storm damage) in the past few years – I suspect I’m on thin ice with my insurance company. Many aren’t writing new policies now and I really can’t handle another claim. So I’ve taken serious steps to prevent it.
After some new stuff and re-wiring, it’s now safe(-er) from Rolljam, Relay, CAN bus, and cloned keyfob attacks. I’m still installing some decoy switches to mislead and delay crooks. Once fully secured somewhere, you’ll need 3 items/codes to get it started. Hopefully all these gotcha’s in my system will encourage moving along to easier targets.
Just as we’ve done for home and digital security, much of this is DIY, unique, non-intuitive, and with details known only to us.
I have quite a few years of off-roading under the belt, and I have local people in very wet/muddy environments seen having a tractor-inner-tube in the bed of the truck - so they can add weight for added traction.
When extra weight is not needed, it folds up really small and has no weight to speak of, but if needed you can fill the tube easily with 100-200kg of water (or 1,360-2,720kg of mercury 
) … dirt cheap, also, dead silent, and quite plyable …
Wouldn’t the squishy inner-tube move around a lot? Or does the sloshing around not matter? One of the drawbacks of my tank<->weight system is the binary choice of full or empty. It doesn’t have baffles and I’m wary of the results of such unplanned movement.
Humorous note: I was wandering around some 4WD forums researching my upcoming trip to Big Bend. Since I’ll be exploring the primitive roads in the Nat’l park, I was cautioned to “be sure you carry extra water!”. I chuckled and said “Got it covered.” 
they just tied it down, left, right and front to some anker points in the bed … and there is no sloshing, as the expandible rubber tube is always “full”, even if filled to 50% of its max. volume
Ford just reported a massive loss on every electric vehicle it sold, a massive increase to $132K/car:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/24/business/ford-earnings-ev-losses/index.html