I can’t imagine it would help at all. When you’re on snow, lack of torque isn’t usually the issue. It’s lack of friction between the tires and whatever they’re in contact with. The “instant torque” is just going to spin the wheels.
It’s probably more a matter of how controllable the torque is, than that there’s lots of it. Gently increasing power can be easier in an EV, because there isn’t an engine with a power curve that goes up and down, and a turbo or valve timing that will give a big torque boost sometime.
The instant torque is going to hurt, if you just smash down on the accelerator and get lots of power, but if that’s how you drive in the snow, then the problem isn’t the car…
The other thing that comes into play is the traction control and the computer. If traction control is too aggressive, then you can’t deliver any power, because the wheels start by slipping, and then power is cut. If traction control is too conservative, then it can let the wheels spin past the point they need to, and get you into trouble.
So how good the car is in low traction situations is going to have to do with the tires, the traction control (including ABS), drive arrangement (AWD, 4WD, FWD, etc.), the driver, and other things, and interactions of those things. I’d rather be in a FWD with good all season tires in the snow, than a 4WD with four balled mud tires in the snow.
My Model 3 dual motor (sort of a mix of AWD and 4WD) on four snow tires does very well in the snow. On all season tires it is pretty good in the snow. Right up until the snow is too deep for the car’s ground clearance. Is it better than a similar sized FWD or AWD sedan with the same snow tires? I don’t know.
As others have said, it’s certainly not an advantage. My departed Chevy Bolt had low-grip. low-rolling-resistance tires and it would spin them on clean dry pavement at the slightest provocation. But, it was also easy to be smooth with the throttle application if you’re the sort that doesn’t like big squealy burnouts, so that probably helps.
Other owners on the FB Bolt group reported that it was great in snow with proper snow tires. I would fully expect the i3 to be the same or better.
Are snow tires even available for the i3? It has those tall skinny tires, and probably only one or so choices for rubber in that size.
Both our EVs have buttons to engage some kind of better traction mode. We don’t get a lot of snow so I have never used this feature.
It is a German car: winter tires are “obligatorisch” in snow ice there.
Tirerack.com sure thinks so. Plenty of Google hits on i3 snow setups as well.
An EV, with a decent traction control system, can outperform the traction control on a similar ICE vehicle. When slippage is detected, torque can be instantly cut to a motor, and it can be braking/generating rather than accelerating. Fuel delivery or spark to an ICE can be cut, but all those reciprocating and rotating parts continue to generate torque for a bit.
My Model 3 Dual Motor has around 450 horsepower, which is more than enough to spin the wheels, yet it’s almost impossible. I haven’t driven it in snow, but I’m amazed at how hard it is to lose traction, even on wet roads.
I had a 2000 Insight (“the first Hybrid”), with expensive low-rolling-resistance tires. FIrst time we were snowed in, I shoveled a bit, fired it up, rocked it back and forth a couple of times (that’s where the “depends on the driver” bit comes in)… and was surprised to shoot through 3’ of snow up our steep dead end hill.
So never did get snow tires… maybe I’ll be as lucky with an EV.
I’m still not in the market for an EV because I want to be able to take long trips without the hassle of charging. BUT, I have a 1995 F-150 in my garage that only gets occasionally driven and not very far. That truck’s duties could be fully replaced by a F-150 Lightning EV, but I would be giving up a foot of bed space (6.5 versus 5.5).
This won’t make a difference if you actually need it to be that length for individual items, but if it’s just about the space, that truck has a pretty sizable frunk.
Yeah I’d really like a longer bed than 6.5 foot for kayaks and occasionally things like lumber and furniture, so I’d have to think a lot about giving up another foot. Ford seems determined to make all trucks 4-door and short bed though.
I assume a big part of that is people that don’t actually need pick ups, buying them anyways, so now Ford is trying to capitalize on that market by catering to them.
Four door trucks, even at the cost of a shorter bed, will appeal to the people that want the truck, but need more than 2 seats (do they even still have bench seats these days) and will never need to actually move anything huge.
Personally, I love pick ups. I like how they look, I like driving them etc, but I’ve always said that since I have nothing to pick up, it would be like having a small car that gets terrible mileage. A 4 door, shorter bed truck may appeal to people in my position.
Just looked at Ford’s site, and you can indeed still get a proper pickup - standard cab, 8’ box, “bench” seat - although it’s actually a “split bench” shown in the picture with the centre seatback folded down to make a kind of console, and the seat back is contoured such that it’s quasi-buckets for the driver and passenger. Still, it does technically seat 3. Only available on the XL and XLT trim levels though, and good luck finding one on a dealer lot.
You can carry 8’ sheets in the bed by putting the tailgate down. Your Kayak is no problem. It wouldn’t even extend past the tailgate.
In my experience, long loads in pickups are fairly rare, unless you have a special need like you are a framing carpenter or drywaller or something… Pickup beds get used for hauling dirt, tools, yard waste, small power machines like mowers, scrap, old appliances, that kind of stuff. Quad-cab pickup owners often use the back seat area for hauling things you don’t want in the elements or want locked up. I know almost every time I’ve had to ride in the back seat of a working truck it had to be cleared of all the stuff stored there first.
Pickup drivers know their needs. If trucks are evolving into short-bed crew cabs, there’s a reason for it.
I assume that the Ford F-150 Lightning will have an optional full-size bed?
I don’t think so, it’s a 67.1 inch (about 5.5 feet) bed according to everything I see: https://media.ford.com/content/dam/fordmedia/North%20America/US/product/2022/f-150-lightning/pdf/F-150_Lightning_Tech_Specs.pdf
That’s a bit of a bummer to me, I use a truck as a truck and not as daily transportation or a goin’ to town rig. If I’m paying a shitton of money I want a bed at least as long as what I’m used to.
We have two “small” kayaks. They’re 14 feet long.
Yeah, it appears even the real working pickup people see a need to haul extra people more than a need for a full-size bed.
Which won’t fit in a full size pickup either.
You’ll get over half in, though. Probably desirable for the center of gravity to be inside the bed, at the least.