Is the $30k EV Truck Dead?

[chl]

You must have missed the enormous recent thread discussing why there are few charge stations, and will continue to be few charge stations in the future. To heavily summarize, it costs a FORTUNE. Building them costs millions, getting the electricity to them is subject to heavy fees (called tariffs in utility company lingo), and maintenance is high because the are typically out in the weather 24/7/365 unlike fuel pumps. This has drastically slowed EV charger deployment and it is not a problem that will be solved any time soon.

And if you think gas station owners are going to readily spend tens of millions to convert their trustworthy pumps for EV chargers, I have some beautiful ocean front property in Kansas for sale.

The current problems with EVs, particularly trucks, are: range, charge speed, and charge logistics. ALL THREE of those things have to be solved before EV will sell more plentifully than ICE in this country. And that is not going to happen in the next 5 years, or 10 years, or….

Such pessimism, wow!

The courts have now issue a final order to this administration ordering them to stop delaying distributing the funding congress authorized for NEVI, so the states can go forward with installing EVSEs and DC chargers on all their major roadways.

My grandparents drove from Az to DC in their old Ford back in the day and had to carry extra cans of gasoline with them because of the relative scarcity of gas stations back then.

If a car broke down people would yell at the owner "Get a horse!"

Little did THEY know.

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[Altivec]

You must have missed the enormous recent thread discussing why there are few charge stations, and will continue to be few charge stations in the future. To heavily summarize, it costs a FORTUNE. Building them costs millions, getting the electricity to them is subject to heavy fees (called tariffs in utility company lingo), and maintenance is high because the are typically out in the weather 24/7/365 unlike fuel pumps. This has drastically slowed EV charger deployment and it is not a problem that will be solved any time soon.

And if you think gas station owners are going to readily spend tens of millions to convert their trustworthy pumps for EV chargers, I have some beautiful ocean front property in Kansas for sale.

The current problems with EVs, particularly trucks, are: range, charge speed, and charge logistics. ALL THREE of those things have to be solved before EV will sell more plentifully than ICE in this country. And that is not going to happen in the next 5 years, or 10 years, or….

And you must have not read a thing I said. Everything I said was contingent on the specs of Solid State batteries being recently announced being true. IE. 5 minute charging. That makes them equal to gas vehicles in terms of convenience.

If you would have told everyone with horse and carriages back in the day that there would be gas stations at every corner, they would have told you. Do you know how expensive it would be to acquire prime land, dig it up to put huge tanks in them and then create the infrastructure to have semis come in and fill all these tanks. Where there is money to be made, things happen, and they happen faster than you think.

I am also coming at this from not living in America. It's too bad that too many people (not all) over there are fooled into believing what powers your vehicle makes you a more honourable member of your political party of choice. The rest of the world does not treat EV's this way. They are just a thing like buying a gas stove or an electric stove. Nobody judges or cares. The rest of the world is advancing EV's at a torrid pace and moving forward with battery tech and infrastructure. So although you may be correct, that the rollout of EV infrastructure due to Oil companies/politics, whom are succeeding at holding things back will be slow. That is an America thing, not a world thing so I don't view things from the same lens as you.

I predict when the rest of the world is so far ahead in EV's and infrastructure, the US will be forced to go along with it too. When that realization happens it will be a fast and furious transition.

As I stated before. A big component of the enormous costs of EV infrastructure is land to have many chargers. When 5min charging comes along, this component of the price is no longer required and existing gas stations can be converted.

 

[carys98]

You must have missed the enormous recent thread discussing why there are few charge stations, and will continue to be few charge stations in the future. To heavily summarize, it costs a FORTUNE. Building them costs millions, getting the electricity to them is subject to heavy fees (called tariffs in utility company lingo), and maintenance is high because the are typically out in the weather 24/7/365 unlike fuel pumps. This has drastically slowed EV charger deployment and it is not a problem that will be solved any time soon.

And if you think gas station owners are going to readily spend tens of millions to convert their trustworthy pumps for EV chargers, I have some beautiful ocean front property in Kansas for sale.

The current problems with EVs, particularly trucks, are: range, charge speed, and charge logistics. ALL THREE of those things have to be solved before EV will sell more plentifully than ICE in this country. And that is not going to happen in the next 5 years, or 10 years, or….

I‘m not sure where you saw that thread but the reality is that last year saw a 30% increase in the number of DCFC ports deployed. You can read the full report at the link below and @tommolog did an interview with the author of the report at the second link.

From the report:
”2025 was a record-breaking year for U.S. fast-charging infrastructure, defying the prevailing narrative of a broad slowdown in EV adoption. Despite a more cautious market backdrop, the fast-charging sector saw rapid expansion, strong demand growth, and continued improvements in operational performance.

Infrastructure scaled rapidly: +30% YoY adding over 18K new DCFC ports”

https://www.paren.app/reports/state-of-the-industry-report-us-ev-fast-charging-full-year-2025

 

[electricpig]

I agree on those points.
I the NACL battery tech is for real, a game changer.
Now the NEVI money has gotten freed up (by court order) there will be more charging stations put in.
I am surprised more gas stations have not invested in chargers.

Walmart was supposed to build a network of stations on their lots, but haven't heard much about that lately...none near me yet.

https://www.walmart.com/cp/ev/9145505

Then you haven't been paying attention on WalMart. They are in the ramp up stage. They have several open in the DFW area, and some other scattered around the country. Youtuber "The Arkansas eTraveler" is posting frequently videos of what is happening and has a public spreadsheet listing what he knows about. That includes about 250 sites in various stages at this time. No doubt there are more.

 

[chl]

Then you haven't been paying attention on WalMart. They are in the ramp up stage. They have several open in the DFW area, and some other scattered around the country. Youtuber "The Arkansas eTraveler" is posting frequently videos of what is happening and has a public spreadsheet listing what he knows about. That includes about 250 sites in various stages at this time. No doubt there are more.

Well, it seems there hasn't been any progress in my area or state according to their web page at least.

Thanks for the YouTuber info, I'll have to check it out.

The nearest Walmart has had DC chargers for a long time, nothing new though, they are EAs and they have 4 or 5 chargers I think.

https://www.google.com/local/place/...v=100&ik=CAISFkc5dXJYOTVEWDRTODJ0NDIwRDZDOFE=

 

[carys98]

Well, it seems there hasn't been any progress in my area or state according to their web page at least.

Thanks for the YouTuber info, I'll have to check it out.

The nearest Walmart has had DC chargers for a long time, nothing new though, they are EAs and they have 4 or 5 chargers I think.

https://www.google.com/local/place/fid/0x89b7ae6c21fb2da7:0x2a19111b2e9768dc/photosphere?iu=https://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?panoid=G9urX95DX4S82t420D6C8Q&cb_client=lu.gallery.gps&w=160&h=106&yaw=210.02844&pitch=0&thumbfov=100&ik=CAISFkc5dXJYOTVEWDRTODJ0NDIwRDZDOFE=

If you go to PlugShare you can filter on WalMart and check include coming soon you can see the sites they have announced. This picture gives a view of the general areas but if you zoom in there are more sites. Under my blue dot there are actually three planned sites around Raleigh, NC.

 

[electricpig]

Then you haven't been paying attention on WalMart. They are in the ramp up stage. They have several open in the DFW area, and some other scattered around the country. Youtuber "The Arkansas eTraveler" is posting frequently videos of what is happening and has a public spreadsheet listing what he knows about. That includes about 250 sites in various stages at this time. No doubt there are more.

Understand. Reading my comment it comes off more negative than intended. My apologies.

Beyond that, it's not immediately obvious how they are choosing sites, but overall seem to be trying to hit population centers, and spreading out with some interconnections.

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