EREVs Are Not The Answer, EREVs are a Niche Market.

[ElectrifyingMe25]

EREVs will definitely sell to a niche market. I'm sure some of the Ford fans who wanted the performance of a Lightning and the range of an ICE will be very happy with the recent announcement.

However, how in the heck can Ford justify abandoning most customers who just want their battery electric Lightning. The driving experience of a Lightning is the best of any F-150 ever produced. You will not gain any significant following from BEV to EREV. Who wants to go back to an ICE vehicle unless you are desperate for towing or extremely long ranges.

Ford, you are making a huge mistake by offering only an EREV when current Lightning owners are screaming for you to reconsider. Lightning owners are telling you they won't buy an EREV.

Also, why would people who haul and need a longer driving range, buy a more expensive EREV that's more complicated and has more failure points when they can buy a cheaper ICE that's more reliable.

Someone at Ford who's making all these stupid decisions needs to be fired.

Listen to your customers. They want both improved range Lightnings and EREVs. Why don't you announce you're ending F150 ICE vehicles and forcing that customer base into EREVs. How well do you think that would go? Why didn't you just list a 1-800 number for a Chevy electric truck dealer when you announced you are ending Lightning sales.

Ford needs to rethink their dumb strategy for ending the Lightning.

I own a Lightning at the moment. I really like it. When I get ready for another electric pickup, thank goodness Chevy will be there with arms open.

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[The Weatherman]

Someone at Ford who's making all these stupid decisions needs to be fired.

Bye Jim.

 

[hajalie24]

The goal isn't to convince BEV users, it's to convince current gasoline drivers. Anecdotally but in person people seem to like the idea of hybrids and range anxiety with EVs is very common.

Personally if they put a decent amount of batteries in it so that it can go 100-150 miles on pure electric, I can see it convincing people that their car afterwards can be a full BEV.

Right now all plug in hybrids in the US suck, they only get like 40 miles of EV only range and don't have great performance.

 

[ElectrifyingMe25]

The goal isn't to convince BEV users, it's to convince current gasoline drivers. Anecdotally but in person people seem to like the idea of hybrids and range anxiety with EVs is very common.

Personally if they put a decent amount of batteries in it so that it can go 100-150 miles on pure electric, I can see it convincing people that their car afterwards can be a full BEV.

Right now all plug in hybrids in the US suck, they only get like 40 miles of EV only range and don't have great performance.

I like the idea of introducing people to the electric vehicle market through very well built and high range plug-in electric hybrids. However, the catch-22 is why would people pay that much more for a hybrid. Unless hybrids are the same price as an ICE, this idea is doomed to fail.

Besides, this idea has been tried 10 years ago, and all I heard was complaining about how "not worth it" the hybrid vehicle was in terms of performance and practicality. The car companies put just enough hybrid tech in the vehicles to get government subsidies.

 

[potato]

With the EREV setup it will certainly be better than existing plugin hybrids, but I agree it's trying to sell people what they think they need vs. what they actually need.

They're going to alienate most people who have driven an EV. Not sure this is a great long term strategy. Like, if my Lightning were totalled next year, I absolutely would not buy a gas Ford to replace it. I'd have to look at a different brand.

 

[hajalie24]

I like the idea of introducing people to the electric vehicle market through very well built and high range plug-in electric hybrids. However, the catch-22 is why would people pay that much more for a hybrid. Unless hybrids are the same price as an ICE, this idea is doomed to fail.

Besides, this idea has been tried 10 years ago, and all I heard was complaining about how "not worth it" the hybrid vehicle was in terms of performance and practicality. The car companies put just enough hybrid tech in the vehicles to get government subsidies.

Yeah they need to get the pricing right. They needed to do that with the BEV trucks too, but they didn't...

 

[speedy123]

With the EREV setup it will certainly be better than existing plugin hybrids, but I agree it's trying to sell people what they think they need vs. what they actually need.

The entire fullsize truck market is so successful exactly BECAUSE of the strategy of selling people what they think they need vs what they actually need.

 

[speedy123]

EREV is in fact the answer for me, if:
1) they have reasonable EV range and fast charging;
2) cost the same OR LESS than a comparable ICE vehicle
3) they get some kind of respect from the dealerships (and customers get the same)

Failing any of these points, they will sell exactly 14 of them and this idea will be relegated to the dumpster.

I look at an EREV as an EV. And that's how I'd plan to use it most of the time. But I'm happy to do some oil changes and ICE maintenance if I have more capability, no range anxiety on long trips, but still a giant truck that gets equivalent 40+mpg. And when the charging ring of death starts flashing on the battery, maybe the engine will get me home. Where's the downside? I'm not getting all the hate here toward the concept. It is definitely, in the current climate, a way to eventually get MORE EV adoption rather than less. My 2 cents, which are Canadian, so only worth 1.4 cents US

 

[ElectrifyingMe25]

EREV is in fact the answer for me, if:
1) they have reasonable EV range and fast charging;
2) cost the same OR LESS than a comparable ICE vehicle
3) they get some kind of respect from the dealerships (and customers get the same)

Failing any of these points, they will sell exactly 14 of them and this idea will be relegated to the dumpster.

I look at an EREV as an EV. And that's how I'd plan to use it most of the time. But I'm happy to do some oil changes and ICE maintenance if I have more capability, no range anxiety on long trips, but still a giant truck that gets equivalent 40+mpg. And when the charging ring of death starts flashing on the battery, maybe the engine will get me home. Where's the downside? I'm not getting all the hate here toward the concept. It is definitely, in the current climate, a way to eventually get MORE EV adoption rather than less. My 2 cents, which are Canadian, so only worth 1.4 cents US

The RAM Charger EREV price point is around $100k. This price makes sense if you include all it takes to run a 6-cylinder engine and incorporate all the environmental components necessary.

Now if you add a nice battery pack that will give the truck 120 mile EV range, and all the supporting controls and VFD's and electric motors, you have a $100K truck.

There is no way this EREV truck can be produced cheaper than a BEV. People will just buy an ICE truck..... Maybe this is their strategy????????

 

[Altivec]

Oh... I am sure people will be fooled into buying EREV's. The marketing is too compelling. Even I was fooled into buying one. But it's a very short sighted strategy that is going to cost in warranties, recalls and poor customer experience. I can understand the idea of adding an EREV model to get some suckers. But why in the world would they get rid of the BEV option. They were so proud of their universal platform where they can put multiple bodies on a single platform, yet they can't figure out a way to build the same truck with and without a generator. BEV is the future. period. This administration is going to be gone by the time this EREV is out. What happens when EV incentives come back on and GM starts selling 100k EV trucks per year, then the next year, 150k, and so on. It will be too late and costly to change strategies again. They are just shooting themselves in the foot by going EREV only. I believe this is the worst decision I've ever seen an auto maker make, and there is some doozies out there.

 

[hturnerfamily]

I think the facts bear out that here in America, most all 'trucks' are not bought for business or towing 'requirements', but simply because we LIKE big trucks, we LIKE the utilitarianism and usability and flexibility of that 'bed', whenever we need it... but hardly EVER because we 'have' to have it...

look in most any parking lot ... you'll see a large number of 'trucks'... none have trailers, none have anything in the bed... grandpa just enjoys driving it... he doesn't run a business... he doesn't do anything other than enjoy having it...

trucks in America are just another get-around vehicle... for the most part. If you want to build a special-use vehicle, then build one... but that's not a reason to stop production on a smooth-riding easy-to-maintain low-cost-operation truck that the rest of us want to own.

or, build that MAVERICK EV which should have been done from the start...
or, build that RANGER EV which should have been done from the start... just sayin.

 

[RLXXI]

EREV is in fact the answer for me, if:
1) they have reasonable EV range and fast charging;
2) cost the same OR LESS than a comparable ICE vehicle
3) they get some kind of respect from the dealerships (and customers get the same)

Failing any of these points, they will sell exactly 14 of them and this idea will be relegated to the dumpster.

I look at an EREV as an EV. And that's how I'd plan to use it most of the time. But I'm happy to do some oil changes and ICE maintenance if I have more capability, no range anxiety on long trips, but still a giant truck that gets equivalent 40+mpg. And when the charging ring of death starts flashing on the battery, maybe the engine will get me home. Where's the downside? I'm not getting all the hate here toward the concept. It is definitely, in the current climate, a way to eventually get MORE EV adoption rather than less. My 2 cents, which are Canadian, so only worth 1.4 cents US

Trouble with part of your thought process is that engine ONLY charges the battery is what they are saying, it does not provide any propulsion. If the battery red rings, you're not going any where except on the back of a wrecker.

 

[RickLightning]

EREV is in fact the answer for me, if:
1) they have reasonable EV range and fast charging;
2) cost the same OR LESS than a comparable ICE vehicle
3) they get some kind of respect from the dealerships (and customers get the same)

Failing any of these points, they will sell exactly 14 of them and this idea will be relegated to the dumpster.

I look at an EREV as an EV. And that's how I'd plan to use it most of the time. But I'm happy to do some oil changes and ICE maintenance if I have more capability, no range anxiety on long trips, but still a giant truck that gets equivalent 40+mpg. And when the charging ring of death starts flashing on the battery, maybe the engine will get me home. Where's the downside? I'm not getting all the hate here toward the concept. It is definitely, in the current climate, a way to eventually get MORE EV adoption rather than less. My 2 cents, which are Canadian, so only worth 1.4 cents US

You don't understand EREV...

 

[sotek2345]

The RAM Charger EREV price point is around $100k. This price makes sense if you include all it takes to run a 6-cylinder engine and incorporate all the environmental components necessary.

Now if you add a nice battery pack that will give the truck 120 mile EV range, and all the supporting controls and VFD's and electric motors, you have a $100K truck.

There is no way this EREV truck can be produced cheaper than a BEV. People will just buy an ICE truck..... Maybe this is their strategy????????

Or maybe they just put a ~10kwh battery in it to call it an EREV and effectively run off of the engine.

 

[JRDM2]

Seems like the scuttlebutt is the opposite of the OP's assertion. For example the Scout EV fan forum survey suggests takers of the fully EV version is in the minority, that most preorderers want the Harvester.

https://www.scoutevforum.com/forum/threads/2027-scout-reservation-deposits-list-tracker-stats--.10906/

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