blazerdude20

You’d think if IIHS was looking to make a true difference for safety, they would be beating down the door on 2nd and 3rd row occupant safety. The results and even seat belts vary wildly between brands.

The mirror arms seem to stick out pretty far compared to the size of the truck. Almost like towing mirrors... Which one would think is a negative for aero.

I agree it should be more Lexus GX than G Wagon. The G Wagon is its own market at this point, driven almost entirely by its brash luxury image. I just don’t see a Lincoln version doing well. A reasonably capable body on frame luxury SUV like the GX could work though.

Correct. Most charging networks and vehicle manufacturers share a common protocol and can talk to each other for charging. I can plug my Lightning into Tesla, Rivian, GM Power, Electrify America chargers, etc. it starts charging automatically and then charges my card on file with Ford. It’s easy peasy.

Then Honda should base it on a CRV architecture rather than the Pilot. It’s a city truck anyhow. The better fuel economy in a slightly smaller size would sell better to their long term customers. Ridgeline tow capacity is 5k pounds. Maverick Hybrid is 4k pounds.

I think Honda would gain stronger footing with the Ridgeline in a hybrid format. 28-30 MPG city would really stand out against the Tacoma or Ranger. My old 2019 Ridgeline got 19-20 MPG no matter the season, city or highway, etc. it wasn’t great. The F-150 EB that replaced it had much better highway MPG and about matched it in the city. At that point there is little reason to buy one unless cost is your only factor. The Ridgeline starts at $40k now anyhow, so it’s not cheap.

If you haven’t run the electrical for the charger yet, consider running wiring for 100A capacity (80 A charger) for future. That’s what we did for ours. Put in a 60A breaker and 48A charger for now, but have the ability to easily upsize for future larger capacity EV truck.

It has a Gator side by side vibe. Still better than the Kia truck but that's not saying much.

LFP has significantly higher temperature threshold for thermal runaway. It also puts out far less energy in a runaway situation. Making LFP chemistry units far safer.

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/gm-killing-off-biggest-silverado-141000148.html GM didn't sell too many medium duty trucks, but hopefully Ford can pickup a bit of their share.

Rumor is they are bringing the Tacoma back stateside. They currently have two plants building them in Mexico. This could open space down there for their entry level truck.

Ford plans to produce at least 20 GWh annually of BESS. Ford doesn't mention capacity limits at the facility. Tesla megapack BESS production capacity at their California plant is limited to 40 GWh. Knowing someone involved in the plans for battery storage at Tesla, their wait list for commercial and industrial customers is years long. If you believe their public accounting statements, the production is worth close to $20B in yearly revenue at 40 GWh Could be a solid boom for Ford if their product and support are up to task.

I wonder how states that test emissions are going to handle this. Technically the ICE(G?) isn’t driving anything. It’s a generator not an engine… Our state DEQ requires emissions testing every two years for gas vehicles. But there is no requirement to have your generators at home smog checked. 🤔

I'm sure i'll be in the minority but i think there would actually be a market for this in the US. A small city van for deliveries or light contracting work with solid range (300+ miles). This is basically an EV version of the last SWB Transit Connect. Bring it here and i'd order multiple for work day one.

I hope the new van doesn’t have a left side sliding door. The TC lost a significant amount of usable space inside with that door.