Ford wants to go head-to-head with Tesla…

[SymChris]

Where do Teslas get maintained?

I’ve never looked at it, all I know is they sell either out of mall “boutiques “ or online. So was wondering where you bring to for service.

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[BCRanger]

My neighbor has a Tesla. All I can say is the Wrecker company knows them very well as it is a very normal event to see the rollback in their drive rolling the Tesla onto the platform to be yet again hauled to the repair facility. Rolling piece of junk IMO.

This is totally anecdotal, but I know a few people who have model 3s and they haven't reported any more than their share of issues.

Also, my dentist let me drive his performance version with my son, and holy s*&# that thing was fast , handled really nicely too, very tosable, great sightlines, etc.. OTOH I am really not into this "people are too bored to actually drive" thinking that seems to have infected Tesla. I don't want to buy a vehicle that thinks it is smarter than you. When I discovered the Ranger's lane keeping assist had a button on the stalk to turn it off I was a happy camper.

 

[VAMike]

Where do Teslas get maintained?

I’ve never looked at it, all I know is they sell either out of mall “boutiques “ or online. So was wondering where you bring to for service.

The theoretical advantage of electric vehicles is that there really isn't routine maintenance. The flip side is that if your tesla does break, you're screwed. (But I suspect that all the manufacturers are going to have to figure out a new model in the future, because the current number of dealership service bays can't be maintained without oil changes.)

 

[BCRanger]

The theoretical advantage of electric vehicles is that there really isn't routine maintenance. The flip side is that if your tesla does break, you're screwed. (But I suspect that all the manufacturers are going to have to figure out a new model in the future, because the current number of dealership service bays can't be maintained without oil changes.)

Mentioned this earlier, but it isn't at all theoretical for us. We live a three and a half hour drive from anyone that could deal with EV issues, but literally never had our Leaf in the shop until last year when we had to finally replace brakes. But we went with Nissan for that reason, I certainly wouldn't have felt as confident about a Tesla and defietely not an E-Tron or the Jaguar ... we'd have had to be masochists to do even consider that, hahhahahaha.

 

[VoodooRanger]

You guys should check out the Out of Spec Motoring channel on YouTube. The creator, Kyle, has done plenty of videos with EV’s, including when he and his wife did a cross country tour in a Model 3. He’s posted a video recently of taking a Mach-E from Colorado to California. Seeing the issues he was running into getting it to charge shows how well ahead Tesla is. Not saying Ford won’t get the issues fixed, but Tesla having their own charging stations is the greatest advantage they have. Relying on a secondary company to get your EV charged will be a pain in the ass.

 

[VAMike]

Mentioned this earlier, but it isn't at all theoretical for us. We live a three and a half hour drive from anyone that could deal with EV issues, but literally never had our Leaf in the shop until last year when we had to finally replace brakes. But we went with Nissan for that reason, I certainly wouldn't have felt as confident about a Tesla and defietely not an E-Tron or the Jaguar ... we'd have had to be masochists to do even consider that, hahhahahaha.

I'd get a tesla, but as a second or third car--no way I'd make it my primary transportation.

 

[BCRanger]

I'd get a tesla, but as a second or third car--no way I'd make it my primary transportation.

I'd be happy to have one as my daily driver if it could go everywhere I want to go and carry what I want to carry.

But for your case as a second or third car my advice would be buy a used older Nissan or Hyundai/Kia EV with under 100 mile range -- ridiculously cheap off lease, unless you have money to burn to keep a 70k car in your driveway. Best ROI on any vehicle I've ever had.

 

[Azriq]

Wow that’s interesting I had never heard of those electric trucks. Basically they sort-of had golf cart motors and batteries sounds like ha ha!

More trivia....Ford actually had a diesel Ranger here in the U.S. in the early-mid 80's too. Come to think of it, they sold a diesel Escort and Tempo as well. And final odd fact, diesel Lincoln Mark VII was sold here too.

 

[lawrench]

I think the thing that Tesla has done best is to give the market a BIG wake up call, similar to the wake up call provided by the cheap but reliable Japanese cars from the 80's.

Would any of the automakers be investing so much in electrification if Tesla hadn't proven that a real daily driver capable vehicle was possible?

I seriously doubt it.

Well, maybe in CA where the elected leaders like to legislate technology into existence.

My wife and I have talked about EV's. I think that putting too many EV's on the road will totally destroy our electrical infrastructure. California is probably the worst of all with their rolling black-outs. So when the electric companies start trying to update infrastructure they will have to raise rates. It can be a difficult decade or more getting everything upgraded/updated.

I think either way, we will all pay for it in multiple ways, once the electric companies run out of money, the government will step in and that will mean higher taxes. Or electric rates go up and the effects will be felt everywhere. Everybody uses electricity and if everyone is paying higher rates, and this will include businesses and the consumer.

I think we all need to tread carefully when considering EV's. I would hate to be the person that caused a black-out in my community by plugging in my EV.

 

[lawrench]

More trivia....Ford actually had a diesel Ranger here in the U.S. in the early-mid 80's too. Come to think of it, they sold a diesel Escort and Tempo as well. And final odd fact, diesel Lincoln Mark VII was sold here too.

If I remember correctly, the gas shortages in the 70's caused a large move to diesel engines in the late 70's to 80's. But in some places, diesel is hard to find or cost more than premium gasoline.

 

[Tom_C]

My wife and I have talked about EV's. I think that putting too many EV's on the road will totally destroy our electrical infrastructure. California is probably the worst of all with their rolling black-outs. So when the electric companies start trying to update infrastructure they will have to raise rates. It can be a difficult decade or more getting everything upgraded/updated.

I think either way, we will all pay for it in multiple ways, once the electric companies run out of money, the government will step in and that will mean higher taxes. Or electric rates go up and the effects will be felt everywhere. Everybody uses electricity and if everyone is paying higher rates, and this will include businesses and the consumer.

I think we all need to tread carefully when considering EV's. I would hate to be the person that caused a black-out in my community by plugging in my EV.

I think there is some worry here, but I also think we (as a society) use less power due to better electronics in general (LEDs, greener appliances, etc) Does it offset the power draw of EVs? probably not yet, as a guess. It's something that should be discussed more, but will be politicized, naturally.

My wife and I are building a retire home, and will drop in a 50 amp circuit for EV. Just 1, though I'd like 2, but don't really see a need for 2. And, there will soon be EV wireless charging, via pads or built in, so that's the next phase.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

My gawd, why do EVs have to look so bad?

Some of my friends have Teslas - some of them used to have a Prius before that. I’ve even asked them why the heck they want to drive such an ugly car? Sure, it’s better looking than a Prius, but it‘s still ugly - dumbest hood line going. The stupidest looking thing on the planet is their Cyber Truck - what’s up with that? Gimme a truck that looks like a truck, not a movie prop or a gimmick. Pfffft.

Ford and GM will win if they are able to get the tech right because they have a real advantage when it comes to to design.

 

[VAMike]

I'd be happy to have one as my daily driver if it could go everywhere I want to go and carry what I want to carry.

But for your case as a second or third car my advice would be buy a used older Nissan or Hyundai/Kia EV with under 100 mile range -- ridiculously cheap off lease, unless you have money to burn to keep a 70k car in your driveway. Best ROI on any vehicle I've ever had.

cars are fungible the basic idea is that if you have an extra it mostly doesn't matter if one ends up stuck in a shop, even if you'd prefer to be using the one in the shop. Obviously this doesn't apply if one car is a prius and the other is an F250 with all your tools, but in a lot of cases you can get by using the kids' beater (or trash hauling pickup or whatever) if your tesla is out of service for 3 months even if you aren't happy about it. I've just seen too many horror stories of insanely long lead times for tesla parts (even outside the current covid mess that's making things tough on everybody) to want that to be my sole means of transportation. If I were to do this it would because I want to have some fun, so a second-hand nissan leaf wouldn't be my first choice either. From a purely cost standpoint you probably still can't beat a 20 year old gasser, but most people aren't buying a car entirely based on minimizing the cost of ownership.

 

[BCRanger]

My wife and I have talked about EV's. I think that putting too many EV's on the road will totally destroy our electrical infrastructure. California is probably the worst of all with their rolling black-outs. So when the electric companies start trying to update infrastructure they will have to raise rates. It can be a difficult decade or more getting everything upgraded/updated.

EVs are actually perfect for this case, because they have built in flexibility for *when* they are charged at home. So in summer everyone runs AC full blast during day but there is plenty of unused capacity at night. So it can even help utilities manage load. Solar and wind and other alternatives just keep getting cheaper so we are in a virtuous cycle there.

As it is, energy isn't priced anywhere close to its actual external environmental impact. If fossil fuels were priced for the damage they do, no one would be able to afford them, we'd find substitutes.

 

[VAMike]

I think there is some worry here, but I also think we (as a society) use less power due to better electronics in general (LEDs, greener appliances, etc) Does it offset the power draw of EVs? probably not yet, as a guess.

Will we need to upgrade the grid for EVs? Yes. Do we already need to upgrade the grid because a 21st century economy is more dependent on reliable power than a 20th century economy? Yes. You can kill two birds with one stone here, and we're already eating a lot of hidden costs like backup generators and spoiled food and emergency repairs at much higher rates that could pay for a lot of improvements.

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