What's your take with the whole EV push?

[Sbad0cko]

Any thoughts or ideas on how this movement by most auto manufacturers will affect the RV market?

We are all getting bombarded with news article after news article regarding the shift to EV's. Just today I found this on CNN:

GM (GM) is spending a significant amount of money to shift production from traditional gasoline-powered vehicles to a lineup of pure electric vehicles. While that will eventually reduce labor costs since EVs don’t take as many hours of labor to produce, it does require billions of dollars in upfront investment. GM (GM) has said it will invest $35 billion between now and 2025 in the shift to EVs. Its target is to have an all EV lineup of passenger vehicles by 2035.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/09/business/gm-layoffs

There is already a lot out there regarding the F150 Lightning's, shall we say less then great, towing capability with regard to range. Are people going to be able to buy a traditional ICE TV in a decade?

The world is changing fast !

[Dave Pelletier]

I'll get in early; yes, things are changing quickly but I think it will be awhile before EV's can take over RV/towing/hauling duties widescale....the extremely limited range is a huge issue. I suspect that ICE trucks will be around for quite awhile yet and that the "line in the sand" statements will either have the timeline changed or the definition of a "passenger vehicle" won't include HD pickups, RV's, etc.

2 cents,
Dave

[bigb56]

Another huge discrepancy in the advertised range is that some of the manufacturers use the entire battery capacity in their advertised range but what few people know is that it is not recommended to let the battery drop below 20% nor charge to over 80-90%. This effectively shaves 30-40% right off those advertised numbers. So when looking at the specs you need to know if the advertised range is the gross capacity or the useable capacity, and if they say useable how much did they push the envelope into the 20/80% recommendation for maximum battery life?

[Ludo]

A product can only be sold to customers that accept it. I don't really see a large acceptance for the current generation of ev's, main problems are price, range and charging time. So the companies are running a large risk with developing and producing products nobody wants.

[JohnBike]

Originally Posted by Dave Pelletier

I'll get in early; yes, things are changing quickly but I think it will be awhile before EV's can take over RV/towing/hauling duties widescale....the extremely limited range is a huge issue. I suspect that ICE trucks will be around for quite awhile yet and that the "line in the sand" statements will either have the timeline changed or the definition of a "passenger vehicle" won't include HD pickups, RV's, etc.

2 cents,
Dave

Add two more cents. As an EV owner, I can tell you they’re great for the in-town stuff, especially for numerous short trips that seldom heat up a gas engine. For heavy hauling, EVs might someday replace short-haul deliveries, but not OTR freight and not RVs.
Those “lines in the sand” have already been drawn. However, those lines will change every time a new legislature is elected.

[bigb56]

Originally Posted by JohnBike

Add two more cents. As an EV owner, I can tell you they’re great for the in-town stuff, especially for numerous short trips that seldom heat up a gas engine. For heavy hauling, EVs might someday replace short-haul deliveries, but not OTR freight and not RVs.
Those “lines in the sand” have already been drawn. However, those lines will change every time a new legislature is elected.

That's the only reason I've considered one, or a hybrid, is for the unbelievably high amount of miles we drive just doing errands around town. The ideal scenario would be to have enough solar to offset all of the electricity used by the EV.

[Marine359]

I agree with you Dave, at least for the near future.
But what will happen when it becomes commercially feasible and affordable to hook up an ev truck to an ev trailer, like the one Airstream has previewed. If you can extend the range to over 250 miles, it will be a game changer. Similarly, there are couple of companies beginning to build electric muni buses. So if you can build a passenger bus with a range of 350 miles, it would seem a small leap to begin building electric Class A chassis. A reinforced F53 chassis may be able to handle the build. The time horizon for extended range truck/trailer combos, and Class A is probably less than 10 years. During that time, battery technology will also improve, further extending range. I’m too old to expect that I’ll be able to buy one, but yes they’re coming.

[Sbad0cko]

There is so much energy stored up in a gallon of gas (or diesel). Being able to replenish (in the spirit of this conversation) in under 10 minutes vs. having to charge for hours is something we likely all take for granted. As things stand now I can't see how a family could pull a camper w/ a EV truck from Maine to Florida without taking weeks for the round trip. Totally unfeasible.

However, I wonder if we'll get to the place where folks are looked down upon for needing a ICE vehicle to pull a leisure item across the country. Motorized would obviously also be in the same boat.

Weird times.

[carybosse]

I am with Jim, I am too old to think I will be driving an EV in the RV world.

My wife and I ordered a Wrangler for her recently. It's deliver date is as unknown as any of you trying to order a 3/4 or full ton truck.

We looked at the PHEV (Plugin Hybrid EV) model. It appeared to come in at $10K more that a straight gasser, and the EV was only good for 20 miles, supposedly. At that rate, assuming I drove it the 20 miles, the equivalent of how far it would go on a gallon of gas, roughly, and using $3 a gallon for gas, the payback was about 9 years.

We (accidentally) test drove a PHEV Wrangler. I hated it. Had decent acceleration, but as soon as you took your foot off the gas, it bogged down as the regen cycle kicked in. When I mentioned it to the sales manager, he said his wife had a Tesla for a while and it behaved similarly. She hated it. It was bad enough to induce motion sickness almost.

The technology is making progress, and I am sure it will be wonderful, but the infrastructure has to be there. In the US, we are sorely lacking, and the infrastructure to support the RV and heavy duty truck industry has a long ways to go. By that point, the only EV I will be worried about charging will be my scooter to chase other residents of the nursing home with. How much range do I need to manage that? (And if I caught one of them, would I remember what to do after you catch em?)

[carybosse]

Originally Posted by Sbad0cko

...

However, I wonder if we'll get to the place where folks are looked down upon for needing a ICE vehicle to pull a leisure item across the country. Motorized would obviously also be in the same boat.

Weird times.

Part of the plan is that we will all be good little "citizens" who live/work/shop in such a small radius that we do not need vehicles at all. There are countless little developments within cities, even here in the "wide open" Texas that are pushing toward that. The spaces are so compact, there are no places for cars or trucks, no garages to charge your EV, etc.

While the GMs and Fords of the world are trying to roll out EVs to stave off the loss of their whole business line, the little green environmentalist have bigger plans. This is why you hear of countless attempts by the vehicle manufacturers to come up with ways to extract more dollars from consumers with the subscription services to the car you buy, and why so much emphasis seems to be on leasing vehicles now. When you drive 20K miles a year like I frequently do, a lease would kill me.

We have a generation growing up right now who do not see a vehicle in the same light we older folks did. My grandson had no great desire to get his drivers license. I think we are very close to a generation that will look upon vehicle ownership with their noses in the air. They are content to experience life through a video console with no need to smell the fresh air, or better yet, the sweet aroma of various fluids in a vehicle, etc.

A few weeks ago, on one of those holidays we celebrated on a Monday with all of the kids out of school, the weather was gorgeous here. Afternoon in February with temperatures in the 60s. I drove past the park by my house with the sun shining brightly, and there was not one soul in that park, I didn't see anyone on the bike path that runs past my house. When I was a kid, a day like that would have been spent outside in a park, on our bicycles, playing ball, something to enjoy the day.

[bigb56]

Some countries are experimenting with battery exchange where you just swap out the battery pack and you're on your way. This could work well for passenger cars traveling long distances. Of course these are very modest EVs, nothing like the Tesla etc.

[BayRunner]

There will be a day when EVs will be mainstream, however it will not be in my lifetime. Sure there will be the early adopters and the EV evangelist, however society lifestyles and infrastructure currently cannot support this in mass. As others have said, short distance type runs are good, but as a whole, longer runs take a bit more planning.

On a side note, I just saw an article yesterday where Australia created a production model hydrogen car. Interesting topic.

Edit:,linked article on Australia’s hydrogen car:

https://healthylifeboxx.com/australi...as-they-drive/

[NPCampbell]

If I were still commuting to work I would probably get an electric vehicle. However, I think we are at least 10+ years away from practical electric RVs being available.

For instance ...
The Ford Lightning F150 with the largest battery won't get 100 miles towing an 8k trailer. Then it requires close to 40 minutes of recharge time to get to 75%. 40 minutes of charging for every 1.5 hours of driving? No thanks, EVs aren't there yet. On top of that, the current charging locations are built for cars, not motorhomes or trucks pulling trailers. You also have the EV payload problem. In order to increase range, you have to carry lots of batteries, which reduces available payload and efficiency.

[Old-Biscuit]

I'll be dead and dust blowing in the wind before EVs will affect me.

EVs VS ICE..........gonna happen but TIME is the key

EV---great stuff. Just flip a switch and Viola...magic