[mulmen]

Honestly trucks seem like an ideal candidate for EV conversion because they have so much space between the frame rails for batteries.

Probably not great for long range towing but seems fine for in-town commute and work. Like a construction or landscaping company. Bonus if you can get Ford Lightning type built-in inverters.

[LinuxBender]

Will Prowse recently did a video on the Lightning [1]. He is running into some problems in his area acquiring the free charging or any charging away from his home. He can of course charge it at his home since he has insane amounts of solar. This could be problematic for construction folks going to job sites that may have limited power as in just enough for the tools and not enough to charge several trucks. This should be interesting to watch how it plays out.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATyBdJic8-o

[mulmen]

Why would the trucks need to charge at the job site if they can charge at home? And why would solar be required to charge an EV? Any additional range on top of a there-and-back trip could be used to power the tools.

[LinuxBender]

Why would the trucks need to charge at the job site if they can charge at home?

That depends on how far away the job site is. In my state that could be a long drive. For jobs in or near city/urban areas it's probably fine. I have a very difficult time as it is getting any contractors to come to me. This article is specific to Cali, but Cali does things first then others follow if it works out. Even Cali has some seriously spread out towns once one leaves the big cities. Actually let me correct that, Cali is massive. I've driven all over it.

And why would solar be required to charge an EV?

It is not, I added that as Will is kindof the Master-of-all-things-solar(c) and power at home is of no concern to him, but the video I linked helps clarify what I was referring to. The video is about getting free power when not at home however he was unable to do that.

Any additional range on top of a there-and-back trip could be used to power the tools.

Agreed. With a safety margin added in of course which the lightning does have a configuration option for. That said I am leery of new tech getting the measurements right. I would set a large margin of error until I knew for certain I could get to X place and back without risking needing a tow-truck.

[mulmen]

> For jobs in or near city/urban areas it's probably fine.

I suspect most small commercial vehicles service this type of area. It takes a lot of service vehicles to keep a city functioning.

I have some friends who do residential window washing and other odd jobs like leaf blowing, Christmas light installation, power washing, and gutter cleaning. Even a long day for them is less than 50 miles of driving total.

When I worked on the farm the longest we ever drove in a day was 60 miles, occasionally with a trailer. But that was at low speed and only a few times a year. We could have used the grain trucks for that towing if the service truck didn't have the range.

Heck, I have seen a landscaper in my neighborhood that uses all electric tools and tows a trailer with his Tesla. You could eat his lunch with an EV swapped 2014 Silverado.

The one constant with all my work vehicle experience is that the owner is obsessed with fuel prices.

My boss on the farm would have loved the idea of electrical arbitrage. He was doing something similar with jerry cans and the three gas stations on the way to the shop.

Napkin math:

At 12k for an electric conversion, 50 miles a day, and $3.60 a gallon gas I figure a 8 year payoff for the driving we did on the farm. But we did a lot of summer driving. If gas prices went up to $5.00 a gallon the conversion could pay for itself in 5 years. For year-round work EV conversion pays off in 5 years at 12k conversion cost and $3.60 a gallon. At $5.00 a gallon it pays off in 4 years. If you drive 75 miles a day it could pay off in less than three years. At 100 miles a day and $4.00 a gallon payoff is in 2.5 years.