[eropple]

Yup--electric performance vehicles are unreal when you first give one a try. I test drove a Ford Lightning this week and it is ridiculous what a 7,000-lb vehicle can do with that powertrain (to the point where honestly maybe it should require a CDL to drive). Just for kicks I also tried a Mach-E, which was the same kind of zip but without the novelty of being in a three-ton monster. Both felt glued to the road and they were real pleasures to drive.

I really wanted to pull the trigger on the Lightning, but it really was Too Big (won't even really fit in my driveway). Instead I picked a PHEV Escape SUV that'll become my wife's in 4-5 years (so we retain gas ranges on at least one vehicle) and I'll reevaluate what I can get in electric then. The Escape PHEV, however, has all the other advantages except the instant torque; I've never had a vehicle so able to finely control power and the eCVT smooths out the kind of lagging a conventional transmission has on hills and the like. Using zero gas for an hour-long drive is a nice plus, too.

The future of cars, including and maybe especially fast cars, is exciting.

[rootusrootus]

As a recent (a few weeks ago, in fact) buyer of a Lightning, as well as a two-time Tesla owner ... I totally agree. My pickup weighs 6500 pounds and will hit 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. That is ridiculous. Technically that makes it faster than my Model 3LR (though traction on damp pavement is definitely better on the Tesla than on the Ford).

It's easily the best pickup I've ever driven. Perfect (and I mean perfect) 50/50 weight balance, astonishing power, low center of gravity, etc. It simultaneously feels like a 6500 pound truck, but also doesn't. It feels like it defies physics sometimes.

> The future of cars, including and maybe especially fast cars, is exciting.

1000% agree. We used to think that the horsepower wars of the 2010s was the pinnacle of performance, but EVs are just raising the bar even higher.

[briandear]

How far can your truck tow anything? We run a motorcycle race team in Spain and going electric for our logistics vehicles would be a nightmare. Currently we can get from Barcelona to Jerez in a day. With electric that becomes 2 days, sometimes three. Several hours to charge a vehicle is a huge amount of time waiting around, especially when paying drivers by the hour, not to mention the electric vehicles are so heavy that it means a 3500kg electric van doesn’t have nearly the same payload as the diesel equivalent. So we either need bigger vehicles (requiring a commercial license and more expense) or we have to have more vehicles to move the same stuff.

[jcgrillo]

Will it still be maintainable in 30-40yr? Just the other day I pulled my 80 series Land Cruiser's windshield wiper motor to epoxy one of the permanent magnets back on (it had come loose from the housing and was making a horrible grinding noise). That part is made to be rebuilt, it's every bit as simple and straightforward as the century old Westinghouse motor in my drill press. I'm confident with nothing more than my lathe I could manufacture the parts necessary to keep that thing working indefinitely.

The problem with modern cars in my view, in no particular order:

1. Too much proprietary software. 2. Proprietary interfaces--no way to swap computers between cars. They're universal computers for fuck's sake, why can't we just replace them? If my 1995 Toyota had sensibly designed, open interfaces I'd be easily able to replace any computer on it with off the shelf components. 3. Too much complexity. The hardware and software has gotten so intricately intertwined that reverse engineering it is pretty hopeless, at least from the perspective of someone just trying to keep their vehicles going. Even if point (2) above were addressed and we started talking seriously about building stuff that's meant to last we'd still have to face how damnably complicated these systems have become.

The problem in my view is nobody is trying to make an EV that I'd still want to own in 30-40yr. I'm confident if I watch the market and stockpile enough parts, and learn how to rebuild the ones that are getting rare or NLA, that I'll be able to make this 1995 Cruiser go indefinitely. If I have to make my own transmission control unit or engine controller I'm pretty sure I could do that, or hack some cob job together well enough to get me down the road. I have no such confidence about "modern" vehicles.

If someone makes an EV that looks like I'll still be able to keep it going 30+yr from now I'll buy it on the spot, but so far they all look like 5yr lifespan landfill bait.

[fragmede]

what do you think of the top speed governor in that thing?

[bluedino]

Soemthing like a Tesla Plaid (or even a P120) is light years ahead of a Mach E in performance.

[dexterdog]

That's a bit of an overstatement, but by your gauge it's also light years ahead in cost.

[bluedino]

Also, Car and Driver had this to say about the Mach E

Not as fun to drive as a true muscle car... acceleration zeal past 60 mph drops off quickly.

Meanwhile they called the Plaid terrifyingly fast and blows away exotics, and it tied for the fastest 1/4 mile they had ever tested

[dexterdog]

I didn't know the machE was supposed to be a muscle car. I thought it was just a small SUV that they oddly put the Mustang name on.

[heartbreak]

Approximately the same brakes as the Mach E. Maybe worse.

[bluedino]

It's like 40+ mph faster in the 1/4 mile (almost 50%)

It does cost double though.