AHH, SPECULATION ONCE AGAIN. Extended battery

[VAF84]

I thought of that too. But honest question here. I am sure you love your truck. I drove one and it is nice. BUT all things equal, if the CT got same range as Sierra would you have gone still with a GM product, or would the CT have gone for the win? I found after driving both I really like the drive of the CT vs the Sierra.

I think it would have been 50/50, and would have probably decided based on price. We're a family of 5, we fit more comfortably in the Sierra, but I think the CT is awesome. I really don't know. I personally think the Sierra interior is much nicer. I am a car enthusiast though and know at some point I'll have the CT just due to some of its unique features. I'm also into sports cars, and the CT definitely has the edge on being more sports car like in a truck body.

Ultimately, at the time of purchase, there was only one option for big range with luxury features, so there wasn't much of a decision to make. I mean, it was struggle to decide, right up to the point I realized that no matter how I tried to justify it to myself; there was no way I was going to go back to dealing with the 320 or less range. After that, it was an easy call.

I'm not going to lie though, I really love the Sierra. It's a strong competitor to the CT. Ideally though, at some point my wife takes over the Sierra EV, and I get the range extended CT. That would be a win-win.

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[MeadowShade]

Technology moves forward when a LOT of things happen and usually NOT at once. Like the hydrogen guys that put hydrogen on plastic tape ... a little bigger than a VHS tape (remember those) and it would propel the car 300 miles per cassette. So 1,000 miles would fit in your glove compartment. That was 10 years ago.

EV's are cheaper ... and range need is NOT an issue for everybody every day. Most people only drive more than 200 miles per day a few times per year and for those trips ... rent if you want to be able to refill on every other corner for now. I have towed over 6,000 miles. To and from Quebec and Wyoming from VA. We still have to think way too much about charging I totally agree. But, I went 6,000 miles towing for less than $1,000 for juice. Diesel or Gas would have been double or triple that. Heck I could have rented too.

It is a big trade off as new technology always gets cheaper. My first car phone took a day and a half to install with a brief case sized buzz box in the trunk and a console on the transmission hump. The bill was never less than $1,200 per month. But it made me more productive and the company paid the bill. Now you have in your pocket more computing power than NASA had for the moon landing for $60 per month you can video chat most anywhere in the world.

Yep ... we will get there. Just not in the two weeks that Elon has overused just like the contractor for Tom Hanks in The Money Pit movie.

 

[cyberjeff25]

$7,500 rebate? Most people who can afford a $100,000 plus car likely make too much money to qualify for the rebate anyway. My bet is they have a tax free social security law but if you make more than $50,000 a year you have to add this income. Truth is anyone making less than $50,000 a year is not paying much more n taxes anyway on their social security.

 

[devdrone6]

$7,500 rebate? Most people who can afford a $100,000 plus car likely make too much money to qualify for the rebate anyway. My bet is they have a tax free social security law but if you make more than $50,000 a year you have to add this income. Truth is anyone making less than $50,000 a year is not paying much more n taxes anyway on their social security.

Very few are buying these with cash, most people would still qualify especially if they are married. The married limit is 300k.

 

[greggertruck]

1. Toyota has been talking about their Solid State Battery for 8 16 years now and it's never come to fruition.

Fixed that for you. I'm pretty sure they started squawking they had SS batts in 2008.

 

[Woodrick]

They are beginning, but they are expensive and focused on aircraft where the cost can be justified.

They aren't even able to power more than an LED at this point.

 

[Woodrick]

No kidding. Over 50% of the reason I was swayed to the Sierra EV over the CT was range. I'm not going back to "320" range, and now that I actually own and experience 440 range, I'm convinced that I'm never going back until charging speeds double the current fastest speeds AND the infrastructure is everywhere including rural areas to support the more frequent stops and high charging speeds for the full 80% charge, not just the first 20%.

You'll eventually learn how much range really means.

 

[VAF84]

You'll eventually learn how much range really means.

Not sure I follow?

 

[mongo]

$7,500 rebate? Most people who can afford a $100,000 plus car likely make too much money to qualify for the rebate anyway. My bet is they have a tax free social security law but if you make more than $50,000 a year you have to add this income. Truth is anyone making less than $50,000 a year is not paying much more n taxes anyway on their social security.

Not so.
Can a couple live on $200k a year?
If yes, then they can live on $250k a year and net twice what payments would be on a Foundation Cyberbeast.
Or $300k a year and almost pay cash for it with one year's surplus.
Or retirees who can adjust their annual income to take advantage of the fact that the income limit is based the lesser of the purchase year or previous. Taking delivery on 2025? Pull that money in 2024. Or finance it if your investments earn more than the loan interest (adjust for graduated income tax impacts on withdrawals).
On top of that, it's not $300k gross, it's $300k modified AGI, so at least $330k (ish).

 

[Woodrick]

Not sure I follow?

I'm headed from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach on Saturday. I don't think that I've made the trip in an EV.
I haven't even bothered to ask the truck if it could make it.

On a Denali and Lightning, it probably is a much bigger issue. I used to have a Leaf and 3rd party chargers are a PITA and way too unreliable.

If I was hauling and getting less than 150 miles range, I'd at least look.
But last year, hauling a boat from Atlanta to Tampa and getting about 75 mpg, there were plenty of Supercharges along the route.

Range really means so little travelling with a Tesla. The standard range Model 3 at around 250 miles has no issues getting around the country.

280, 320, 360 miles, don't really make that much difference.
450 miles is a problem though. It's unhealthy to sit that long.

 

[TimeOut]

The incentive will be wiped out for all battery vehicles. That's more harmful to Tesla than anyone. Especially with the amount of BEV credits they get from other manufacturers in the US.

Disagree w/ that. Tesla is the only EV manufacturer w/ a production line that can run at a profit - Tesla doesn't need incentive to sell more vehicles - the other manufacturers do. The 7500.00 meant that the manufacture could increase their price by 7500 while they spin up their production lines. As it applies to the Cybertruck, I'd bet most people don't qualify for the credit anyway.

 

[VAF84]

I'm headed from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach on Saturday. I don't think that I've made the trip in an EV.
I haven't even bothered to ask the truck if it could make it.

On a Denali and Lightning, it probably is a much bigger issue. I used to have a Leaf and 3rd party chargers are a PITA and way too unreliable.

If I was hauling and getting less than 150 miles range, I'd at least look.
But last year, hauling a boat from Atlanta to Tampa and getting about 75 mpg, there were plenty of Supercharges along the route.

Range really means so little travelling with a Tesla. The standard range Model 3 at around 250 miles has no issues getting around the country.

280, 320, 360 miles, don't really make that much difference.
450 miles is a problem though. It's unhealthy to sit that long.

My assessment is based on experience for my use case. I've experienced the 320 range. For 10months and 20,000 miles I drove a triangle between Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas before getting my BAB EV (Big A.. Battery). I'm home maybe 30-40% of the year. The rest of the time I'm in hotels and AirBnB's.

At times I'm making over night trips to the house (600miles roundtrip) for weeks in a row. Others I want to get home in one day so I maximize a holiday weekend with my family. Coming home from KY turned a 16 hour drive into a 20+ hr drive. It sucked.

I have 3 young kids. We road tripped to Colorado, the Lightning was a great road tripper, but stopping multiple times with cranky kids was unpleasant.

My work is in places where charging locations are not convenient. At times the closest fast charger may be over 20 minutes away.

I live in the world of 15-80% SOC. Most of my areas are open roads with highways 65-85mph; It eats kW. I can't precondition because I can't plug in on the road; that cost me an additional 25% of range in the Lightning during winter time. I'm sure the Tesla brings that down to about 10% losses with the a heat pump. Still, that's 320mi - 30 (10% weather) - 112 (deduct 35% SOC for buffers) - 48 (min 15% penalty for over 65mph) for a whopping useable range of 160 miles for the time of year where temps are under 65 degrees. This doesn't include if I have to hunt down a charger that's 20 miles away, each way. Now I'm down to 120 miles.

Plug trips into ABRP with the CT and Sierra/RST. It's roughly 50% less stops on long trips.

We're not even bringing towing into the conversation.

It's been a huge relief since I got this BAB EV. Ultimately, BAB EV's reduce inconvenience, stress, and discomfort. I can't wait for CT to join the BAB club so it can be an option for those of us who need it.

 

[Woodrick]

My assessment is based on experience for my use case. I've experienced the 320 range. For 10months and 20,000 miles I drove a triangle between Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas before getting my BAB EV (Big A.. Battery). I'm home maybe 30-40% of the year. The rest of the time I'm in hotels and AirBnB's.

At times I'm making over night trips to the house (600miles roundtrip) for weeks in a row. Others I want to get home in one day so I maximize a holiday weekend with my family. Coming home from KY turned a 16 hour drive into a 20+ hr drive. It sucked.

I have 3 young kids. We road tripped to Colorado, the Lightning was a great road tripper, but stopping multiple times with cranky kids was unpleasant.

My work is in places where charging locations are not convenient. At times the closest fast charger may be over 20 minutes away.

I live in the world of 15-80% SOC. Most of my areas are open roads with highways 65-85mph; It eats kW. I can't precondition because I can't plug in on the road; that cost me an additional 25% of range in the Lightning during winter time. I'm sure the Tesla brings that down to about 10% losses with the a heat pump. Still, that's 320mi - 30 (10% weather) - 112 (deduct 35% SOC for buffers) - 48 (min 15% penalty for over 65mph) for a whopping useable range of 160 miles for the time of year where temps are under 65 degrees. This doesn't include if I have to hunt down a charger that's 20 miles away, each way. Now I'm down to 120 miles.

Plug trips into ABRP with the CT and Sierra/RST. It's roughly 50% less stops on long trips.

We're not even bringing towing into the conversation.

It's been a huge relief since I got this BAB EV. Ultimately, BAB EV's reduce inconvenience, stress, and discomfort. I can't wait for CT to join the BAB club so it can be an option for those of us who need it.

Interesting, I've got 11,000 miles on my Cybertruck in 6 months. We are in the same neighborhood.

If you want to travel faster in the Tesla, try 5-50% charging. It's more charging stops but overall much quicker, each stop is only around 15 minutes, not the 45 or so that a 15-80% represents.

But honestly, all of your statements just talked about EVs, not range.

I do 500 mile trips within less than 15 minute differences from the same trip in an ICE.

The biggest thing is to not just stop to charge, stop to take care of other things like stretch and snack breaks or meals. Get the kids out of the vehicle and run them for a little bit.

And again, range barely makes a difference. 50 mile difference in range generally just shifts the charging stops slightly. Still the same number and effective time.

 

[SCTesla]

Disagree w/ that. Tesla is the only EV manufacturer w/ a production line that can run at a profit - Tesla doesn't need incentive to sell more vehicles - the other manufacturers do. The 7500.00 meant that the manufacture could increase their price by 7500 while they spin up their production lines. As it applies to the Cybertruck, I'd bet most people don't qualify for the credit anyway.

The BEV credits are more harmful to Tesla than anyone. It's billions per year that other manufacturers (1.79 billion in 2023). Losing the tax credit for consumers is no big deal for Tesla and Elon wants it removed.

 

[VAF84]

Interesting, I've got 11,000 miles on my Cybertruck in 6 months. We are in the same neighborhood.

If you want to travel faster in the Tesla, try 5-50% charging. It's more charging stops but overall much quicker, each stop is only around 15 minutes, not the 45 or so that a 15-80% represents.

But honestly, all of your statements just talked about EVs, not range.

I do 500 mile trips within less than 15 minute differences from the same trip in an ICE.

The biggest thing is to not just stop to charge, stop to take care of other things like stretch and snack breaks or meals. Get the kids out of the vehicle and run them for a little bit.

And again, range barely makes a difference. 50 mile difference in range generally just shifts the charging stops slightly. Still the same number and effective time.

I'm not sure how you did that. The 300 mile trip required two stops in my Lightning ended up adding 30-45 minutes. I think you're confusing the difference in range with another truck. The GM product gives me 120 more miles of range than the CT. Going the more frequent but shorter stops add time due to exiting freeway, locating charger, plug/unplug etc. Throw in kids, and every stop is a disruption with kids waking up or wanting to get down. Suddenly that 10-15 min stop ends up at 30 min, and the kids are riled up again. Again, everyone has different lifestyles and needs; I prefer being forced to stop less often. I don't mind a longer stop for the reduced number of stops because I can relax and enjoy them. Eat my meal peacefully or look around instead of running in and out to make up time.

The other difference is that when I get to my destination I don't have to worry about proximity to chargers. I can get a week's worth of driving on one charge, and not worry about slowing down.

I'll be honest, a lot of this has to do with me not wanting to make any compromises to go with an EV. It sounds bad, but I don't want to slow down to get range. I don't want to drive 20mph under the speed limit to tow a meaningful distance, I don't want to worry or care about where the nearest charger is. I bought an EV because it's fun to drive and it destroy's the compromises that truck ownership forces one to make. But that's what my life was like with the Lightning. It was a really fun truck, but I was always running range calculations in my head and scared to drive over 65mph due to reduced range. I'd skip extra stops/errands because I didn't want to have to charge one more time. I didn't even want to overtake cars so I could conserve battery. I don't even check my SOC much in my new truck because it's got so much juice.

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