Fully electric Ram 1500 in 2024

[Scram1500]

With all the hidden UFO technology the Feds should allow us all flying vehicles to save on fuel costs, but just think of all the accidents there will be in no time.

That would be great for some, but I toss my cookies at the thought of flying. I'm a creature of the wheel

 

[cdn.tbird]

I am worried about getting cut off on new vehicles. I don't want to be forced to buy older and older vehicles should companies go exclusively to EVs.

I don't put too much stock in the regulations and targets that gov'ts set, those can be changed by lobby groups and changing administrations. What can't be changed by them and will ultimately dictate what manufacturers build is consumer demand. As manufacturers introduce models that people want (not halo projects) at competitive prices, adoption will take off. The Telsa Model 3 is a perfect example of that.

 

[cdn.tbird]

The promise of all-electric vehicles is currently built on a lot of assumptions. For example, would grid capacity really be there if a significant increase in people, thinking the same, opt to charge their vehicles at night?

Best regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33 gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build date: 03 June 2018. Now at: 0530388 miles.

But isn't the assumption that the grid can't handle it based on a belief that multi-billion dollar companies aren't spending anything to upgrade the system to handle forecasted increase demand?

Electricity is for all intents and purposes the lifeblood of any country. If this is truly the state of the electrical grid throughout in the US, Americans should be rebelling in the streets.

 

[Trooper4]

But isn't the assumption that the grid can't handle it based on a belief that multi-billion dollar companies aren't spending anything to upgrade the system to handle forecasted increase demand?

Electricity is for all intents and purposes the lifeblood of any country. If this is truly the state of the electrical grid throughout in the US, Americans should be rebelling in the streets.

Tell that to everyone who is dealing with power brown outs/black outs this summer. Oh, and don't forget about Texas. This country's' power grid seams just barely adequate now, and that's only if some hacker doesn't hack the grid and make a mess of it.

 

[SBrentnall]

I hope they don't stick with the short bed for this EV. 500 miles is enough range for me, but I need at least a 6'4" bed. Hopefully, they'll offer a few sizes.

 

[cdn.tbird]

Tell that to everyone who is dealing with power brown outs/black outs this summer. Oh, and don't forget about Texas. This country's' power grid seams just barely adequate now, and that's only if some hacker doesn't hack the grid and make a mess of it.

Then Texans & Californians should band together over a common cause and rebel. I don't remember hearing of the same types of outages in other states.

The last time there was a major power outage in Canada it was part of the 2003 blackout that took out pretty much the entire eastern seaboard of NA. That got traced back to a failure at a small power generator in Ohio.

 

[FirstTimeRamDriver]

Haven't flown in a long time. As I recall , AvGas was quite a bit more expensive than normal gasoline.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

True, but depends on where you buy it. I was in ND till last week, I could buy AvGas for 3:45 and premium for 3.

 

[SpeedyV]

Then Texans & Californians should band together over a common cause and rebel. I don't remember hearing of the same types of outages in other states.

The last time there was a major power outage in Canada it was part of the 2003 blackout that took out pretty much the entire eastern seaboard of NA. That got traced back to a failure at a small power generator in Ohio.

Texas has a huge amount of capacity (including the most sustainable energy generation of any state). But its grid has been poorly managed by ERCOT, and that will take time to change.

 

[tidefan1967]

Any company that thinks they can keep the lights on by building only EVs any time soon is dreaming. Even 10 years from now is wishful thinking.

 

[Biga]

I hope they don't stick with the short bed for this EV. 500 miles is enough range for me, but I need at least a 6'4" bed. Hopefully, they'll offer a few sizes.

Will have to see, kind of looks like a once piece body like the Avalanch or Rivian. If that's the case I doubt you will see a longer bed.

 

[cdn.tbird]

Texas has a huge amount of capacity (including the most sustainable energy generation of any state). But its grid has been poorly managed by ERCOT, and that will take time to change.

I was actually surprised to learn that Texas is one of the top states for green power, even if it only accounts for approx. 18% of their total capacity.

From what I read, one of the contributing factors was that Texas chose to isolate itself from the national grid to avoid having to comply with federal regulations. How onerous would have meeting those regulations have been? Honest question on my part.

If you think that EVs will cripple the grid in Texas just wait for all the Bitcoin mining operations that are headed that way ever since the Chinese gov't cracked down on crypto.

Change happens at the speed that people accept. I'm not advocating that utilities need to be gov't owned (far from it), but there are things that Texans can demand of elected officials that don't necessarily impede private companies from making a healthy return on their investment. People have a reasonable expectation that companies feed their cash cow instead of just milking it dry.

 

[Trooper4]

I was actually surprised to learn that Texas is one of the top states for green power, even if it only accounts for approx. 18% of their total capacity.

From what I read, one of the contributing factors was that Texas chose to isolate itself from the national grid to avoid having to comply with federal regulations. How onerous would have meeting those regulations have been? Honest question on my part.

If you think that EVs will cripple the grid in Texas just wait for all the Bitcoin mining operations that are headed that way ever since the Chinese gov't cracked down on crypto.

Change happens at the speed that people accept. I'm not advocating that utilities need to be gov't owned (far from it), but there are things that Texans can demand of elected officials that don't necessarily impede private companies from making a healthy return on their investment. People have a reasonable expectation that companies feed their cash cow instead of just milking it dry.

Washington is at the top because of hydro power and wind turbines. Surprising that Cal is second.

 

[Dusty1948]

But isn't the assumption that the grid can't handle it based on a belief that multi-billion dollar companies aren't spending anything to upgrade the system to handle forecasted increase demand?

Electricity is for all intents and purposes the lifeblood of any country. If this is truly the state of the electrical grid throughout in the US, Americans should be rebelling in the streets.

The fact that the current national grid system cannot handle the demand of a significant increase in power consumption is not an assumption, and that is just part of the equation. There currently isn't enough power generation available to produce the so-called forecasted demand of a fully electric vehicle transportation system, much less one half of that.

There is always ongoing investment in grid infrastructure. For example, new residential and commercial development. One must understand what increasing the grid capability really means, assuming there's even enough generation. Literally thousands of miles of copper wire, larger end grid transformers and distribution systems, just about everything below the primary distribution, plus a lot of trenches, poles, and societal disruptions on a mass scale.

Besides, where are these billions going to come from? In New York state like many others, for example, power companies are municipal (owned by residents), and whether municipally owned or not have KW rates fixed by state government. Most power companies are not hiding billions of dollars. What ever the cost it will ultimately be borne by the taxpayer anyways.

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33 gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build date: 03 June 2018. Now at: 0530392 miles.

 

[Dusty1948]

I was actually surprised to learn that Texas is one of the top states for green power, even if it only accounts for approx. 18% of their total capacity.

The so-called 'green energy' proved not to be very reliable for some Texas communities during the last big storm a year ago. Current green energy strategies are too dependent on the weather.

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33 gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build date: 03 June 2018. Now at: 0530392 miles.

 

[cdn.tbird]

The fact that the current national grid system cannot handle the demand of a significant increase in power consumption is not an assumption, and that is just part of the equation. There currently isn't enough power generation available to produce the so-called forecasted demand of a fully electric vehicle transportation system, much less one half of that.

There is always ongoing investment in grid infrastructure. For example, new residential and commercial development. One must understand what increasing the grid capability really means, assuming there's even enough generation. Literally thousands of miles of copper wire, larger end grid transformers and distribution systems, just about everything below the primary distribution, plus a lot of trenches, poles, and societal disruptions on a mass scale.

Besides, where are these billions going to come from? In New York state like many others, for example, power companies are municipal (owned by residents), and whether municipally owned or not have KW rates fixed by state government. Most power companies are not hiding billions of dollars. What ever the cost it will ultimately be borne by the taxpayer anyways.

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33 gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build date: 03 June 2018. Now at: 0530392 miles.

It's funny, because all the naysayers seem to have the attitude that electrification is a flip of the switch and would happen instantly. This is a fallacy, even the most aggressive timelines that some gov'ts are pushing is to end the sale of new ICE vehicles by 2035, not 2023. Even if the US were to adopt the same timeline, you're looking at approx. 17M EVs hitting the grid annually. How many years before everyone's daily driver is replaced with an EV? A decade maybe even 2?

You ask about how does a country raise the billions, how about if electricity generators / grid operators were to add $1 per month for every man, woman, and child for the next 14 years? Would the approx. $60B that would raise be enough to at least put a sizable dent into the electrical infrastructure debt the US has?

As you can tell from my posts, I'm pro-EV. All I'm trying to do is provoke an honest debate on this topic. I'm a realist, I fully acknowledge there are problems today that need to be resolved and each country is different. But let's be honest, just saying "We can't do that because..." isn't a viable option. Is it?

 

[cdn.tbird]

The so-called 'green energy' proved not to be very reliable for some Texas communities during the last big storm a year ago. Current green energy strategies are too dependent on the weather.

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33 gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build date: 03 June 2018. Now at: 0530392 miles.

There are other technologies such as biomass, nuclear, and tidal that are non-emitting generation options that are a lot more reliable. Yes each solution has it's own issues, but there are ways to solve them.

So what's your solution? Stifle innovation and keep doing things the same way we have for the last century?

 

[SpeedyV]

I was actually surprised to learn that Texas is one of the top states for green power, even if it only accounts for approx. 18% of their total capacity.

From what I read, one of the contributing factors was that Texas chose to isolate itself from the national grid to avoid having to comply with federal regulations. How onerous would have meeting those regulations have been? Honest question on my part.

If you think that EVs will cripple the grid in Texas just wait for all the Bitcoin mining operations that are headed that way ever since the Chinese gov't cracked down on crypto.

Change happens at the speed that people accept. I'm not advocating that utilities need to be gov't owned (far from it), but there are things that Texans can demand of elected officials that don't necessarily impede private companies from making a healthy return on their investment. People have a reasonable expectation that companies feed their cash cow instead of just milking it dry.

Texas generates more than 1/5 of US energy. I should have been specific about Texas producing the most green energy from wind, not necessarily the most sustainable energy overall.

Anyway, the decision to build an independent Texas grid was made back in the 1930s to prevent federal interference in pricing.

After we went through 52+ hours in subfreezing temps without power this past winter, I did a lot of reading. Honestly, it just looks like mismanagement. There should be ample capacity, but there’s not been enough investment in redundancy. I did read that the interstate grids suffer far worse bureaucratic issues, and (ironically) Texas’ grid (partly due to independence and partly due to the state’s size and energy production capacity) is the envy of other states.

 

[cdn.tbird]

Texas generates more than 1/5 of US energy. I should have been specific about Texas producing the most green energy from wind, not necessarily the most sustainable energy overall.

Anyway, the decision to build an independent Texas grid was made back in the 1930s to prevent federal interference in pricing.

After we went through 52+ hours in subfreezing temps without power this past winter, I did a lot of reading. Honestly, it just looks like mismanagement. There should be ample capacity, but there’s not been enough investment in redundancy. I did read that the interstate grids suffer far worse bureaucratic issues, and (ironically) Texas’ grid (partly due to independence and partly due to the state’s size and energy production capacity) is the envy of other states.

Thank you SpeedyV. Hopefully the mismanagement can be fixed fairly easy and the proper investments made.

 

[Dusty1948]

It's funny, because all the naysayers seem to have the attitude that electrification is a flip of the switch and would happen instantly. This is a fallacy, even the most aggressive timelines that some gov'ts are pushing is to end the sale of new ICE vehicles by 2035, not 2023. Even if the US were to adopt the same timeline, you're looking at approx. 17M EVs hitting the grid annually. How many years before everyone's daily driver is replaced with an EV? A decade maybe even 2?

You ask about how does a country raise the billions, how about if electricity generators / grid operators were to add $1 per month for every man, woman, and child for the next 14 years? Would the approx. $60B that would raise be enough to at least put a sizable dent into the electrical infrastructure debt the US has?

As you can tell from my posts, I'm pro-EV. All I'm trying to do is provoke an honest debate on this topic. I'm a realist, I fully acknowledge there are problems today that need to be resolved and each country is different. But let's be honest, just saying "We can't do that because..." isn't a viable option. Is it?

You have yet to hear me say "we can't do that." What I am trying to impart is exactly what you've stated, is that many full electrification vehicle advocates seem to think that all you have to do is plug it into the wall outlet, that there are no costs or downsides. Sure it can be done, but it will take time and money, but in some localities the expansion is going to be much more costly and time consuming.

But why should we do this? In reality the basic propelling premise of electric vehicles in reducing greenhouse pollution conflicts this push to completely electrify motor vehicles. To power an electric vehicle one must still generate the electrical energy somewhere. If that energy generation involves the combustion of a fossil fuel, all one will have done is move the engine of the vehicle to a remote location, one from which is it more difficult to access its energy output compared to some fossil fuel (gasoline, diesel, LP, CNG, etc.). To compound the inherent inefficiency of energy transfer to electricity, regardless of how this energy is generated, it must be fed downline in a system that has between 8-15% line loss.

According to much of the research, if you consider the average CO2, sulphur, and other pollutants found in automobile exhaust to that of a fossil fueled power generation station, you will realize a gross emissions of 500 grams of CO2 per electric vehicle kilometer, or a ratio of around 1.7 to 1 grams of CO2 generated versus a petrol powered one. (Elon Musk Should Come Clean: Tesla’s Emissions Are Rising.) [https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...ld-make-that-clear?srnd=opinion&sref=2o0rZsF1]

Best regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33 gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build date: 03 June 2018. Now at: 0530392 miles.

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

Looks like I'll be driving a 2020 for a bit longer than anticipated. One can only assume gas powered vehicles will become a hot commodity, unless the feds turn off the fuel hose. Then we will all be happy and the planet will resume its proper temperature, whatever that's supposed to be.

The planet is at its proper temperature now. It is at the point in time of its heat / cool cycle that it is at. The planet has gone from ice age to great thaws multiple times in its existence. We have only been here for a blip in that time.