Driving an EV pickup

[kaelc]

Saw one of the coldstar electric trucks on friday night, pretty good savings of over $100 day in diesel. I bet battery prices have been cut in half but prices of commercial electric trucks will still have to come down. https://www.trucknews.com/equipment...to-roll-out-cool-electric-project/1003166840/

 

[sly_karma]

Saw one of the coldstar electric trucks on friday night, pretty good savings of over $100 day in diesel. I bet battery prices have been cut in half but prices of commercial electric trucks will still have to come down. https://www.trucknews.com/equipment...to-roll-out-cool-electric-project/1003166840/

$475K is a lot of money for a 5 ton, no question. But to be fair, this was a one-off build requiring coordination between 3 suppliers. Prototypes of any product always appear expensive unless you do some sleight of hand by amortizing the development costs into a subsequent production run. Nonetheless, 250K extra cost is a steep hill to climb.

Hopefully Coldstar did receive some or all of the incentives mentioned in the article. But if not, would they get their money back in fuel and maintenance savings, or is this fleet owner a well meaning but greenwashed woke hippie with more dollars than sense? Haha, you guys know I'm just itching to do the math...

Daily running costs (diesel): $136
Daily running costs (electric): $4.50
Daily savings: $131.50
Annual savings: $131.50 × 250 = $32,875
Payback time: $250,000 ÷ $32,875 = 7.6 years

Maintenance on diesel:
Oil and filter change, 2/year
Fuel filter change, 2/year
CCV filter change, 1/year
Transmission flush, every 2 years
Cooling system flush, every 2 years
Brake pad replacement?
Brake system flush?

Costs on the above will vary, larger fleet operators can save money by buying parts and consumables in bulk and moving maintenance to in house basis. Add in whatever is spent maintaining the reefer power unit, plus the accumulated cost of time off the road to do these maintenance items, and it's not hard to see $1000/year in maintenance. At the end of the same 7-8 year period, the electric truck would be coming up on its first battery cooling system flush. Everything else would be normal truck stuff like tires, suspension, chassis lube, etc.

Even without any rebates or other incentives, the electric truck comes out in front over a ten year ownership period, by about $75,000. That's on raw running costs basis, cost of financing would eat most of it. Still, it seems like a break even proposition at least, with less downtime and better reliability as a bonus. Throw in the zero emissions and noise, and you've got a winner.

 

[-Jim-]

$475K is a lot of money for a 5 ton, no question. But to be fair, this was a one-off build requiring coordination between 3 suppliers. Prototypes of any product always appear expensive unless you do some sleight of hand by amortizing the development costs into a subsequent production run. Nonetheless, 250K extra cost is a steep hill to climb.

Hopefully Coldstar did receive some or all of the incentives mentioned in the article. But if not, would they get their money back in fuel and maintenance savings, or is this fleet owner a well meaning but greenwashed woke hippie with more dollars than sense? Haha, you guys know I'm just itching to do the math...

Daily running costs (diesel): $136
Daily running costs (electric): $4.50
Daily savings: $131.50
Annual savings: $131.50 × 250 = $32,875
Payback time: $250,000 ÷ $32,875 = 7.6 years

Maintenance on diesel:
Oil and filter change, 2/year
Fuel filter change, 2/year
CCV filter change, 1/year
Transmission flush, every 2 years
Cooling system flush, every 2 years
Brake pad replacement?
Brake system flush?

Costs on the above will vary, larger fleet operators can save money by buying parts and consumables in bulk and moving maintenance to in house basis. Add in whatever is spent maintaining the reefer power unit, plus the accumulated cost of time off the road to do these maintenance items, and it's not hard to see $1000/year in maintenance. At the end of the same 7-8 year period, the electric truck would be coming up on its first battery cooling system flush. Everything else would be normal truck stuff like tires, suspension, chassis lube, etc.

Even without any rebates or other incentives, the electric truck comes out in front over a ten year ownership period, by about $75,000. That's on raw running costs basis, cost of financing would eat most of it. Still, it seems like a break even proposition at least, with less downtime and better reliability as a bonus. Throw in the zero emissions and noise, and you've got a winner.

Like you said "250K extra cost is a steep hill to climb" but we should also put the cost of Money into the equation. Even if they got to finance it a a low rate, and got to deduct the interest, depreciation expense, etc. => Money isn't "free".

I'd still like as many commercial vehicles to move to EVs as practical. I bet there's thousands of them in Metro Vancouver that could be in place economically the next time they are up for replacement.

 

[sly_karma]

Like you said "250K extra cost is a steep hill to climb" but we should also put the cost of Money into the equation. Even if they got to finance it a a low rate, and got to deduct the interest, depreciation expense, etc. => Money isn't "free".

I'd still like as many commercial vehicles to move to EVs as practical. I bet there's thousands of them in Metro Vancouver that could be in place economically the next time they are up for replacement.

I did mention that most of the theoretical 75K fuel savings would be needed to pay the interest of $250K of additional purchase price. Quick use of online loan calculator says 250K over 7 years at 8% is an interest cost $72K.

Like you say, wouldn't it be good to see all those noisy, smoky diesel delivery vans replaced over time? Even at steep first model pricing and without subsidies or rebates, they don't cost any more than a new diesel. The equation will only get better as they shift from early adopter phase to mainstream to competitive commodity. And diesel is at its worst possible application as a delivery truck: majority low speed, stop-and-go city traffic, grinding up to freeway speed only to leave again 3 exits later, etc. All these same conditions are where EV is at its best.

I suggest the same thing to my contractor colleagues: think about electrifying your work trucks as they come up for replacement. Right now, today, they'll save you money, and the numbers are only going to get better as volumes increase and component prices come down. 2027-28 is when EVs will become generally cheaper than ICE equivalent, and there'll be a complete market flip.

 

[sly_karma]

Vehicles these days and all that effin software. Looking at my energy use for the past month in the Ford app, and noticed an odd charging session at an address that's not a public charger and not my home. Looked it up, it's the street beside my son's house. I might have been there that day maybe an hour, they have no EV plug in and I certainly wasn't there until 1 am. It's a home charging session all right, and the home charger app tags it as such. But Fordpass has misidentified the location. Looked back a couple months and it's happened a few other times, random odd local addresses apparently supply me with power.

Ford:



Chargepoint (home charger):

 

[sly_karma]

Month of May included a return trip to the Sunshine Coast and back. Charging was easy, two stops in Hope of 40 minutes each, plus a free all day session on an AC charger in Sechelt while I flew to meetings in Vancouver. Public charging cost $66, the refill after arriving home was $10. All up cost of $76 for 961 km driven, $0.08/km. This is double the average cost per km, reflecting the higher energy pricing at public chargers and the higher energy use at highway speeds. Charging at home is akin to cooking at home, both are generally cheaper than going out.

In other news, we've just cracked $800 in total energy costs at the 10 months of ownership mark.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Vehicles these days and all that effin software. Looking at my energy use for the past month in the Ford app, and noticed an odd charging session at an address that's not a public charger and not my home. Looked it up, it's the street beside my son's house. I might have been there that day maybe an hour, they have no EV plug in and I certainly wasn't there until 1 am. It's a home charging session all right, and the home charger app tags it as such. But Fordpass has misidentified the location. Looked back a couple months and it's happened a few other times, random odd local addresses apparently supply me with power.

Ford:

View attachment 106692

Chargepoint (home charger):
View attachment 106691

Bullar

 

[sly_karma]

There's a Lightning entered in Pikes Peak this year...

 

[jackfish]

There's a Lightning entered in Pikes Peak this year...

View attachment 106848

And it won, the open class. Even with a technical problem that required a 26second stop!

 

[sly_karma]

Winning run gopro footage with interview. The truck shuts itself down a few seconds out from the start and just sits there in the middle of the road. Dumas stays calm, reboots it and is goooone.