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> For the overwhelmingly majority of owners, large trucks are completely unnecessary. How do you propose to quantify "unnecessary"? And what would your soluti

> For the overwhelmingly majority of owners, large trucks are completely unnecessary. How do you propose to quantify "unnecessary"? And what would your solution be?

jwilber 5y ago
Unnecessary may simply be the % of use by the truck dedicated to just commuting, where that % is so high as to not justify the negative externalities imposed by such a vehicle. Pretty standard stuff in actuarial work. Anecdotally, my compact, hatchback Kia Rio and can fit four +9ft surfboards just fine. A solution would be taxing larger vehicles to take into account the externalities they create, or do like myself and purchase a safer vehicle that can load just as easily. If you’re not moving heavy equipment, you don’t need a big truck. If you are, treat it like a fork-list: assign a license.
- giantg2 5y ago
  Most states already have higher registration taxes. Plus you have second order taxes like paying more fuel tax because they are less efficient. "If you’re not moving heavy equipment, you don’t need a big truck. If you are, treat it like a fork-list: assign a license." Do you mean pickups or actual big trucks? Big trucks do require different license classes.
asdff 5y ago
Is there one person in the cab? Is the bed empty? Then its unnecessary. You could quantify this unnecessary factor explicitly, divide the weight of persons+cargo by the weight of the vehicle and we could call the resulting ratio "ridiculousness" with a certain threshold. If I really need to do truck stuff one day, I rent one from the hardware store.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  So if I were to drive my truck to the grocery store by myself, that means my truck is unnecessary? That may be a little presumptuous.
  - asdff 5y ago
    Of course it is. You might weigh 180lbs and are buying 20lbs of groceries lets say. Your truck is 5000lbs. 96% of the resources used are just to move that hunk of metal around. Use a moped or better yet a bike for that sort of trip. Use the truck when you need to tow a 20 foot boat. Tool for the job, and all.
- giantg2 5y ago
  What's the ratio for Tesla S with one occupant vs a 4100 lbs F150? Even a model 3 with long range and dual motors has a poor ratio, right? Seems like this ratio isn't a great indicator of ridiculousness if we aren't factoring in other things. Not to mention it would change based on the day. If you need the truck once per week or more, it probably makes more sense to own rather than rent, even if 'the ratio' looks 'bad' 75% of the time. The number if heavy vehicles are only going to increase as we adopt electric.
  - asdff 5y ago
    Which is a problem. We should be adopting lighter vehicles like ebikes and emopeds for most trips and errands around town instead of 4000lbs 16 feet long Teslas and massive F150s where we might use their capabilities once or twice a week. A new ebike is the price of an options package on an F150.
    - giantg2 5y ago
      I would generally like that. I looked at getting a used motorcycle for short trips. I ended up not getting it due to safety concerns (I had two instances the week I was considering it where I would have needed to lay the bike down due to impatient people suddenly pulling out in front of me). This area has a lot of traffic and no shoulder, so I also gave up the idea of riding a bike. I think most of the issues would be solved with better driver testing. I've noticed at least 50% of the people passing a bicycle do not leave the required 4 feet of space. Although I've also noticed many cyclists ignoring rules and blowing through stop signs etc.

> For the overwhelmingly majority of owners, large trucks are completely unnecessary. How do you propose to quantify "unnecessary"? And what would your solution be?

jwilber 5y ago

Unnecessary may simply be the % of use by the truck dedicated to just commuting, where that % is so high as to not justify the negative externalities imposed by such a vehicle. Pretty standard stuff in actuarial work. Anecdotally, my compact, hatchback Kia Rio and can fit four +9ft surfboards just fine. A solution would be taxing larger vehicles to take into account the externalities they create, or do like myself and purchase a safer vehicle that can load just as easily. If you’re not moving heavy equipment, you don’t need a big truck. If you are, treat it like a fork-list: assign a license.

giantg2 5y ago
Most states already have higher registration taxes. Plus you have second order taxes like paying more fuel tax because they are less efficient. "If you’re not moving heavy equipment, you don’t need a big truck. If you are, treat it like a fork-list: assign a license." Do you mean pickups or actual big trucks? Big trucks do require different license classes.

asdff 5y ago

Is there one person in the cab? Is the bed empty? Then its unnecessary. You could quantify this unnecessary factor explicitly, divide the weight of persons+cargo by the weight of the vehicle and we could call the resulting ratio "ridiculousness" with a certain threshold. If I really need to do truck stuff one day, I rent one from the hardware store.

rootusrootus 5y ago
So if I were to drive my truck to the grocery store by myself, that means my truck is unnecessary? That may be a little presumptuous.
- asdff 5y ago
  Of course it is. You might weigh 180lbs and are buying 20lbs of groceries lets say. Your truck is 5000lbs. 96% of the resources used are just to move that hunk of metal around. Use a moped or better yet a bike for that sort of trip. Use the truck when you need to tow a 20 foot boat. Tool for the job, and all.
giantg2 5y ago
What's the ratio for Tesla S with one occupant vs a 4100 lbs F150? Even a model 3 with long range and dual motors has a poor ratio, right? Seems like this ratio isn't a great indicator of ridiculousness if we aren't factoring in other things. Not to mention it would change based on the day. If you need the truck once per week or more, it probably makes more sense to own rather than rent, even if 'the ratio' looks 'bad' 75% of the time. The number if heavy vehicles are only going to increase as we adopt electric.
- asdff 5y ago
  Which is a problem. We should be adopting lighter vehicles like ebikes and emopeds for most trips and errands around town instead of 4000lbs 16 feet long Teslas and massive F150s where we might use their capabilities once or twice a week. A new ebike is the price of an options package on an F150.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    I would generally like that. I looked at getting a used motorcycle for short trips. I ended up not getting it due to safety concerns (I had two instances the week I was considering it where I would have needed to lay the bike down due to impatient people suddenly pulling out in front of me). This area has a lot of traffic and no shoulder, so I also gave up the idea of riding a bike. I think most of the issues would be solved with better driver testing. I've noticed at least 50% of the people passing a bicycle do not leave the required 4 feet of space. Although I've also noticed many cyclists ignoring rules and blowing through stop signs etc.