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Ford does not need to iterate and refine its way to a truck that is suitable for real work, they've had that down for a long time. Plus they have a massive netw

Ford does not need to iterate and refine its way to a truck that is suitable for real work, they've had that down for a long time. Plus they have a massive network. Tesla can certainly get a hold in the pickup market but man do they have one ugly truck.

dieselgate 4y ago
It seems to me the electric f150 and Tesla truck will appeal to very different consumer demographics. I anticipate the e-f150 will not purely be considered a consumer vehicle just because it has so much fleet potential. Curious what it will mean for Rivian, their trucks look slick but not sure how much runway/room for error the company has.
edmundsauto 4y ago
I actually like their truck aesthetic, but I have no confidence in the fit and finish, nor ownership dimensions. I am optimizing for the bottom 20% of ownership experiences - if it breaks, has issues, etc - my money is on a traditional car company. It also makes me feel good to not support the Elon machine.
- oneoff786 4y ago
  I’m not sure it’s a safe bet that traditional car company repair options will work well for new electric vehicles. It remains to be tested for sure. Edit: in some ways the traditional repair shops could be a liability if they’re slow to adapt
  - evgen 4y ago
    In this case it is likely that the local repair shop will have some ability to source/replace a lot of parts that are common across the F series, which should cover a lot of repair jobs. For complicated electrical/drivetrain issues they can push the job up the chain to either a dealership or a more specialised part of the Ford repair network and over time the capability to perform those repairs will start to filter out to the edges of the network. By the time Ford is pushing EVs hard it is quite likely that their existing network will be ready to provide the sort of repair and support services that Tesla is famous for failing at.
    - oneoff786 4y ago
      Maybe. I would wait a good while before making a major purchase like this from either brand on such a new product line.
Melting_Harps 4y ago
> Ford does not need to iterate and refine its way to a truck that is suitable for real work, they've had that down for a long time. Plus they have a massive network. You're missing the biggest obstacle here after manufacturing, charging is incredibly difficult in many cases entirely impossible due to a lack maintenance on 3rd party charging stations. Here is a Bloomberg article outlining what happens more often than not due to this [0]. After many years working for Japanese and German auto manufacturers this exactly why I argue Tesla isn't really a car company, they seem to be more of an energy and software company using cars that utilize their energy grid and technology. What they've done under people's noses is to offset the costs of creating an ever-expanding charging network through the sell and pre-sell deposits of their cars that are always delayed yet still continue to yield seemingly obscene stock valuation in comparison to the rest of the Auto manufacturers combined. From this POV the hype isn't so much from the cars, but rather the hype of them getting closer to disrupting all the peripheral Industries: they just got approval to provide auto insurance in more states in the US which if you've owned driven a Tesla in the Bay Area or LA it's a large expense of owning a Tesla because of how often they are vandalized or broken into. They are also able to offer more competitive rates based on actual driving metrics, which to me is an indication of where things have been going for some time in that Industry as cars became more like computers and is way more intrusive than what I can stomach. I still think the total Cybertruck deposits were more of a meme hyhypee and marketing ploy than an actual gauge or real projection of deliverable vehicles because the sum was so low ($100). They did however, get a massive boost to their stock price and an interest free loan they could leverage so it was a total win for Tesla. Aesthetically, it's very polarizing; I personally like it as it's Cyberpunk aesthetics are amusing to me, also the immense size of it is comical but then most 'heavy duty' trucks in the US all are. I still remember seeing lifted Fords, Dodges doing +100 MPH in Southern Texas while driving down to SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica and thinking how absurd those things were (seeing literal packs of automotive dinosaurs barreling down the freeway was insane) and then I saw that gas $0.99 and figured if you could align the right incentives the Cybertruck had a real shot take at taking significant part of the Market Share once oil prices reached a realistic value: how much of that market share is anyone guess. 0: https://archive.ph/LCxxO https://archive.ph/LCxxO
- clouddrover 4y ago

dieselgate 4y ago

It seems to me the electric f150 and Tesla truck will appeal to very different consumer demographics. I anticipate the e-f150 will not purely be considered a consumer vehicle just because it has so much fleet potential. Curious what it will mean for Rivian, their trucks look slick but not sure how much runway/room for error the company has.

edmundsauto 4y ago

I actually like their truck aesthetic, but I have no confidence in the fit and finish, nor ownership dimensions. I am optimizing for the bottom 20% of ownership experiences - if it breaks, has issues, etc - my money is on a traditional car company. It also makes me feel good to not support the Elon machine.

oneoff786 4y ago
I’m not sure it’s a safe bet that traditional car company repair options will work well for new electric vehicles. It remains to be tested for sure. Edit: in some ways the traditional repair shops could be a liability if they’re slow to adapt
- evgen 4y ago
  In this case it is likely that the local repair shop will have some ability to source/replace a lot of parts that are common across the F series, which should cover a lot of repair jobs. For complicated electrical/drivetrain issues they can push the job up the chain to either a dealership or a more specialised part of the Ford repair network and over time the capability to perform those repairs will start to filter out to the edges of the network. By the time Ford is pushing EVs hard it is quite likely that their existing network will be ready to provide the sort of repair and support services that Tesla is famous for failing at.
  - oneoff786 4y ago
    Maybe. I would wait a good while before making a major purchase like this from either brand on such a new product line.

Melting_Harps 4y ago

> Ford does not need to iterate and refine its way to a truck that is suitable for real work, they've had that down for a long time. Plus they have a massive network. You're missing the biggest obstacle here after manufacturing, charging is incredibly difficult in many cases entirely impossible due to a lack maintenance on 3rd party charging stations. Here is a Bloomberg article outlining what happens more often than not due to this [0]. After many years working for Japanese and German auto manufacturers this exactly why I argue Tesla isn't really a car company, they seem to be more of an energy and software company using cars that utilize their energy grid and technology. What they've done under people's noses is to offset the costs of creating an ever-expanding charging network through the sell and pre-sell deposits of their cars that are always delayed yet still continue to yield seemingly obscene stock valuation in comparison to the rest of the Auto manufacturers combined. From this POV the hype isn't so much from the cars, but rather the hype of them getting closer to disrupting all the peripheral Industries: they just got approval to provide auto insurance in more states in the US which if you've owned driven a Tesla in the Bay Area or LA it's a large expense of owning a Tesla because of how often they are vandalized or broken into. They are also able to offer more competitive rates based on actual driving metrics, which to me is an indication of where things have been going for some time in that Industry as cars became more like computers and is way more intrusive than what I can stomach. I still think the total Cybertruck deposits were more of a meme hyhypee and marketing ploy than an actual gauge or real projection of deliverable vehicles because the sum was so low ($100). They did however, get a massive boost to their stock price and an interest free loan they could leverage so it was a total win for Tesla. Aesthetically, it's very polarizing; I personally like it as it's Cyberpunk aesthetics are amusing to me, also the immense size of it is comical but then most 'heavy duty' trucks in the US all are. I still remember seeing lifted Fords, Dodges doing +100 MPH in Southern Texas while driving down to SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica and thinking how absurd those things were (seeing literal packs of automotive dinosaurs barreling down the freeway was insane) and then I saw that gas $0.99 and figured if you could align the right incentives the Cybertruck had a real shot take at taking significant part of the Market Share once oil prices reached a realistic value: how much of that market share is anyone guess. 0: https://archive.ph/LCxxO https://archive.ph/LCxxO

clouddrover 4y ago