4 ms·

I think it would be the perfect farm truck. The bed to move things, like fuel, seed, chemicals, and tools, from field to field, the cabin to move people from fi

I think it would be the perfect farm truck. The bed to move things, like fuel, seed, chemicals, and tools, from field to field, the cabin to move people from field to field, and electricity to power things, like welders or motors, in the field. You don't need much range and you've got tractors (field or highway) around for when you need serious towing capacity. The price is a little much for a farm truck, granted.

RhysU 4y ago
Don't the agricultural diesel subsidies Bork the economics on this specific use case?
- randomdata 4y ago
  The only diesel "subsidy" I am familiar with is colored fuel, which exempts the road tax for off-road vehicles. A pickup truck would not be eligible to use such fuel as it is deemed an on-road vehicle. Maybe there is some other subsidy in your jurisdiction?
  - bombcar 4y ago
    They're probably imagining a truck that never leaves the farm but even then in most jurisdictions you can't run red-dye in it (though nobody will ever catch you). And if you never leave the property than you can get one of those electric cart things I guess.
    - RhysU 4y ago
      That was indeed what I meant. Lightning vs old red-dye rust bucket farm truck never on the road (wink). The latter seems like it has to be wildly more economical over a full lifetime.
      - bombcar 4y ago
        The rust bucket is gonna win every single time no matter what, because it already exists and is cheap as hell, so even if it has more costs and emissions when running, it still will be a win over a brand new truck.
      - randomdata 4y ago
        Such a truck doesn't get much use. Even if you broke the law I'd think you'd be hard pressed, at least based on the road tax rate in my jurisdiction, to save more than tens of dollars each year. Hardly makes a difference and certainly not worth the risk for trying. But you're right that because such vehicles are barely used they start life on the farm as old beaters. That's what I was meaning when I said that the Lighting is too expensive to be a farm truck. Aside from cost, though, they otherwise look quite ideal for the task.
        bombcar 4y ago
        I wouldn’t be surprised to see them doing the task years from now - 20% battery left wouldn’t be an issue and by then probably easier to buy a new one.
stcroixx 4y ago
Eh, I have a farm and while I was initially excited, the lack of tow range is a dealbreaker. If you have livestock, you need to be able to pull a gooseneck trailer. Since this can't do that for any useful distance, you'd have to have another heavy duty truck around just for this. You're going places like auctions, other farms, slaughterhouse, etc. that are usually out of tractor range.
- randomdata 4y ago
  I was imagining it being a 'service' truck, particularly for grain farms (the kind of farm I have). They don't do much other than cart light things around and don't have to travel that far between fields, and often get towed there behind a tractor anyway. The problem is that nobody keeps a brand new truck as their dedicated service truck. If a good used market ever opens up, though...

RhysU 4y ago

Don't the agricultural diesel subsidies Bork the economics on this specific use case?

randomdata 4y ago
The only diesel "subsidy" I am familiar with is colored fuel, which exempts the road tax for off-road vehicles. A pickup truck would not be eligible to use such fuel as it is deemed an on-road vehicle. Maybe there is some other subsidy in your jurisdiction?
- bombcar 4y ago
  They're probably imagining a truck that never leaves the farm but even then in most jurisdictions you can't run red-dye in it (though nobody will ever catch you). And if you never leave the property than you can get one of those electric cart things I guess.
  - RhysU 4y ago
    That was indeed what I meant. Lightning vs old red-dye rust bucket farm truck never on the road (wink). The latter seems like it has to be wildly more economical over a full lifetime.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      The rust bucket is gonna win every single time no matter what, because it already exists and is cheap as hell, so even if it has more costs and emissions when running, it still will be a win over a brand new truck.
    - randomdata 4y ago
      Such a truck doesn't get much use. Even if you broke the law I'd think you'd be hard pressed, at least based on the road tax rate in my jurisdiction, to save more than tens of dollars each year. Hardly makes a difference and certainly not worth the risk for trying. But you're right that because such vehicles are barely used they start life on the farm as old beaters. That's what I was meaning when I said that the Lighting is too expensive to be a farm truck. Aside from cost, though, they otherwise look quite ideal for the task.
      - bombcar 4y ago
        I wouldn’t be surprised to see them doing the task years from now - 20% battery left wouldn’t be an issue and by then probably easier to buy a new one.

stcroixx 4y ago

Eh, I have a farm and while I was initially excited, the lack of tow range is a dealbreaker. If you have livestock, you need to be able to pull a gooseneck trailer. Since this can't do that for any useful distance, you'd have to have another heavy duty truck around just for this. You're going places like auctions, other farms, slaughterhouse, etc. that are usually out of tractor range.

randomdata 4y ago
I was imagining it being a 'service' truck, particularly for grain farms (the kind of farm I have). They don't do much other than cart light things around and don't have to travel that far between fields, and often get towed there behind a tractor anyway. The problem is that nobody keeps a brand new truck as their dedicated service truck. If a good used market ever opens up, though...