Ford to launch Maverick EV (I hope this is true)

[Scott Asheville]

I love my Maverick but I would honestly love it way more if it was electric. I miss the smooth electric driving from my Chevy Volt and my hope was to replace it with a BEV but life had different plans. Hopefully I can cross shop an EV Maverick and the Rivian R2 in a few years when I'm in the market again.

I was kind of bummed when they didn't announce an R2T, only the R2S. But they didn't close the door on a R2T either. They neither promised or denied the R2 truck would eventually come out. The explanation was "we want to keep the R2 rollout simple - not too many products at once".

I see a crazy number of R1Ts and R1Ss in my rural area. It really leaves me scratching my head. Tiny town a half hour north of Asheville. Rural NC. The last place you'd expect to see a bunch of monied people driving $80,000 electric trucks. But I love seeing them. Eye candy.

Sponsored

 

[Vettereddie]

I read somewhere a few months back about the possibility of a solid state battery, maybe built by Samsung in the works. I think it will not use any lithium?? Also, ran across this, that we need also for the lithium type batteries:

The United States mines some, not much of lithium, cobalt, and nickel, but not manganese or graphite.
The United States is heavily dependent on imports for these minerals.
Seems to me, if we ever want to continue down the path of EV vehicles, including Hybrids we need to find a battery with minerals we have here in the U.S. Common sense.

Or find new economical methods for mineral extraction. Plenty of lithium, cobalt and nickel potentially available, but is either too expensive with current extraction methods or environmental impact is unfavorable with existing regulations. Loss of foreign sources could spur investments on both to become domestically viable.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/energy.../2024-could-be-the-year-for-american-lithium/

Even manganese and graphite are potentially available, but not currently mined for the same reasons as above.

https://www.americanexperiment.org/mining-company-calls-minnesota-manganese-deposits-richest-in-u-s/

https://www.usgs.gov/news/technical...eral-database-graphite-deposits-united-states

 

[Propane Burning Man]

The new Scout, by VW, will be another EV vs. EREV comparison. They are now taking deposits. Just watch the EREV crush the EV in sales. EREV's are less expensive, less inconvenient, have longer range. Just like the Ram EV, the Scout EV will be dead on arrival.

 

[colinl]

The new Scout, by VW, will be another EV vs. EREV comparison. They are now taking deposits. Just watch the EREV crush the EV in sales. EREV's are less expensive, less inconvenient, have longer range. Just like the Ram EV, the Scout EV will be dead on arrival.

an EREV is really just a hybrid with another name.

a lot of BEVs are overpowered. it was part of Tesla's early design goals, impressed a lot of people with the 0-60 and 1/4 mile speeds, and while this serves very little practical use it's still a major influence on BEV design.

point being, when you have a wildly overpowered electric motor system, why not go ahead and use an onboard gas engine to charge it? when/if hydrogen generators are feasible using water separation, that's what will be used instead of a gas engine, and that is when BEV only will be even more niche than it is now.

the future's always been hybrid IMHO.

 

[Darnon]

The new Scout, by VW, will be another EV vs. EREV comparison. They are now taking deposits. Just watch the EREV crush the EV in sales. EREV's are less expensive, less inconvenient, have longer range. Just like the Ram EV, the Scout EV will be dead on arrival.

I would take reading the Scout reservations with something of a grain of salt. The actual cost of the Harvester option is still unknown, AFAIK. It's a fairly low commitment for a deposit-holder to hedge their bets that the EREV option might be better, but the proof will be when it comes to actual deliveries and how it functions from a drivability/reliability standpoint (especially since it was sprung on development somewhat last minute).

 

[dalola]

I'd be very curious to see a BEV Maverick, and if executed properly, would also give it serious consideration. It's been interesting, educational, and fun; cutting my EV teeth on the MachE. Experience will very quickly bring advantages & disadvantages into full view. So far, in our use case, the advantages are more impactful on the daily.

 

[johnny99]

When you live in the city with the highest electric rates in your state, it's cheaper to travel by ICE or hybrid.

I think it's great news though, if true. Just not for me.

 

[Propane Burning Man]

an EREV is really just a hybrid with another name.

a lot of BEVs are overpowered. it was part of Tesla's early design goals, impressed a lot of people with the 0-60 and 1/4 mile speeds, and while this serves very little practical use it's still a major influence on BEV design.

point being, when you have a wildly overpowered electric motor system, why not go ahead and use an onboard gas engine to charge it? when/if hydrogen generators are feasible using water separation, that's what will be used instead of a gas engine, and that is when BEV only will be even more niche than it is now.

the future's always been hybrid IMHO.

Sort of like a plug-in hybrid. The big difference is the ICE engine ONLY charges the battery, and does NOT put any power to the drive system.

 

[colinl]

Sort of like a plug-in hybrid. The big difference is the ICE engine ONLY charges the battery, and does NOT put any power to the drive system.

right, I understand. and if you have a sufficiently powerful electric motor system, there's no reason not to do this.

using the 3.6 v6 as a generator seems like wasteful overkill, but I'm guessing Stellantis just had a shitload of those sitting around since their sales are way down pretty much across the board.

 

[rad32]

right, I understand. and if you have a sufficiently powerful electric motor system, there's no reason not to do this.

using the 3.6 v6 as a generator seems like wasteful overkill, but I'm guessing Stellantis just had a shitload of those sitting around since their sales are way down pretty much across the board.

I read somewhere that they tuned the pentastar to hover around 180 hp or something very efficiently to charge the batteries.

 

[Darnon]

using the 3.6 v6 as a generator seems like wasteful overkill, but I'm guessing Stellantis just had a shitload of those sitting around since their sales are way down pretty much across the board.

Also so it still has enough power to manage the tow rating (they claim 10k+ lbs) if the battery is near depleted.

 

[First Sergeant]

Or find new economical methods for mineral extraction. Plenty of lithium, cobalt and nickel potentially available, but is either too expensive with current extraction methods or environmental impact is unfavorable with existing regulations. Loss of foreign sources could spur investments on both to become domestically viable.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/energy.../2024-could-be-the-year-for-american-lithium/

Even manganese and graphite are potentially available, but not currently mined for the same reasons as above.

https://www.americanexperiment.org/mining-company-calls-minnesota-manganese-deposits-richest-in-u-s/

https://www.usgs.gov/news/technical...eral-database-graphite-deposits-united-states

Not to sound negative, but these two sentences from the first article stand out.
Minnesota politicians and policy makers have slowed and stopped the development of the state’s world-class mineral deposits for decades.

Before that happens, there will plenty of regulatory hoops to go through, given the notoriously anti-mining posture of the Walz administration.

Not saying it can't be done, but even today companies have to fight with politicians and environmentalists for petroleum mining, coal mining, pretty much anything that is mined, open pit or underground. The environmentalists fight the PETA people. A couple days back PETA was fighting ASCPA over meat, dairy and egg products! Whew! I sure don't want to digress to living in a cave, walking everywhere and eating my front lawn, but who the hell knows. Anyway, thank you for those links, they were excellent reading!

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Also so it still has enough power to manage the tow rating (they claim 10k+ lbs) if the battery is near depleted.

AI Overview
The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger has a maximum towing capacity of 14,000 pounds, even when the battery is depleted.

This plug-in hybrid truck switches to a gasoline engine when the battery runs low.
How does the Ramcharger's powertrain work?
The Ramcharger has a 70.8-kWh battery, two electric motors, and a 3.6-liter gasoline V-6 engine.
When the battery is depleted, the system switches to a charge-sustaining mode that uses the gasoline engine and generator.
The Ramcharger has a targeted range of 690 miles.
The Ramcharger has a targeted maximum payload capacity of 2,625 pounds.
The Ramcharger has a 0-60 time of 4.4 seconds.
Other Ramcharger features: Four-wheel drive with front wheel-end disconnect, Active leveling air suspension system, Bi-directional charging, Onboard power panel in the bed, and Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-home charging.
Ram aiming for a base price of $65,000. We will see.

It warms the cockles of my heart. Seeing that Stellantis saw the light and decided to put the EV 'RamRev' on the back burner, in favor of the
Plug in Hybrid Ramcharger
I guess Stellantis didn't want to lose billions like did Ford did on the Lightning.

 

[First Sergeant]

A plug in hybrid typically looks to use electric power first and use up its range before using the ice (unless more power is required like on the highway or need to run the heater). Braking will add back charge. Once you hit zero (which isnt zero theres usually some percentage floor like 15-20%) the plugin will act like a regular hybrid and using braking and run the ice to maintain the % floor. My Wrangler PHEV had a setting that could recharge the battery as you drove back to 100% but that was highly inefficient. The ice would be doing double work of driving the vehicle and being a generator. The option was really only there so you could do offroading with a full charge under electric power only. Our Tuscon PHEV does not have an option to fully recharge the battery as we drive so if we deplete the ev range it sits at 15% (charge floor) until we plug in at home.

Got it, thanks. So, a plug in hybrid does (or can, if set up that way by the factory), recharge as vehicle is driven. Too bad the Wrangler was not capable (efficiently) of charging back to 100%. If a manufacturer could fine tune that aspect to work more efficiently, , I would definitely be interested in one. Perhaps down the road at some point that could happen, provided they are even working on the idea.

 

[commadorebob]

I guess Stellantis didn't want to lose billions like did Ford did on the Lightning.

They don't have billions to lose right now.

Sponsored