Looking for a cool electric truck? Look no further!

[Peakster]

Check out this cool looking electric truck.
Attachment 290
It looks fairly aerodynamic with the rearward slant to the cab and the company claims over 100 miles to a charge. 10 minutes charges the battery to 95%.

According to here, the truck costs $45,000 USD and they're only going to release 500 of them this year . But still that's just one step closer right ?

Come on big three! Make a production EV already!

[The Toecutter]

It's a rebadged Actyon.

It's an excellent step in the right direction, using Altair Nanotechnologies Li Ion batteries. I remember reading 130 miles range at 60 mph with a 35 kWh pack. A version with a 70 kWh pack and 250 miles range will come later.

Supposedly, these batteries have a shelf life in decades and will last ~10,000 charge/discharge cycles to 100%. I don't believe their claims, but I guess we'll know in 10 years or so.

[Hockey4mnhs]

nice looking ev

[zpiloto]

Not to start a war but is it the batteries that make the EV so expensive? Why can they make a midsize EV that seats 4 and has a 100-150 mile range around 20K? I mean you would be better off finding a platform and paying someone to do it and it would still be less than half the price. I don't get it. The cheap model Prius is 23k and it has a bunch of really nice features.

[The Toecutter]

Not to start a war but is it the batteries that make the EV so expensive?

Yes. These are supposedly some of the most advanced batteries available and are in relatively low volume production. Even in high volume, I've read that Altair Nano's Li Ions would cost $400/kWh not including management system, while in automotive volume, normal 18650 LiIons would go down to $250/kWh including management system from their current $700/kWh. ~$300/kWh is viable for a mass market EV.

Why can they make a midsize EV that seats 4 and has a 100-150 mile range around 20K?

Production volume.

Only the large automakers have the cash to meet America's stringent regulations with a 4-wheel chassis and only the large automakers have the economies of scale to mass produce a car. This takes hundreds of millions of dollars. However, the large automakers outright refuse to produce highway capable pure EVs. They would compromise too much profit in aftermarket services and repairs, money that investors and execs would otherwise get to pocket.

Small automakers like Tesla, Phoenix Motorcars, CommuterCars, UEV, AC Propulsion, and the like know perfectly well that such an electric car is technologically feasible and has been so for 10 years, but they don't have the resources to do a mass production run to get costs down that low, and are saddled by all the regulations the big automakers lobbied into place. They would be more than happy to produce an affordable, high performance, long range EV for the masses, but simply do not have the resources to make the cars affordable. Therefore, they take the most logical path to stay in business, and that means high priced hand-builts and exotics. Tesla knows that people will pay $100k for a handbuilt exotic, but also know that they won't pay $100k for a hand-built midsize family sedan. Phoneix Motorcars knows that they may be able to get by offering a $45k handbuilt SUV, and that pricetag is after the low volume batteries have been subsidized.

In order to get a $20k, 150+ miles range, 0-60 mph < 10 second, 90+ mph capable, family sized EV, you need volume of over 20,000 cars per year. These small electric car companies just don't have the resources. It will take them years to attain them, if they ever do.

The cheap model Prius is 23k and it has a bunch of really nice features.

The Prius, having two drive systems, would actually in theory be more expensive in mass production than a pure EV version.