EV sales aren't going downhill

[DonTom]

Can’t open it up unless I purchase a subscription

Didn't they ask for an email address to open for free? I did that a while back and it has not caused me any issues. I now read the Washington Post for free.

The main part is this:

"Ford sold just over 24,000 Lightnings last year, up 55% from 2022. But dealers are reporting slower sales and rising inventories on the electric truck, which starts at just under $50,000.

Electric vehicle sales overall grew 47% to a record 1.19 million last year, according to Motorintelligence.com. The EV market share grew from 5.8% in 2022 to 7.6% last year. But EV sales growth slowed toward the end of the year. In December, they rose 34%.

Ford said that about 1,400 workers will be affected by the move to lower F-150 Lightning production, with the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center transitioning to one shift, effective April 1. Approximately 700 employees will transfer to Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant while other workers will be placed in roles at the Rouge Complex or other facilities in Southeast Michigan. Some employees are expected to take advantage of the Special Retirement Incentive Program agreed to in the 2023 Ford-UAW contract."

 

[Viajeros]

In keeping with the thread title, there's an ABQ ford dealer that was taking orders last year for mach-e's and lightnings, preselling some unknown number of them. On some of the RV forums there were some discussions how folks with preorders kept getting delivery dates pushed back for one reason or another. Recently this dealer is advertising that they have several dozen of each on the lot. There'd be two reasons for that, one would be a large increase in production or, a leveling or decrease in demand. Given the news stories how ford is cutting lightning production the appearance is that demand is waning. There is certainly a segment of the population that has money to spend on amusements but at some point you run out of those, and the Joe Sixpacks remaining aren't going to blow tens of thousands on an amusement.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

The Mach E thing is definitely weird. Our local ford dealer has at least a dozen on the lot and I don’t think the lineup has charged since summer. They don’t even take the snow off them and they were all dirty before the snow. And all of them are higher priced than a tesla model Y do they are not going anywhere. It’s almost like it makes sense to keep them on the lot and not sell them. Something going on there. The lightnings are stacking up too but nothing like the Mach E’s.

Meanwhile Tesla continues to deliver at least 115 new cars a day in this province. So there is a market for EV’s.

More than 1 in 4 new vehicles sold here are EV’s.

 

[Ray-IN]

Can’t open it up unless I purchase a subscription

Even my paywall app can't defeat that one..

 

[Ray-IN]

Can’t open it up unless I purchase a subscription

No need to mess with that stuff,CNN is in the clear: https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/19/business/ford-trimming-ev-pickup-production/index.html
Employees will not lose their job, workers are being shifted to increased gas engine models production.

 

[Ray-IN]

I also assume so too.

I never knew drive chains and drive belts made so much noise until I had electric motorcycles with them. And if it had no chain or belt, I wonder what noise I would then hear. Can't win on this.

-Don- Reno, NV

Bugs hitting helmet?

 

[Tulecreeper]

I think the best and the brightest have taken a good idea and come up with a way to make it into a not so good idea. An ev in an urban setting is a good idea, an electric truck costing between $50,000 and $90,000 which wouldn’t it make across the DFW metro and back pulling a ski boat, not so much.

Makes you wonder what kind of committee thought that would work out?

And I agree with that. An urban commuter setting is perfect for EV's; a 40-minute round trip to work, then on the charger at home - maybe a Saturday night to the movies and back, then on the charger at home with the occasional need to use a public charger in town would work absolutely fine.

Out here in fly-over country, where my grocery store is an hour and a half RT drive north, the closest lake I go fishing at is a 2-hour RT drive south through the mountains pulling my boat, and the closest public charger is back the other direction north by the grocery store an EV would be problematic. Then there are the times I help out friends with pulling their horse trailers occasionally - never anywhere where there are charging stations - and planning to not run our of juice becomes a headache.

In any of the above scenarios there are many gas stations to fill up at no more than 20 minutes in any direction.

 

[Ray-IN]

I think the only way they could justify that is if I mis-represented the returned item. I have dropped off at UPS stores and CVS and for a time there were some drop off co-located in a mall near where I lived. Like a Macy's or something.

In 20 years I have never had Amazon screw me. It might happen to someone and I won't dispute that but in every instance all we ever get is the consumer's side of the story.

When you actually think about Amazon's return policies they are really favorable to the consumer which IMO is a fair trade for buying stuff sight unseen.

I have Ryobi battery-powered trimmers and chainsaws. I bought a 6AH knockoff battery off Amazon which failed after 3 months; it had a 1- yr warranty. I contacted Amazon CS who told be to contact seller. Seller ignored me, so I called Amazon CS back 3X. Finally Amazon agreed to credit my account the $80. I never did receive the credit even after calling Amazon CS several more times.
I bought cheap and got cheap. Meanwhile my Ryobi brand batteries are still going strong.

 

[ChinMusic]

Can’t open it up unless I purchase a subscription

Google “ford halts lightning”

I don’t know how I got to see it.

 

[DonTom]

And I agree with that. An urban commuter setting is perfect for EV's; a 40-minute round trip to work, then on the charger at home - maybe a Saturday night to the movies and back, then on the charger at home with the occasional need to use a public charger in town would work absolutely fine.

Out here in fly-over country, where my grocery store is an hour and a half RT drive north, the closest lake I go fishing at is a 2-hour RT drive south through the mountains pulling my boat, and the closest public charger is back the other direction north by the grocery store an EV would be problematic. Then there are the times I help out friends with pulling their horse trailers occasionally - never anywhere where there are charging stations - and planning to not run our of juice becomes a headache.

In any of the above scenarios there are many gas stations to fill up at no more than 20 minutes in any direction.

Are you still in Western AR?

In Western AR, I see three Tesla Superchargers well-spaced out and two CCS charger locations.

Tesla SCs in Lowell, Ozark & Van Buren.

The biggest rip-off charger I ever saw anywhere is the CCS one up north in Mountain Home, AR at $1.75 per KWH. Looks like it is broken anyway. The Tesla Superchargers are very reasonable there at 33 cents per KWH. Must be a busy location as they charge a buck per minute after charging is done (after your 15 minutes to disconnect).

The Wal*Mart in Hope, AR also has CCS chargers. I don't know the price there but I assume it's a lot more reasonable than the one at Mtn Home.

In that area, I would only consider a LR Tesla for an electric vehicle, at least until things change in that area.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Onyrlef]

And I agree with that. An urban commuter setting is perfect for EV's; a 40-minute round trip to work, then on the charger at home - maybe a Saturday night to the movies and back, then on the charger at home with the occasional need to use a public charger in town would work absolutely fine.

Out here in fly-over country, where my grocery store is an hour and a half RT drive north, the closest lake I go fishing at is a 2-hour RT drive south through the mountains pulling my boat, and the closest public charger is back the other direction north by the grocery store an EV would be problematic. Then there are the times I help out friends with pulling their horse trailers occasionally - never anywhere where there are charging stations - and planning to not run our of juice becomes a headache.

In any of the above scenarios there are many gas stations to fill up at no more than 20 minutes in any direction.

Exactly

 

[Tulecreeper]

Are you still in Western AR?

In Western AR, I see three Tesla Superchargers well-spaced out and two CCS charger locations.

Tesla SCs in Lowell, Ozark & Van Buren.

The biggest rip-off charger I ever saw anywhere is the CCS one up north in Mountain Home, AR at $1.75 per KWH. Looks like it is broken anyway. The Tesla Superchargers are very reasonable there at 33 cents per KWH. Must be a busy location as they charge a buck per minute after charging is done (after your 15 minutes to disconnect).

The Wal*Mart in Hope, AR also has CCS chargers. I don't know the price there but I assume it's a lot more reasonable than the one at Mtn Home.

In that area, I would only consider a LR Tesla for an electric vehicle, at least until things change in that area.

-Don- Reno, NV

Other than the ones they have in Ft Smith, which is that hour and a half RT I was talking about, the next closest one(s) to me are in Mena even farther south. Nope, EV's are non-existent in my geographical location.

 

[DonTom]

Mena even farther south.

I see what you mean. Mena only has a slow AC charge station, but it looks like it's now free to use--but will take forever to charge up at 9KW. But that would be a great location for my Zero DSR/X motorcycle. Lots of slow AC charge stations all over AR which would be reasonably fast on my Zero DSR/X motorcycle.

Too slow for EV cars unless you have things to do for a few hours while parked charging.

Nope, EV's are non-existent in my geographical location.

I see several of the charge stations there being used, but that usually means they are from around 150 miles or more away from that area.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[DonTom]

Other than the ones they have in Ft Smith

Plugshare shows a new CCS fastcharger at the Ft. Smith Wal*Mart there. I see it is already installed, but needs to be unwrapped and put in service. That should be any day now, if not already in service with nobody reporting such.

This is the very first I have heard of a ChargePoint CCS at a Wal*Mart. All the other Wally Marts have their contract with Electrify-America. FWIW, I like the ChargePoints a lot better than the Electrify-America. Chargepoints are much more reliable and can use RFID cards unlike Electrify-America.

CCS fastcharger at the Ft. Smith, AR Wal*Mart:

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Tulecreeper]

Plugshare shows a new CCS fastcharger at the Ft. Smith Wal*Mart there. I see it is already installed, but needs to be unwrapped and put in service. That should be any day now, if not already in service with nobody reporting such.

This is the very first I have heard of a ChargePoint CCS at a Wal*Mart. All the other Wally Marts have their contract with Electrify-America. FWIW, I like the ChargePoints a lot better than the Electrify-America. Chargepoints are much more reliable and can use RFID cards unlike Electrify-America.

CCS fastcharger at the Ft. Smith, AR Wal*Mart:
View attachment 170628
-Don- Reno, NV

That could be any one of 5 or 6 WM's in Ft Smith, and it only has a population of ~90k. Remember, this is Arkansas - the original hive of the WM dynasty. You can't drive 20 minutes in any direction in this state without finding one. That also looks like a loading dock area. Not sure how anyone could park there for more than 5 minutes without being asked to move their vehicle.

 

[DonTom]

That also looks like a loading dock area. Not sure how anyone could park there for more than 5 minutes without being asked to move their vehicle.

I think that is just where they dumped off the charger to install elsewhere.

The address of that WallyMart CCS charger is:

2425 S Zero St, Fort Smith, AR 72901

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Ray-IN]

DonTom I came across this article and immediately thought of you: Tesla engineers share Model 3 steering, drivetrain, and suspension secrets

 

[DonTom]

"This is no exaggeration, according to the Tesla engineers, who noted that the Model 3’s discs and brake pads are designed to last for around 150,000 miles"

With the one pedal driving selected, they should last forever plus a day or two. The brake pedal isn't used much, unless charged to full, which is something to avoid (regen is off at at near full charge so the regen will not overcharge the battery).

When extremely cold, the same can happen but I have never seen that cold anywhere yet.

BTW, it can be set to automatically use the brakes to get the same feel, but I never tried that.

So there goes the jobs brake repair people had (and many others, such as oil changes, smog checks, tranny repair, etc, etc). With all the car related jobs we now have, I wonder how all this is going to work out.

FWIW, the Model "Y" is what I see the most of these days around here.

FWIW, I just checked out my Tesla screen and I see the "charging tips" right on the charging screen such as "navigate to supercharger" to precondition battery.

Also, below, to "apply brakes when regenerative braking is limited."

If "info." thingy is selected(between the words "is" and "limited" below it will say "to duplicate the feel of regenerative braking when near fully charged or very cold":


-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Ray-IN]

EV's will also eliminate the California vehicle smog testing board and section eventually.

 

[Ray-IN]

No need to mess with that stuff,CNN is in the clear: https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/19/business/ford-trimming-ev-pickup-production/index.html
Employees will not lose their job, workers are being shifted to increased gas engine models production.

More on Ford Lightning: MSN

 

[Onyrlef]

Plugshare shows a new CCS fastcharger at the Ft. Smith Wal*Mart there. I see it is already installed, but needs to be unwrapped and put in service. That should be any day now, if not already in service with nobody reporting such.

This is the very first I have heard of a ChargePoint CCS at a Wal*Mart. All the other Wally Marts have their contract with Electrify-America. FWIW, I like the ChargePoints a lot better than the Electrify-America. Chargepoints are much more reliable and can use RFID cards unlike Electrify-America.

CCS fastcharger at the Ft. Smith, AR Wal*Mart:
View attachment 170628
-Don- Reno, NV

It's the charger for the grocery delivery truck.