vtsnowedin wrote:I just came across an ad for the Rivian electric pickup truck which you can pre order now (in the USA at least) for a projected 2020 production start. They have test vehicles wearing Ford F150 sheet metal driving around Detroit now.
At $69K to start it is a bit steep for me and I would not want the four door configuration that is the only model shown. But perhaps in a few years when my present ICE pickup wears out and these have a proven track record. https://products.rivian.com/
Please Note: Preorders require a deposit of $1,000. Production will begin in 2020. Fully-equipped vehicles with the highest performance level and largest battery pack will enter production first. Our 180 kWh and 135 kWh packs will be available at launch with the 105 kWh to follow in 2021. You can cancel your preorder and receive a full refund at anytime by sending an email to preorders@rivian.com. Rivian will execute your refund within 3 business days. Depending on your bank, you may not be able to access the refunded amount for up to 7 days.
It says it can wade through a full meter of water so might do alright in the spring mud here.
What do you think.
There is a nice review on the fullychargedshow youtube channel.
Looks very nice except for the silly headlights that would have to go and will probably not go down very well with the target market who don't want to look like a dick driving a pickup to get a carton of milk.
I would be happy to drive it if looking like a dick caught on but I would prefer a car that you could not tell it apart from an internal combustion equivalent until you put your foot down.
Being a former Maestro Clubman Diesel driver I have had my time looking like a dick while driving and would prefer to be a passenger on a battery or hydrogen powered bus to getting in one of those. Our American friend will probably not understand that one until he researches a bit.
Yup I had to google the Maestro Clubman Diesel to see what you meant.
I've drove worse. A Ford pinto for one.
Can't speak to the Rivias headlight design. They keep changing front grill and headlight configurations just to be "New and improved". I'm a utilitarian kind of guy so wouldn't care what they look like as long as they work reliably and are convenient to change bulbs when needed.
By the time my present truck wears out say in six years there may be better priced options for EV pickups and some used ones around. I'll look around when the time comes.
adam2 wrote:Perhaps they ought to come with a free electric bicycle for fetching milk from the local store.
Someone buying a monster like that is gonna expose his very small penis on a bike.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
On the road to putting its first electric car into production, Porsche ran the Taycan for 24 hours straight at Italy's Nardo test circuit.
Covering 2,128 miles around the circuit in a day carried the car about the distance from Los Angeles to Atlanta.
The test primarily demonstrated the capability of the Taycan's new 800-volt charging system, which charged the car quickly enough to cover the distance without long waits to recharge. Porsche said the charging was done at the same time as the six Porsche test drivers swapped seats.
On the road to putting its first electric car into production, Porsche ran the Taycan for 24 hours straight at Italy's Nardo test circuit.
Covering 2,128 miles around the circuit in a day carried the car about the distance from Los Angeles to Atlanta.
The test primarily demonstrated the capability of the Taycan's new 800-volt charging system, which charged the car quickly enough to cover the distance without long waits to recharge. Porsche said the charging was done at the same time as the six Porsche test drivers swapped seats.
Last edited by ReserveGrowthRulz on 17 Jun 2020, 18:19, edited 1 time in total.
Are you Americans so much fatter than the rest of us that you need cars that are half as big again than average European ones. You could save a fortune in fuel by driving smaller vehicles.
Yes that one pictured is European but it a bloody campervan FFS not a car!
kenneal - lagger wrote:Are you Americans so much fatter than the rest of us that you need cars that are half as big again than average European ones.
I am six foot three inches tall in my socks. It matters not how fat I am (currently 235 pounds) a mini car designed by Japanese engineers does not have sufficient leg and head room for me to enter and exit the vehicle comfortably much less drive in one for a hours long trip. On the other hand my Nissan Frontier pickup (also Japanese designed) has enough leg room and the seats are the right height off the ground that I do not have to fold myself into the vehicle or reach for a hand hold trying to pull myself up out of it when exiting.
Driving should be a comfortable experience not a daily torture.
A friend of mine who was/is 6ft 5in tall and well over 18 stone (250lbs) used to drive a mini (the original one) with his wife, who was rather petite in comparison, and his Great Dane dog in the back quite comfortably. He upsized to a Hillman Imp for a while.
kenneal - lagger wrote:A friend of mine who was/is 6ft 5in tall and well over 18 stone (250lbs) used to drive a mini (the original one) with his wife, who was rather petite in comparison, and his Great Dane dog in the back quite comfortably. He upsized to a Hillman Imp for a while.
I've never sat in a mini so can't relate. It is a matter of design not just overall size. I remember a MG midget, a relative had back in the seventies, that had a amazing amount of leg room. Of course I could fold myself into and out of much smaller and lower slung vehicles, but I choose not to, and the higher 4X4 pickup works better in the mud and snow my towns roads present me.
kenneal - lagger wrote:Are you Americans so much fatter than the rest of us that you need cars that are half as big again than average European ones. You could save a fortune in fuel by driving smaller vehicles.
Save a fortune using EVs
Last edited by ReserveGrowthRulz on 17 Jun 2020, 18:20, edited 1 time in total.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
Hydrogen cars are a long way from being practical (if any car is practical).
The primary source of hydrogen is natural gas at present, and the well to wheels efficiency is lower than a battery electric car charged from natural gas power station. Everything else is engineering, and battery cars are already on the road and near price competitive with petrol/diesel cars.
Of course, if we are going to use powered personal transport it should be the smallest vehicle that meets the transport need
1. Electric assist bicycle
2. Electric moped
...
3. Single seat quadricycle
4. electric car with no aircon, minimum safety standards, low power etc as
sold in China/India
5. small electric car
....
100 Tesla model X/other premium brand electric cars
My electric car is at least 40 times less efficient than my electric assist bike.
Even with 5 passengers it is 8 times less efficient.
