CK5
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Ummm chEVrolet
- Thread starter CK5
- Start date
Thanks Mary.
Totally reinforces my reasoning to leave the dealership. I’m not against new tech but as poorly as things have gone with the Bolt I predict the launch of this mess to be full of issues.
A little insight from the dealer side of things. Originally when we signed the addendum to the dealer agreement to add ev vehicles they forced a bunch of tools on us and training. Pretty normal. They recommended a fork lift rates for 3,000 capacity. Two years later in the midst of the battery recall on the bolt the recommendation became a requirement. Within a month the capacity got jumped to 8,000 pounds with a minimum 6ft long forks. Reason was the new Silverado ev.
I don’t know how many of you have priced out forklifts recently but the jump from 3,000 pounds to 8,000 pounds is massive as far as price goes. We are finding the 6 foot forks are not the standard at that weight either. The dealer we spoke to said they could fit them but we’d have to add weight to counter balance the longer forks.
Keep in mind we volunteered to be an ev dealer. With Mary’s push to take GM all ev by the next decade the dealers that didn’t volunteer will have no choice but to make the change or loose the franchise. As a small town dealer it’s a massive investment that not all little dealers are going to be able to make. We are getting on board early to make the investment in smaller chunks than all at once later.
Having techs that I basically had to force to get the training shows they are not coming along with the new tech openly but pushing against it. It has to be what it was like when computer controls were coming on more cars and the old school guys used to carbs and points pushing against the new stuff.
As far as my little dealer goes it’s going to be a mess and I want no part of it.
Who has seen the Netflix movie “Don’t look up”?
spoiler:it’s on subject
spoiler:it’s on subject
I haven't seen one positive comment on this thing yet.
It gets worse hold on...
What would be cool is if they packaged something to fit in a 2003 and newer truck. I say 2003 because whenever DBW started. Pull the drivetrain out, put in the K5, and dump an electric combo in haha
Challenge excepted!
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Looks like a cheesy ridgeline
I’d make the joke that it needs to be LS swapped, like everything, but it doesn’t help the fugly.
What I don't understand is why do car companies think they need to come up with this crazy radical futuristic looking vehicle just because they are going electric? IMO, Ford is doing it right with the F150 Lightning by leaving the looks alone save for a few minor tweaks. It's electric but it looks just like an F150.
Playing to what the masses want. Chevy is going right along with Tesla and Rivian because they don’t want it to look like any other regular truck. I’m not totally sold on the styling either but given the price they are shooting for they want it to be as futuristic as they can get to show it’s “all new” and on par with the other electric trucks from non-traditional manufacturers.
Ford deciding to keep the truck as a body on frame construction is how it stays true to the normal F150. But the added weight of that construction is going to be a major disadvantage to the other trucks lighter unibody construction. Even with the larger battery on the lightning the range is still 100 miles less than the top Silverado. The weight and packaging the battery between the frame rails is what hurts the Fords range. Ford will have to move to a unibody type dedicated platform to compete.
Heavy duty is laughable in any of them. Nobody is putting a 5th wheel or gooseneck hitch in any one of these trucks. Even the Ford since there is a motor drive unit crammed between the frame rails right where a hitch would go through the bed.
Keep in mind none of the manufacturers have mentioned the hit on the range while towing. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s half what the normal range is when towing. They certainly have the power to pull but it’s going to be a big hit to the range.
I don’t see them replacing diesel trucks in the short term.
Even Elon was recently interviewed and said that we are nowhere near replacing trucks yet. He also said that EV's dont really work in the mountains and midwest yet. Same reasons for both, not enough range and either not enough charging stations or too long to charge back up. You have to start somewhere but right now an electric silverado is a novelty, not a real working truck yet.
The first thing I thought about after viewing this is, what about the contractors that need to replace the bed with a flat bed or utility bed etc., they won't be able to do that with the Chevy but will be able to with the Ford Lightning, just something to think about.
I was just thinking about this the other day. An EV would be fine for my daily commute, but for the trip we just took to the Black Hills it wouldn't work so well. It was about 300 miles each way which is a pretty easy 1 day road trip but with an EV you'd have to figure out where to charge up at least once on the way there. That adds an hour to the drive unless you do fast charge, but that starts to eat at the overall life of the battery.
I have thought about this with my work van. Just fine to the job site and back but what about a service call at the end of the day before getting home to charge again. "Uh, see you in 4 hours so the van can charge?" Not going to go over very well with the customer.
