I did that like in 2018 when we had no charger close by during EV development... there is no way there is no 'prior art' for this patent?

I wonder what slope is necessary for downhill to work unassisted? Should publish in owners manual.

The question isn't really would you buy this truck only because it has the power features. It's would you pay a little extra for a truck that also has the power features. Personally, I doubt I'll buy an electric truck anytime soon, but if I were replacing my truck anyway, and it could also replace my portable generator, that'd be nice; my generator is only for my well, but I've got to run it for 30 minutes a month to keep it in order, it'd be a lot nicer if that was just included in my use.

OTOH, my current truck is a 2003 s-10 single cab; nobody makes small trucks like that anymore, and I don't want a big truck, so I'll just keep the truck and the generator that I already have. Maybe a future car that appeals to me will be able to power my well.

Do you think that everyone who buys a pickup truck regularly uses the truck bed? Or do they more likely have it "just in case"? There's a lot to be said about certain "aspirational" purchases.

Current Ford F-150 towing capacity is 5,000 to 11,300 lbs depending on the package.

Most people probably don't need long range peak towing capacity.

Seems like the feature set could be useful to a lot of people, probably most, maybe not for you though.

My guess is the average use would be a load of materials or tools in the bed. I doubt people are buying this to tow large loads or longer hauls.

A common towing use case is a camper... with water tanks you can easily hit 5000-8000 lbs on a dual axle. It'd be super nice to be able to tow a camper 400miles then have energy left over to power it's lights / AC. We just don't have these power densities with battery-electric... and fuel cells still haven't landed.

Last time I looked, the price of an electric F-150 was actually a good chunk cheaper than a Tesla car + Tesla power wall setup of an equivalent size. A $70k truck* doesn't seem so expensive when you line it up against a $40k car and $60k of batteries.

*After tax rebates, which might not be available any more?

Ford should sell trailers specifically for the F-150 with batteries on-board. That would be pretty sweet.

Not sold on this vehicle. A cursory google search brings up a 9.6kW battery system for $4260.

Just seems overpriced for its capabilities

> After going on a number of long road trips in different electric vehicles, the bigger thing to beat is Tesla supercharger network. Electrify America locations just aren't as well spaced out and about every other charging station seems to have a broken charger. While it wasn't a problem for me, they also don't have enough chargers at each station.

I've only driven Teslas in CA where super chargers are rather common, my favorite being the one next the SpaceX factory in Hawthorne.

And I keep telling people the same thing you said, this is why I think Tesla is more an energy company that makes cars to use it's network rather than the other way around.

I'm glad they have competition, as EV was always going to be more than a one horse race if it were to succeed and while Nissan had 1st mover advantage they have fallen way behind with the Leaf project: luckily a post Ghosn era will see most of their lineup going EV and they're spending $18 Billion to offer more EV models in the next 5 years [0].

And Buick is re-branding as an EV only company [1], I'm actually interested in what they could deliver if they go for moonshots as classic Buicks were actually quite stunning in the 30-70s eras. They never got the same recognition as a Cadillac but they were on par style wise in my opinion. They could just emulate Lexus styles (that Wildcat screams of LC) with Electric motors and it would probably be a solid platform if they market themselves better and takes hints at why it works in China. Maybe if they stick with wagons as the Roadmaster still has a lot of cache and no one has offered a EV wagon yet?

The issue, of course, is where will they charge?

0: https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/29/22807700/nissan-electric...

1: https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/1/23148699/buick-ev-electric...

The charging stations are likely not a durable advantage, they are cheap enough to build out that other companies will be able to catch up.