Comment by draker | Hacker News Reader

Comment by draker | Hacker News Reader

The numbers used seem skewed in favor of promoting their product rather than a real comparison.

The number used for MPG is 21.4 which is the "Average U.S. light duty vehicle fuel efficiency".

In addition to passenger cars the light duty vehicle class includes SUVs and pickups (including 1/2 ton models such as the Silverado, F-150). At this time I don't believe there are any electric vehicles that would compete with a 1/2 ton pickup in terms of payload or towing.

It would seem the Passenger Car fuel economy would be the most accurate number to use; which is 36.4 MPG.

They do acknowledge this number at the end of the post:

>The average EPA fuel economy of passenger cars (not counting trucks) was 36.4 miles per gallon in 2014. Using that number puts gas and electric cars on a more even playing field.

Though doing so makes electricity only cheaper in 43/50 states and the savings is not nearly as compelling as the figures from the 21.4 MPG comparison.

TL;DR: this is is more of a clickbait product promotion article than a real comparison

We have a Nissan LEAF and a Honda CR-V as our two family cars. We do about 4K miles/yr on the LEAF and 5K miles/yr on the CR-V. Because both cars are used for fairly short average trip lengths, mostly in the city, the LEAF gets a little over 4 miles/kWh and the CR-V about 22 miles per gallon. That makes for about $0.05/mile for the LEAF (at MA's insane electric rates) and $0.10/mile for the CR-V, for fuel/power only.

Electric cars are quite good (as compared to ICE) on the city drive cycle. The CR-V as a modestly sized, Civic-chassis/SUV-body is quite comparable to the LEAF. After incentives, the LEAF is cheaper than a new CR-V (though we bought our CR-V very well used).

Most SUVs and pickups get a lot of use for things like commuting where a passenger car would suffice, because it's often still cheaper than buying another car for the commute. Comparing against the light duty vehicle efficiency number is probably going a little too far since many trucks do actually get significant use as trucks, but the passenger car efficiency number definitely understates how much fuel is burned for things like commuting.

Electric cars can conceivably replace passenger cars though, whereas people commuting in a pickup are very probably quite unlikely to replace that pickup with an electric vehicle of any kind. (Are electric trucks even a thing?)

In light of that, it seems entirely reasonable to compare electric car efficiency to gasoline passenger car efficiency.

Driving a pickup for reasons of vanity doesn't make its costs any less real, even if that same vanity means you're unwilling to consider an electric car.

I understand that, but I don't understand at all why it's relevant to this article.

"Are electric trucks even a thing?"

Yes. http://www.viamotors.com/vehicles/electric-truck/

They make quite a bit of sense, in a niche. Trucks are often fleet vehicles, which are often well suited for electrification: predictable, regular, short distances. Trucks handle the weight of batteries well. And Via turns the original motor into a generator, which is useful for an electric vehicle and is also useful on a job site.

I think this would be useful for niche applications but wouldn't appeal to contractors or anyone that didn't have very regimented tasks to perform.

The biggest problem is the payload is only 1,000 lbs in comparison to 1800-2000 for most 1500's. Many contractors opt for 3/4 ton (2500, f-250) or larger models for more payload/towing.

My brother is a contractor and has a GMC 2500 HD crew cab. It was $38k; gets ~15mpg and he drives around 35k miles a year.

Fuel for the Via truck at that milage is 30mpg, so using $3/gal would be $3500 + electricity cost versus $7,000 for gas alone.

Over 6 years the total cost difference for fuel would be $21,000 and put the gas truck cost around $60k which is comparable to the Via's $65k.

The gas truck is a better choice in this case because it has a payload of 4,000+ lbs and towing 14k+ lbs in comparison to 1000 lbs and 4000 lbs for the Via. A 1500 with a small engine would have nearly double the payload and towing of the Via and be less expensive with a higher mpg than the 2500.

The generator is cool but kind of gimmicky because the truck has to stay on site and stationary. A <$1000 generator would provide similar power and is less of a hassle than having to park your truck close enough or runs cords for power.

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