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Comment by asdff | Hacker News Reader

People like having extra capacity even if they scarcely use that capacity. This is why the F150 is the best selling car in America. Not to mention its better in general to have extra battery capacity than you might reasonably need today, as it will degrade with age, or temperature.

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It's also why the F150 lightning appears to be an absolute flop: Its range goes to crap when you're towing, and people who want F150's at least think of themselves as people who want to be able to tow. (Actual towing with F150's is likely low, but most people who buy one, want to have the option.)

I thought it was a flop because it was basically impossible to actually buy one due to availability?

And they had battery issues early on that gave EV skeptical people an easy out to ignore them.

> people who want F150's at least think of themselves as people who want to be able to tow

I've only found this to be true on the internet. In the real world, it is much less common.

Lots of people realize that their truck is just the commuter and home depot stuff hauler.

At least it still performs well at the "Home Depot stuff hauler" part. A sedan is absolutely impossible to work for that use case.

(Ok: I'm a bit defensive. There's a concerted Internet effort over the past year to paint all pickups as a status symbol without justification, as if every empty bed or fresh-from-the-car-wash truck is proof that the owner doesn't need it. Even if you just move furniture every so often, I totally disagree with the sentiment. If I can afford two vehicles, a pickup and sedan would be a good combo; for now, just a pickup is good.)

But if you only now and then, getting a rental for this is much cheaper. Or just get delivery, even cheaper.

That isn't necessarily true. Rentals can be really inconvenient and surprisingly expensive.

The real world is the domain of empiricists. Rationalists rule online.

I wouldn't be surprised if people had resale value in the back of their mind. Tacomas are another popular truck but the top trims with the largest engines certainly command a premium and hold their used value better than the perhaps more economical 2wd 4 cylinder tacomas.

The few times you tow, you typically need full range, or what do you try to say?

If your range is shot because you're towing, it's probably a lot worse to have to recharge at a public charger with your boat on the back than it is to stop at a gas station. Keeping in mind of course that the limitations of charging mean you're also having to do this dance more frequently.

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