The Eve of the EV Evolution

We want a farm truck.  We have wanted a farm truck since even before we wanted a farm.  Why?  We don't know, probably because we're Texans.  Texans drive trucks.  It's part of our identities.  Trucks replaced horses, and since it's generally frowned upon to tie up a horse outside one's workplace, we've allowed parking lots to grow up where pastures are supposed to be, and since we're driving everywhere, cars have gradually creeped in to replace trucks, and now some of us, yes, even some Texans, are left wanting trucks.

It's sad, really.

So, wanting a truck, how did we end up with "not a truck" parked in our driveway?

Fuel economy.

The best in class pickup trucks currently struggle to get right at 20 or so miles per gallon.  And at 20 mpg, the lifelong costs of a $20,000 vehicle are just too high.  We can't justify it.  We ended up buying a 2006 Toyota Yaris a few years ago instead.  It gets 30 mpg city, 39 mpg highway.  It cost us $14,000 but over the course of the life of the vehicle we are ending up saving between $50,000 and $75,000 when compared to the most efficient truck we could have purchased.  That is a considerable amount of money when spread out over the 10-15 year life of a vehicle.

  Phoenix Motorcars, enter stage left!  A few years ago, a California start-up engineered a great new vehicle, an all-electric SUT (Sport Utillity Truck) capable of highway speeds and with an extender pack for its battery, it is capable of a range of roughly 200 miles.  It has a 1,000 pound cargo capacity, which makes it perfect for the small urban microfarm.

Only two problems, really:  1) The distribution plan Phoenix Motorcars put together involved first selling their innovation as a fleet vehicle (the idea being to put thousands and thousands of these things into service for city and county governments eager to comply with CA's strict emission standards).  This meant we would be waiting a while before it was on sale to the general public.  And 2) They went bankrupt a little over a year ago.  They are evidently out of bankruptcy -- it's not even mentioned on their web site -- but on the other hand, they haven't been making a lot of announcements about impending public sales, either, so it's impossible to know when they will be back in the game.

Still, if they ever do roll into general production... their SUT lists at something like $45,000 which, with a $7500 credit from the U.S. government, makes it fully cost effective, particularly since electricity is orders of magnitude cheaper than petroleum.  Also factor in the smaller number of moving parts; over the life of the vehicle, you would be saving massive amounts of money. 

What about longer trips, you ask?  Surely Myrtle Maintenance Personnel travel on occasion?

Here's the beauty thing:  the whole country is about to go electric.  The EV Project is a federal grant to set up charging stations all around the country.   It will take some time... but not nearly as much as Exxon-Mobil or other such dinosaurs would have you believe.  The oil companies keep going on about a 2050 date for peak-oil, without realizing that we're not 40 years away from having to switch... we are three years away from making the switch!

The first commercially viable electric offering is actually coming out later this year.  By December of 2010, the Nissan Leaf will be hitting the streets of the good ol' U.S. of A., and things will never be the same again. 

There are plenty of other offerings coming soon, too.  Ford recently announced that they will be electrifying their Transit Connect urban delivery van; BMW is putting an all-electric model into the Chinese market in the next couple of years; Tata Motors from India will be electrifying their Nano when they release it in Europe, and that will most likely translate to the Americas when they finally enter this market.  And then there are the all-electric companies, most notably Tesla, whose Roadster is overpriced at $100k plus, but whose Model S is more modest (~$50,000, minus incentives) and which seats a family of 7 comfortably.

Still, only Phoenix has a truck in their marketing literature.  Sigh.  We may end up having to get one of those electric Transit Connect delivery vans.  Giddyup.

Happy farming!