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Buy a coal mine, drive a gas guzzler, and other uses of reverse logic (timharford.com)
5 points by Amorymeltzer on Dec 23, 2021 | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments


I own a massive gas guzzler, and a Tesla. The massive gas guzzler is used to pickup the kids, and drives less than 50 miles a week. I use it to pull a boat a few times a year. And sometimes we take it on road-trips (sorry Tesla, the supercharger network isn’t that good yet), or take it camping with the dogs. Total cost is still less than $0.50/mile.

But, the vast majority of our miles around town are in the Tesla.

Me owning such a massive vehicle keeps it out of the hands of someone who would drive it even more, and provides me with incredible utility when I need it.

Sure, I’d like an electric pickup, but an older, low mileage, huge gas guzzler makes more sense. If I bought a Cybertruck (which I probably will) it’s more likely to take the place of the mileage I currently spend in the Model 3. I’m not letting the nanny drive the kids in the Cybertruck (too expensive) and I’m unlikely to tow a boat with it (does anyone believe the Cybertruck is going to have reasonable range while towing?).

I’ll likely continue this gas guzzler/Tesla duo for the foreseeable future. As an early electric car adopter, I’m more likely to be a late gas retiree. It just makes sense.


Just out of curiosity what do you (or any electric-head reading this) think about the Ford F-150 Lightning?

I (probably) won't be moving to electric by way of Tesla, and am pretty ignorant when it comes to what is truth in "the scene"..

I live in a snowy paradise and dream of converting an existing gas vehicle via electric crate motor.. like an OG VW beetle or bus/wagon on big deep fat truck tires.. so it's obvious I'm clueless when it comes to electric realities.


Towing range is going to be a problem for things like hauling a boat, or a trailer. It’ll be effectively worthless, as you’ll have a range of 100 miles with a trailer, meaning that you can’t be more than 50 miles from a supercharger. Maybe it’ll be possible to use a generator to charge it while out in the woods. If that’s possible, it’ll be substantially more practical.

However I do think the F-150 lightning is going to be an amazing truck for your typical handyman/laborer. My neighbor, a handyman, typically doesn’t have anything more than a ladder, tools, and a hot water heater in the bed of his pickup, then drives ~100 miles a day between jobs in a pickup getting maybe 15mpg. At $4/gallon, he’s spending $25/day, and would quickly see a return on investment.

I’m waiting for someone to convert a huge 6x6 with ~400kwh of batteries in the bed. That would be my dream vehicle. At $100/kwh, it might even be reasonable.




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