Electric cargo vans are here .. now ...

[highdesertranger]

yep around here you can't park a non-electric vehicle at a charging station and you can not use the charger for anything but charging an electric vehicle. there are signs right at the charge stations that say so. misusing the charging stations is theft of the power. there was a long discussion here on this very subject. highdesertranger

 

[John61CT]

Chevrolet Silverado ZH2 is a fuel-cell off-road concept for the military

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/11/07/chevy-silverado-zh2-military-fuel-cell-truck/

 

[bullfrog]

Maybe I'll get a chance to buy a fuel-cell vehicle in my life time? I always swore I would if they would just build one. Imagine every car on the road in Arizona producing 2 gallons of water an hour as their only waste product! How long will it be before we get it right?

 

[tx2sturgis]

Current average prices for hydrogen fueling is about 8-10 times the cost of electric vehicle recharging.

They are gonna have to improve that by a large margin, before many consumers will be interested in fuel cell vehicles.

Of course the US military has deep pockets for experimental vehicles, so they are hardly a guidepost for the average consumer.

 

[bullfrog]

It is sad and ironic that in this country the military has more interest and money to pay for research and development of vastly improved tech than the people and industries they protect. Capitalists rule and determine costs to suit their interest and profit margins a lot if not all the time. And I thought military intelligence was an oximoran! (Hope I got that right!) I guess my point is all the money and research spent on vehicle emissions in order to continue using a fuel that does so much damage to our enviroment when this tech has been around for years and not developed that actually produces something we need as well provides transportation made me promise I would buy one years ago and I'm still waiting.

 

[John61CT]

Musk hints at Tesla interest in Daimler van

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-daimler-partnership-idUSKCN1NO25F

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Groovy2]

Sprinter electric van will be Sweet

 

[tx2sturgis]

Looks like e-cargobikes are getting some interest.

Even Volkswagen is working on one!

Move over city delivery electric vans, an ebike is faster, cheaper, and makes more sense in some densely popluated European cities:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlto...the-future-for-urban-deliveries/#6993cac7e790

 

[ckelly78z]

It will be a long time before affordable electric van examples start showing up in the $5000 or less range that are affordable to most people who are considering this lifestyle.

I do love the idea of Ebikes, and E motorcycles though, and have actually gotten my wife a Ebike beach cruiser to help her ride.

 

[closeanuf]

Not to pop anyone's bubble here, but doesn't the power for these "wonderful" electric vehicles come from "evil" power plants?  And you think you have problems getting a vehicle worked on now just wait until these EVs need repairs.  I haven't checked but let me know about insurance costs.  And I don't think the government needs to give rebates for electric vehicles.  But I'm an old fart so what do I know about anything?  I did spend 35 years in the parts and service end of the car business.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Not to pop anyone's bubble here, but doesn't the power for these "wonderful" electric vehicles come from "evil" power plants?  And you think you have problems getting a vehicle worked on now just wait until these EVs need repairs.  I haven't checked but let me know about insurance costs.  And I don't think the government needs to give rebates for electric vehicles.  But I'm an old fart so what do I know about anything?  I did spend 35 years in the parts and service end of the car business.

I've expressed my opinons about EV's in many other threads so I didnt want to de-rail this one too. But here goes!

Here in the USA, would-be RVers and vandwellers who wish to spend time in the boonies and who will drive long distances to do so will need to rely on liquid fueled vehicles for many, many, more years into the future.

But, for some local delivery uses in certain situations, out and back within a few hours, etc, electric vans and e-cargobikes can make sense in some densely-populated urban city centers. 

I notice Workhorse, Bollinger, and Rivia are all promising electric and hybrid pickups soon. But all of the pure electric ones need to recharge usually within 200-300 miles or so, presumably less if towing or hauling something large.

My expectation is that the state governments WILL figure out a way to tax EV owners for use of the roads....which they do not pay for now (unless using toll roads). They are, in-effect, free-loading on the back of the other motorists who pay road fuel taxes for every gallon of road fuel they buy. 

Electric companies are also stepping up the infrastructure for EVs....guess who pays for that? Anyone with electricity provided by the grid. Plus, new metering strategies will ramp up the electric rates for those who install a powerful recharging station at their home or business.

And finally, there is the significant cost of replacement batteries in EVs, those are NOT cheap. Just about the time you pay off the loan, it's time to start saving for an EXPENSIVE battery. And what about disposal of the old ones? (times millions of them all over the country) 

The bugs just aint worked out yet...

:-/

 

[John61CT]

From #2 post above, no need for the same gang to rehash the same points back and forth all over again

Great, let's keep this thread to "more real" examples like these product announcements, even if vaporware at the moment.

And this thread https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=29313 for those who think electric vans are just impractical for now, discussing whether they will ever be common, etc

 

[tx2sturgis]

This thread is about new electric cargo vans, an open and fairly broad topic, and one could or should be able to also discuss the practicality of them, as we do for any other new tech or hardware appearing on scene.

It is not up to the other members here to artificially narrow the focus of the thread. 

I have never and would never state disapproval of the allowable responses in anyone else's thread, nor set conditions for those who wish to participate.

That is a moderators job.