Ford Maverick hybrid pickup starts at $20,000

[redpoint5]

Looking forward to hearing some reviews by you and others on the new stuff coming out.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Looking forward to hearing some reviews by you and others on the new stuff coming out.

Yep I’m not an early adopter love seeing what goes right and wrong on the new rigs.

Have to say I’m disappointed cowmeat gave in to Silver :0 too many neutral cars on the road (just kidding)

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

Yep I’m not an early adopter love seeing what goes right and wrong on the new rigs.

Have to say I’m disappointed cowmeat gave in to Silver :0 too many neutral cars on the road (just kidding)

Your comment made me realize something odd about myself. I'm extremely risk tolerant seeking, love adopting technology, but always lag behind somewhat.

I think I'm just conservative with how I spend money, so by definition that means I'm not buying the latest thing, but waiting at least 1 generation for price to come down. By being frugal with money, I simultaneously decrease my exposure to risk because I give time for kinks and flaws to be worked out. While I never am far behind on technology, I'm also not on the bleeding edge working through all the problems.

On the Chevy Bolt forum, I made this comment, which if I haven't alienated everyone by now, maybe that will do it;

The Early Adopters stage [we're still in Innovators stage] still requires fairly risk-tolerant consumers. Those who are not risk tolerant should rethink their choice to adopt an emerging technology. It's not reasonable to be an early adopter of technology and expect the kinks to have all been worked out. For those who are most anxious about the fire danger and outraged by this failure of technology, they either didn't realize they were "Innovators", or they don't know the inherent risks to adopting at that stage. I am blaming the victim at least in not having set appropriate expectations and acceptance of risk, not to diminish the responsibility GM and LG have to make their customers whole.

Here's the earlier post I made on the subject;

All of this highlights my general view that EVs are not ready for mainstream, which partly explains why they are not mainstream.



In the push to get battery technology to not totally suck compared to a $100 gas tank, every limit is being pushed.



Batteries gobble up a lot of space, so they are engineered to be as small as reasonably possible.

They are heavy, so they are engineered to be as lightweight as reasonably possible.

They contain less energy, so they are engineered to contain as much energy as reasonably possible.

They degrade over time, so they are engineered to be as robust as reasonably possible.

They charge slowly, so they are engineered to charge as quickly as reasonably possible.

They are expensive, so they are engineered to be as affordable as reasonably possible.

They are susceptible to environmental extremes, so they are engineered to tolerate extremes as much as reasonably possible.

They are flammable, so they are engineered to resist burning as much as reasonably possible.



Balancing all of these attributes is a nightmare, and clearly the industry is still learning how to do it correctly. Arguing from hindsight, it seems apparent that it's not enough to demand no major defects in cell manufacturing, but to also design for when there are catastrophic defects. A design that is more resilient against fire surely takes away from several of the attributes listed above. It's going to cost more, take up more space, be heavier, etc. This all equates to an EV that is even further behind the positive attributes of an ICE vehicle (range, cost, weight, etc).



I have more enthusiasm for EVs than most anyone, but one must not let their enthusiasm get in the way of reality. Reality is that battery technology is not where it needs to be for EVs to be the mainstream choice. Reality is also that these problems are extremely difficult to solve, and it isn't guaranteed that they will be solved to the extent we would hope for.



I'm beginning to realize that EVs at the moment are not for the very risk averse. We're still in the "Innovators" stage of technology adoption. That's the area of the curve that demands the most risk tolerant people. It now occurs to me that through all of the years I attempted to get my grandfather to purchase an EV, there is likely some wisdom and increased risk-aversion with age that prevented him from taking the leap. I wish he would have before he died, but I understand now why he didn't.

[cowmeat]

Have to say I’m disappointed cowmeat gave in to Silver :0 too many neutral cars on the road (just kidding)

No worries - I know it's a little vanilla but it'll look sharp with the dark painted rims

I liked the Alto Blue but then I remembered how much of a pain my wife's old Blazer was to keep clean, it was basically that same color. The Iconic silver is the only other color that doesn't clash with the interior colors they thought were a good idea put in this thing.

Actually I do like the charcoal color too, but my wife's Explorer is already that color so that was out. Every other color looked to me like they went to the mis-tinted discount paint section at Home Depot and grabbed whatever was on the shelf

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I'm extremely risk tolerant seeking, love adopting technology, but always lag behind somewhat.

Not sure if I may be so prone to become an early adopter of some new tech, yet sometimes whenever I can understand how some newer stuff works enough to believe I could do some makeshift repairs when something fails I'm OK with taking a little more of the risk.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Not sure if I may be so prone to become an early adopter of some new tech, yet sometimes whenever I can understand how some newer stuff works enough to believe I could do some makeshift repairs when something fails I'm OK with taking a little more of the risk.

The motorcycle that was given to me had a dead battery. I bought LiFePO4 cells, nickel strips, small snips, a portable spot welder, shrink wrap, more solder and flux...

So far I'm fairly confident the heavy lead acid battery can be replaced with this relatively cheap pack (not considering the tools I bought) I'm building. Of course, I'll have many hours into it by the time I arrive at a good solution. The fun is figuring it out.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

The motorcycle that was given to me had a dead battery.

What motorcycle was given to you?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

What motorcycle was given to you?

2006 CBR600... same bike as I already have.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

2006 CBR600...

Had it not been fitted with EFI, maybe I would be even tempted to try going batteryless at all.

[JRMichler]

I ordered a Maverick 9-10-2021, and got an email yesterday saying that it is scheduled for production the first week in November. I had tried to order from the local dealer, but they stalled until I went the next closest dealer 45 miles away. It might have been because I wanted the base hybrid model with only two options - a bed mat and a trailer hitch. The trailer hitch is back ordered, so I cancelled that.

Spent yesterday removing the ScanGauge, vacuum gauge, and kill switch from the Canyon. Today I will be removing the air dam, and replacing the aero topper with the original Leer topper.