fordmantpw

If it's at the dealer, that's probably about right. It cost me nearly $600 for oil change, tire rotation, and fuel filter change on my F350 diesel. Needless to say, I'll be doing fuel filters myself in the future, and going elsewhere for oil changes.

Explain to me where I'm wrong. I'm likely not your "average people" as I do have a BS in electrical engineering and 20 years working with and for a utility company, so I do have a bit of background in this area.

I know several people who use their laptop and nothing else. Like, ain't no way I could do that. My summer engineering internship while I was in college consisted of programming PLC's with ladder logic. It was done entirely on a laptop with a touchpad. I was so unproductive. And this was nearly 30 years ago, so the touchpad really sucked! Actually, demand goes down at night, so night is the best time to charge EVs. Have you heard of "base load" generation? The only fossil-fuel plants that get "cranked up" are natural gas units. Coal plants and nuclear plants run flat out all the time, supplying the power for base load. There is no cranking them up for demand, that's what gas turbine generation is for. Gas turbine generators are more expensive to run, so they try to fire them up as little as possible. They mostly come online during the day in the summer when it's 100 degrees and everyone's ACs are cranking. Running solar (running? it doesn't really run, but we'll go with that term) actually helps reduce the load during the day when demands are the highest. You share your solar energy during the day in exchange for base load power at night. It's a win/win situation (except the customer gets screwed if they over produce). Note, I used to work for an electric utility, specifically at a nuke plant. That company actually built a data center to take excess load from the grid at night to mine bitcoins. It's more efficient than backing down a plant due to decreased load. They also have a pumped storage hydroelectric plant that pumps water uphill at night to generate power during the day. So, don't think companies are cranking up fossil-fuel plants at night to support EV charging. Note 2, I have a net-metering agreement for my solar, so I know how that works. Yes, it's accounting, but it's there to make the excess solar production during the day "fair" to the customer since they are helping to smooth the spikes for the utility.

Agreed, in some areas, they're hard to find. I live in rural MO, so I can vouch for that. With that said, though, more are appearing quite regularly, and I'm surprised where they are showing up. It just takes time to build out the infrastructure. Well, we're all paying for people to buy BEVs...for now.

Well, a Mach E GTPE isn't exactly an Accord or Camry hybrid either. With our current gas prices, paying $0.45/kWh to charge our Mache E is like getting 30 MPG, which is about what our Escape got. So, to us, it's the same as gas prices if we were to always charge at public charging locations. But we pay just under $0.10/kWh at home, so our fuel costs are generally 22% of what they were before. But, since we have solar, it's less than that because we overproduce in the spring, summer, and fall, so we're using some of those electrons we would be selling back at $0.025/kWh. I just went to a 34" curved widescreen, and I use it like two monitors, and then have one next to it, so it's like I have 3. It took some getting used to and I didn't like it at first, but now I love it. Since I do mostly web development, I can have the code open on the left, the browser on the right, and SQL on the other monitor. I also have the ability to fill the entire screen with code if necessary. It's pretty slick! I'd be lost with only one monitor!

It is a pretty cool feeling to plug our Mach E in when the sun is shining and channel that energy directly from the sun through our solar panels and into our Mach E. Side note...even with our Mach E, our electric bill for our 100% electric home was $34 last month, all of which was the connection charge. We actually produced 73 more kWh than we used in May. It cost $10 just to add 100 miles' worth of Tesla fuel.

You're still paying for the depreciation regardless. Only difference with leasing is that you KNOW what the depreciation will be upfront so you don't have the risk.

We bought it. We've never leased a vehicle as we normally keep them 5-7 years.

I pull a 38' fifth wheel when we take trips, so I'm used to planning my long trips. I need to stop roughly every 300 miles for fuel, and some stations just aren't doable when you're that long. An electric vehicle has similar limitations, and I'm OK with that. Oil changes are a PITA for us. We are very particular with our vehicles, and NOBODY treats them like we do. My wife usually drops them off (she works within walking distance of the dealer), but every single time they leave something filthy. It's ridiculous and it ticks us off. Plus, oil changes are up over $100 at our dealer now. I used to do it myself, but dealing with the waste oil and finding the time to do it was too much of a pain for my limited free time. Also of note, is that we save so much time not going to gas stations. We charge 99% at home (in 13k miles, we've used public charging twice), and the fact I can just plug it in and not have to stop at gas stations is an awesome "freedom" of owning a BEV. Now, I realize not everyone has the ability to charge at home, and everyone's needs are different. I 100% would NOT own an electric vehicle if I couldn't charge it at home. However, I would guess most people's driving routines are similar to ours, and an EV would work perfectly well.

A Mach E premium, AWD, Extended Range is 46k. Escape Platinum AWD is 37k. Yes, there is 9k in difference, but the Mach E is much more vehicle than the Escape (taking out the electric side of things). If an Edge were still available, I think it would be close in price to the Mache E, and are more similar than Mach E and Escape.

I made this post in another thread, but it fits here better. If people could get over the thought that they need 400 miles of range in an EV, and people would just drive one, I think sales would increase drastically. The driving experience of an EV far surpasses that of an ICE. We generally keep our Mach E charged (to 85%) so we've got it available. Last week, my mom called at 7:00 in the AM and I needed to take her to the hospital to see my dad. The Mach-E didn't have enough charge for the round trip (forgot to plug it in since we weren't going anywhere), so I debated on the Bronco, but it's hard for older folks to get into. So, I figured I would find a charging station and top off the Mach E before I headed home from the hospital. Well, it was about 5 minutes out of the way, but in 11 minutes of charging, I was able to add enough Tesla fuel (thanks for the adapter Ford!) to get us home with 25 miles to spare. It was easy! Plus, in nearly 13k miles, we STILL haven't had to take it in for an oil change! 😄

If people could get over the thought that they need 400 miles of range in an EV, and people would just drive one, I think sales would increase drastically. The driving experience of an EV far surpasses that of an ICE. We generally keep our Mach E charged (to 85%) so we've got it available. Last week, my mom called at 7:00 in the AM and I needed to take her to the hospital to see my dad. The Mach-E didn't have enough charge for the round trip (forgot to plug it in since we weren't going anywhere), so I debated on the Bronco, but it's hard for older folks to get into. So, I figured I would find a charging station and top off the Mach E before I headed home from the hospital. Well, it was about 5 minutes out of the way, but in 11 minutes of charging, I was able to add enough Tesla fuel (thanks for the adapter Ford!) to get us home with 25 miles to spare. It was easy! Plus, in nearly 13k miles, we STILL haven't had to take it in for an oil change! 😄

Yeah, I likely wouldn't have known had we not recently bought our Bronco.

And strangely enough, prices actually went UP in some cases. It's not about the total price, it's about whether people feel they are getting a good deal or not. People are weird...

He who go to sleep with itchy butt wake with smelly finger.

Agree. We saw one over the weekend and I remarked how nice it looked. My wife about fell over in shock! Then we walked around to the front and it was completely covered in black plastic instead of a painted grille/front fascia. Made a great looking truck look homely.

Congrats! Beautiful car! Now you don't have to rent one to drive it on the track! 😄

The Royal Gorge bridge is awesome. There were UTVs going across it when we were there, and you could definitely feel the movement just from them, so I can imagine what a car was like. I was able to handle it as I felt my feet were on something solid. My two oldest kids stuck to the middle of the bridge, petrified, but my youngest would've run along the railing if we would have let her!

I'm good, I'll keep my eyes focused straight ahead, thanks. lol

Were the metal gratings only in the middle? I couldn't remember for sure. I've blocked most of that out of my memory. 😄

I'm afraid of heights, and white-knuckled all the way across that bridge. And I was pulling a 38' fifth wheel!

Neither. I'd rather work at McD's for a month for the same money than paint for 2 days. Ugh I hate painting!

^^^ This is the answer. It's not a setting you can make, it's in the development of the app.

I've got it on my 38' fifth wheel. Installation of the sensors is a pain because you've got to dismount the tires to have them placed, but the rest was super easy. The system works great other than an occasional fault due to losing signal on one sensor, but it's not a big deal as it doesn't happen often, and it's usually back in a few minutes. Looking back, I would do it again.

Agreed! Technology just for technology's sake isn't always a good thing.