Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

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Aron9000

"carbon fiber reinforced" = NOT CHEAP

Interesting that its a Canadian company, as current battery technology sucks in really freaking cold weather.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Needs smaller than gigantic screens in the dashboard and some more physical buttons, dials and *****. I know screens that huge are not truly needed to monitor functions and various statuses on any electric vehicle. The center screen leaves almost no area at all for any custom installed in-dash equipment for specialty applications. Otherwise it looks like a modern truck and the AWD and 186 mile range are nice. Better than spending a lot of coin on a pricey truck EV conversion with only 30-50 miles of range but I am sure this will be an expensive truck. ^^ A CF chassis will indeed be more expensive. If only lithium-ion batteries were more lightweight for the same energy density.

LeX2K

All of Canada is really freaking cold, right? Also electric cars fare much better in cold weather than fuel burners which sometimes need to be plugged in (the irony).

Sulu

I am not sure if you are being sarcastic...

No, not all of Canada is "really freaking cold"; it is becoming rare that Southern Ontario has much snow in the winter now.

Why should it be ironic that a battery-electric truck that does well in the cold comes from a cold country? This truck is being launched in partnership with a major Canadian research university.

Aron9000

I guess my point was that the current Teslas have a much reduced range in cold weather. I'm talking about 10 to -10 fahrenheit, which is typical weather for parts of of the northern US and the major population centers in eastern Canada for 3-4 months of the year. Running the heat in an electric car uses a lot of battery as well. Just saying that I don't think that 186 mile range is going to happen in a typical Ontario winter, it will probably be less due to batteries not working well in the cold and the driver turning up the heat.

LeX2K

I didn't think what I said could be taken any other way, guess I was wrong. I took issue with the general sentiment that well it's Canada so that must mean cold weather. That's like me asking what's the weather like in the United States.

Anyway it's true that an electric car takes a dive in efficiency when driven in cold weather, but so does a fuel burner. In very cold weather my winter car takes a major hit in efficiency. That's not something unique to an electric drivetrain, obviously. Also from a few vids I've seen of a Tesla is cold weather it did very well, didn't have any issues with "starting" unlike the gas powered cars.

Sulu

An EV won't have problems starting in the cold like an internal combustion engine has. The ICE requires a lot of current to crank and turn it over, and the battery is less able to do that in cold weather. The EV, however, does not need to be turned over because it does not have big lumps of metal separated by sludgy oil at cold temperatures.

There is also the difference in battery chemistry. An ICE typically uses a lead acid battery to crank it; EVs run on lithium ion batteries. One battery chemistry may perform better in colder temperatures than the other. Some types of lithium ion batteries may perform better than other types of LiIon batteries. This electric truck is probably running on a different type of LiIon battery that performs better in the cold. Tesla uses commercially-available LiIon cells that are used for consumer electronics so that battery has not been optimized for extreme-weather performance in cars and trucks.

LeX2K

^^ Well said. I don't know exactly what type of chemistry Tesla is using in their batteries especially ones made in their Gigafactory. I would be surprised if they had some that were specifically optimized for cold weather.