stux⚡️20 years of pickup truck design progress in one photo
Oh yeah…
Nafnlaus 🇮🇸 🇺🇦@stux Pickup trucks are great vehicles... for doing what they were actually designed to do (haul cargo, tools, etc for work, drive on rough terrain, etc).
Buying them as urban cruisers is beyond ridiculous. I mean, do these people hate having good visibility and love having difficulty parking?
Marten
CJ PalomaI -still- own a 2003 ranger precisely because I can easily hop up into the (large) bed. I've used that bed literally hundreds of times to haul wood, wood chips, autumn leaves, sofas, bikes, kayaks (yes plural) and yucky recycling. It will can hold a full size piece of plywood flat in the bed. Try doing that with virtually any of the newer pickups, including the new rangers.
@CJPaloma @marten @stux Exactly. If you *actually*, *frequently* use it for work, pickups excel at their role.
Note that in Europe we have another option (not sure why it never took off in the US), which is small trailers. People tow them even with passenger cars. Own one or rent it as needed, leave it behind when you don't need it.
The choice between a pickup and a trailer is *where*. If you'll be driving on roads, choose a trailer. If you'll be driving on dirt, a pickup.
Richard
AndyH@richard_merren @nafnlaus @CJPaloma @marten @stux
Drivers of these spend upwards of $125.00+ to fill the gas tank.
@AndyHarrison @nafnlaus @CJPaloma @marten @stux yes...it's nuts. Some gas stations cut off the pump at $100 and they have to do two separate transactions to fill up.
@richard_merren @nafnlaus @CJPaloma @marten @stux
The cost of Ford's F150 gas and electric are about the same, but the cost difference to fill the tank and electric to charge is enormous. There is currently a year wait for the electric. I love how people scream about how much more EVs are, when in reality there isn't much difference. One comment was "What happens if I'm stuck in traffic and run out of power" - EVs shut off when stopped.
@richard_merren @nafnlaus @CJPaloma @marten @stux and you're more likely to run out of gas than battery power.
@richard_merren @CJPaloma @marten @stux Trailers "exist" in the US, but they're not even remotely used as widespread as they are in Europe. It's weird.
bhtooefr@nafnlaus @richard_merren @CJPaloma @marten @stux Part of the problem is differences in safe towing practices, and more prevalence of automatic transmissions and longer warranties in the US.
European towing practices tend to put 4-7% of the trailer weight on the hitch, which puts very little load on the rear suspension relative to the trailer's weight. A lot of cars have a 75-80 kg (165-176 lb) towbar load rating, and even at a conservative for Europe 7% on a 75 kg rating, that's about 1071 kg (2362 lb) of trailer that can be towed. (And European tow ratings often aren't conservative.)
American towing practices put 10-15% on the hitch, which is *much* more stable at speed (and there's an expectation in many areas of going 65-80 MPH (105-129 km/h) highway speed when towing, instead of the 80-90 km/h (50-56 MPH) that most European countries limit towing to)... but means that that same 75 kg towbar load rating translates to, at a conservative 15%, 500 kg (1102 lb) of trailer that can be towed. The automakers that *do* allow towing then often round that down to 1000 lbs (454 kg).
Then, automatic transmissions tend to be stressed a lot more by towing (both due to the added sustained torque, as well as more frequent shifting), and the automatics in cars aren't built for that duty cycle. Combine that with longer warranties in many cases, and automakers have incentives to simply not allow towing at risk of voiding the warranty. (And, then, you've got the standards that automakers in the US market use for setting tow ratings on trucks nowadays, which is basically a torture test that almost nobody will encounter in real life: https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/1502-sae-j2807-tow-tests-the-standard/ )
Although, in the US, towing with a vehicle not rated for it, or above the rating, isn't *illegal* like it can be in many European countries, it's just likely to void your warranty, and if you lose control and cause a crash and are determined to be at fault, you can be held personally civilly liable for the damages.
European towing practices tend to put 4-7% of the trailer weight on the hitch, which puts very little load on the rear suspension relative to the trailer's weight. A lot of cars have a 75-80 kg (165-176 lb) towbar load rating, and even at a conservative for Europe 7% on a 75 kg rating, that's about 1071 kg (2362 lb) of trailer that can be towed. (And European tow ratings often aren't conservative.)
American towing practices put 10-15% on the hitch, which is *much* more stable at speed (and there's an expectation in many areas of going 65-80 MPH (105-129 km/h) highway speed when towing, instead of the 80-90 km/h (50-56 MPH) that most European countries limit towing to)... but means that that same 75 kg towbar load rating translates to, at a conservative 15%, 500 kg (1102 lb) of trailer that can be towed. The automakers that *do* allow towing then often round that down to 1000 lbs (454 kg).
Then, automatic transmissions tend to be stressed a lot more by towing (both due to the added sustained torque, as well as more frequent shifting), and the automatics in cars aren't built for that duty cycle. Combine that with longer warranties in many cases, and automakers have incentives to simply not allow towing at risk of voiding the warranty. (And, then, you've got the standards that automakers in the US market use for setting tow ratings on trucks nowadays, which is basically a torture test that almost nobody will encounter in real life: https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/1502-sae-j2807-tow-tests-the-standard/ )
Although, in the US, towing with a vehicle not rated for it, or above the rating, isn't *illegal* like it can be in many European countries, it's just likely to void your warranty, and if you lose control and cause a crash and are determined to be at fault, you can be held personally civilly liable for the damages.
@nafnlaus @CJPaloma @marten @stux They were more common in the past, when cars were bigger and heavier. You used to be able to connect a hitch to a chrome bumper and just about any car could be rigged to tow. I had to go to a shop to have the hitch added to my car.
You do see lots of trailers here, but ironically they are mostly pulled behind trucks and big SUVs.
@nafnlaus @CJPaloma @marten @stux What we really need are electric, self-powered trailers that can be towed behind smaller cars without requiring too much power and with safety features like balance and braking and regulating sway. Smart trailers that know how to follow your car, and even help you back up correctly.
And since this is the US, they should also have cup holders built in.
@richard_merren @CJPaloma @marten @stux Interestingly enough, #Tesla has its origins in a tiny outfit called AC Propulsion (they get too little credit in the story!), and in addition to the tzero (the car that inspired the Roadster), one of ACP's main inventions was the "Long Ranger" self-steering genset trailer :) Because back when there was no charging infrastructure, they decided, hey, let's make it REALLY easy to drive with a trailer with a power source. :)
Thierna@richard_merren @Pineywoozle @nafnlaus @CJPaloma @marten @stux please built those trailers and make them able to follow me on foot or on my bicycle.
I have been asking people to built those for a long time. But so many people in the autonomous vehicle industry can only think of cars.
Louis Botelho