Bronco EV reportedly on hold until early next decade (⚠️ ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS)

[voxel]

Remember back before diesel gate, when you’d read articles about people getting french fry oil to make biodiesel with?

Wasn’t just the mileage, you could put a diesel engine into anything big enough to handle it, take care of the wiring and ecu and be set. No special body panels or aerodynamics, no cvt, put it basically in a Jeep of your choice for example and still get incredible mileage and torque with room to spare for performance mods to up both.

They took that away from us, which is heartbreaking. We should have options like they got elsewhere in the world for a manual turbodiesel instead of 2.3, 2.7, 3.0 or phev.

I know somebody who still runs his truck with donated cooking oil. In fact, I will be seeing him again this weekend and can ask for details.

I argue we need simple reliable engines like diesel or NA (non turbo) mated with a PHEV drivetrain. The complexity of modern turbo gas engines with start and stop tech is silly. EV drivetrains are super efficient at slow speeds and idling. You can sit in your car with AC or heat for 3-5 days. Diesel is best for long range travel and not stop and go traffic.

Anyhow, Sodium ion batteries for EV/PHEVs will be like $3K in the future. Lithium wasn’t the real problem before as it is cheap and plentiful in the world but Nickel made up majority of the minerals in a li-ion battery and of course Cobalt production is very problematic. Neither of which are used in LFP and Sodium ion batteries. Folks need to drive the new hybrid power assisted drivetrains by Toyota to see how powerful they can be or a PHEV where the electric power and gas engine work together. You all pine for a V8 but I yawned the last time I test drove a Hemi charger. It’s slow compared to modern performance EVs. Of course I still want a B58 M3 comp though lol.

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[Coldsmoke]

Hydrogen is a terrible choice for an automotive fuel. It's just an EV with more steps (aka less efficiency)

When the batteries go bad in your EV and it becomes the equivalent of a throw away soda can because you can’t afford the replacements then you might consider alternatives.
Do some reading on the topic….BMW, Toyota, Honda, and yes, even Ford have developments underway for hydrogen alternatives with zero emissions. The technology is in its infancy for automobiles but unlimited fuel and water vapor as the emission is obviously very appealing to manufacturers.
No matter how you slice EV’s, they are expensive to purchase and expensive to replenish the batteries,. Of course they also provide something wonderful to the driver called “range anxiety” and not to mention the environmental impact of disposal / recycling of the chemicals and materials in the battery.
Maybe EV’s will be better in the future, and that would be wonderful, but right now I maintain they’re half baked and in their current state not a good replacement for ICE vehicles.

 

[AttackGuy64]

Probably because Drumpfh is about to get elected.

I kid, I kid!

 

[Sherminiator]

Good. I hope they can the plans entirely. EV's are crap; half-baked, and nothing more than a political football. Hydrogen fuel cells is the way to go and more and more manufacturers are getting on that bandwagon as a good alternative to EV's.

Hydrogen is just a side show (most likely being propped up by oil companies)..just take a look at reviews of the Toyota Mirage or whatever its called-next to impossible to fuel up because there is no hydrogen fueling stations. Then add in that hydrogen is like $35-85 per cubic meter and you get 30K of "free" hydrogen refueling that would last you maybe 3 years with typical driving.

Hydrogen will most likely work in the trucking industry, but it makes almost no sense in light duty market.

 

[Steve B]

According to one of our sources, Ford has placed EV versions of the Maverick and Bronco on-hold, until at least the early ‘30s.

Source: https://www.autoweek.com/news/a46869879/gm-chevy-silverado-gmc-sierra-phevs-coming-to-market/

Good business decision by Ford. Very few people want EVs at this point. They are not a viable option for most Americans at this point in time.
I will leave the rest of my opinion out. I work in Oil & Gas.

 

[Sherminiator]

I don't like lithium mining, I feel it is more destructive big picture than fossil fuel. I think we are still around 70% coal burning to make electricity in the USA.

Actually you'd be completely wrong about the power generation-Coal only makes up about 19%

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

 

[Valhalla]

Actually you'd be completely wrong about the power generation-Coal only makes up about 19%

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

Good, that's changed since Ilastsaw numbers on this!

 

[Valhalla]

Why not a natural gas burner.

 

[indio22]

Could you imagine living in south Florida and trying to go north to avoid a hurricane with 2 million other people and you need to charge your Tesla about the Orlando area? Yeah, that sucker’s gonna drown. I’d jump in the bronco and haul tail, refilling at any gas station in 5 minutes on my way to GA or SC.

Yes I'd hop in one of my gasoline vehicles for that rare "what if" occurrence. Otherwise my EV (if I had one) could handle majority of my household daily driving.

I think a lot of urban dwellers would find, if they tracked their typical driving and milage, that an EV could handle it fine with some overnight charging, and that range anxiety is not warranted. EV is not for everyone, but as a primary urban vehicle along with a gasoline vehicle in a household, I think it can be a nice fit.

On a related note, "what if" is an interesting motivator for some humans. I'm not a "what if" type person. But it's such a driver around this forum for overspending and over equipping Broncos. It's an issue for EV adoption also.

 

[Valhalla]

 

[JTBros]

I’m not super into a Bronco EV, but that’s also cause I wanted a manual transmission. Toyota is reportedly trying to develop an EV with a manual but that’s currently vaporware. Tbh if a car is an auto I don’t care that much if it’s an EV or ICE. What ICE cars should I be excited about that aren’t manual? The ones that come to mind are all a cool $100k or more. Bronco Raptor, Corvette Z06, 911, Audi RS6, etc. all well outside the realm of affordability. On the manual end of things you have the Bronco, GR Corolla, GR86, Elantra N, Wrangler, etc.

Plus let’s not kid ourselves that gas cars are gonna be regulated out of existence anytime soon. We’ve already seen deadlines pushed once and it’ll definitely happen again.

On the VW front I’m somewhat excited as Porsche seems to smash their range expectations each time. Apply that to the Scout and it’d be great. Still not what I want in my off roader but if there’s a 3 row I’d happily replace my RAV4 with it eventually.

As far as hydrogen things go, if it was really feasibly Shell wouldn’t have just closed their stations. It is a giant mess and not improving. While the EV side is improving with a national charging standard changing for the better. Still will suck to have one in an apartment building but homeowners (like I imagine the bulk of Bronco owners are) will have a much easier time. Plus if you have solar & a power wall you can charge your car from there or have a generator setup. Not doom and gloom if the grid goes down. IMO hydrogen might be able to find a home in shipping or things like forklifts that reside in the same place, but I’d bet against it progressing into the consumer space anytime soon.

Also, EVs are not actually worse for the environment than an ICE car. That myth gets parroted here all the time.

My 2¢? PHEVs are neat but can be costly. EVs are still in their infancy but improving. Give it another few years and I’d think they’re in a much better position.

 

[Tricky Mike]

I know somebody who still runs his truck with donated cooking oil. In fact, I will be seeing him again this weekend and can ask for details.

I just picked up a IH 4700 with a mechanical DTA360 and am considering dabbling in waste oils at some point. From what I understand the old mechanical injection pumps are more tolerable of it. I also have an Isuzu 3.9 mated to a ZF5 that I'd like to find a unibody Ford truck to put it in for a little cruiser.

 

[2023bronco]

You can turn off the updates lol. Broncos are also able to get over the air updates. Go ahead and turn off your cell phone while your at it and get that tin foil hat on

I get that some people love their cell phones so much they want to drive one. But you shouldn't bash people who think it's a terrible idea for privacy, convenience, safety, etc. Good luck to you when your Bronco gets bricked by an OTA update and you're stranded somewhere.

 

[Tricky Mike]

I’m not super into a Bronco EV, but that’s also cause I wanted a manual transmission. Toyota is reportedly trying to develop an EV with a manual but that’s currently vaporware. Tbh if a car is an auto I don’t care that much if it’s an EV or ICE.

Unfortunately manuals just don't have a place in EVs. Maybe if it was an economy car with very low HP I could see a manual having some use. On that subject, the focus on EV performance instead of economy is misguided IMO.

No manuals is a big part of why I'm not willing to accept EVs at this point, but I do place them a step above auto ICE because I don't have to suffer an automatic trans doing whatever it wants.

 

[Squatch]

How do we still get 6+ pages of discussion on this dead horse?

I'll buy a non-gas Bronco when it's either a diesel or nuclear powered.

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