Think Electric Cars are Expensive? Try Ford’s F-250 Full-Sized Truck
Think paying $100,000 for an electric car is obscene? How about $100K for an F-250?
As much was we covet electric cars like the Tesla Roadster, most of us balk at the $100,000 sticker price. But with gas prices at or above $4 / gallon, the cost difference isn’t as dramatic as you might imagine.
The NYTimes reported last week that if you account for total ownership of a full-sized truck, including insurance, interest, repairs, taxes, and gasoline, a big vehicle like Ford’s F-250 will now set you back $100,000 in the first five years of ownership. Five years is the average amount of time an owner keeps one of these trucks.
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Obviously, the average person and automakers alike are noticing how expensive large vehicles have become (GM just announced it would stop making trucks and SUVs at four of its North American plants). Until May, full-sized trucks accounted for 13% of the US vehicle market. They’ve now now plummeted to 9%. Ford’s F-series trucks have been the best selling vehicle annually since 1976, but for the first time in years the top selling vehicle last month was a car: the Honda Civic sedan.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a great renewable energy replacement for heavy duty trucks yet, besides incorporating hybrid technology (like GM has done) which can boost fuel economy by 20%, or modifying the fuel system to accept high ethanol blends (50% of GM’s fleet will be Flex-Fuel by 2012).
One thing has been made abundantly clear: the threshold for buying a full-size truck has gone up a few notches. I was shocked earlier this month when my mechanic said he would be downsizing to a Toyota Tacoma for his daily commute. Will he keep the full-sized truck? Of course, he says, because well, he still has a boat and horse trailer to haul around.
Posts Related to Electric Cars and Gas Prices:
- An Electric Car You Can Buy Today: The $20K TRIAC EV
- Save Gas Without Losing Your Shirt: 3 Gas Saving Devices with High Scam Potential
- An Electric Car With Muscle: The 175 MPGe X1 Prototype by Wrightspeed Inc.
- Low Impact Living: Think Hybrid Cars are Too Expensive?
- Goodbye Trucks and SUVs; Hello Gas Saving… Geo Metro?
Sources:
New York Times-
Big Vehicles Stagger Under the Weight of $4 Gas
Detroit Automakers Compete for a Vanishing Truck Market
Photo Credit: Ford
The GMC 8500 tandem axle commercial truck comes with a 7.8L diesel with around 250HP and over 660 LB-FT torque and with a GVWR of over 50,000 lbs.
The Ford F250 comes with engines between 300HP/365LB-FT torque and 350HP/650LB-FT torque and the idiots criticizing Clayton claim this much power is needed to pull a boat once or twice a year????!?
Whose heads are in their respective rear ends???
As Clayton wrote, most people, the VAST MAJORITY of people in the metropolis don’t drive these trucks because they need to.
I live in Vancouver, BC and friends from northern BC laugh at all the fools in Vancouver driving over-powered and over-sized trucks.
(Vancouver is where they come to find used trucks in new condition and put them to work up north.)
The worst are the gas trucks.
To put a gas engine in these behemoths which are intended for heavy work (like the weekly shopping trip to Safeway) is plain and simple idiotic.
These trucks are meant for *****TORQUE***** and should be using DIESEL engines AT LEAST HALF the size that they currently have.
Unfortunately, most non-commercial drivers of these behemoth pick-up trucks are not very bright and have a need to burn rubber while pulling two houseboats up every mountain pass.
These people are visible everywhere in BC and they endanger everyone on the road due to the speed that these trucks are driven at.
Semi-trucks are not that dangerous because they don’t accelerate like a muscle car and have to be driven sensibly.
We had a Ford F250 with a 7.3L engine. That thing was idiotically powerful but there was nothing smaller and sensible to choose!
AND WHY ARE ZERO-TO-60 TIMES OF ANY IMPORT IN THESE BEASTS OF BURDEN???????
These are beasts of burden where TORQUE counts and are not for drag racing.
The Mercedes Unimog, probably the most sophisticated truck in the world, has a 6.4L I6 Diesel engine with 260hp and 700lb-ft of torque, and is commonly used to pull trains in ports.
260hp and 700lb-ft of torque.
And these fools need almost this much power in a typical pickup truck to pull a boat???????????
This is complete bunk.
The F-150 and F-250 lines of vehicles are highly reliable. To say that “repair costs” are going to be factored into the equation is a way of intorducing bogus figures to guarantee a high number where none exists.
My 1997 Econoline has nearly 200,000 miles on it. It is built on the same chasis, and with the same components as the pickups. With an initial cost of $30,000 (customized, base was something like $19,000), I’ve probably spent another $10,000 over the years in total cost. Furthermore, with an extra $2,000, you can get an extended warranty that covers the vehicle for 5 years, or 100,000 miles.
Furthermore, I’d like to see an electric car haul more than some overweight blowhard, for more than 40 miles.
Not only are the numbers completely bogus, it is not even an apples-to-apples comparison here. An F-250 is a heavy-duty hauler, and is MADE for that purpose. An electric car is nothing more than a potental deathtrap that won’t even take you more than 100 miles on a single, 24-hour charge.
And I’ll bet no one has taken into accout how much it costs to have the batteries replaced every 2 years.
Well you forgot to mention that plenty of the large trucks, (I suppose you mean anything bigger than a honda prius), can and do run on natrual gas, cheap and clean. But the infastucture to provide that at a residential medium is lacking. Propane as well is a great alternative and gives those that need a truck to make a living the means to do so. this pigeon holeing everyone into what ever Folkswagon you soclist deem nessary is just stupid.
“I know people who do haul for a living, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one on the road hauling anything besides a boat or horse trailer.”
wealth envy is it? You dont think poeple who work hard should be allowed to purchase luxury items? or recreation vehicles? should we ban all items that not everyone can afford? we currently punsih the evil rich with luxury taxes on what ever the item deemed as luxury, is that not enough for you comrade?
Modogg said on June 10th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
‘The numbers for all the items listed are bogus.
Gas(70,000 miles at $4 calculated at 18mpg - 14) 15,555 - 2000″
You’re numbers aren’t correct either. If that truck gets 18 mpg I’ll eat my hat. I don’t think they even publish mpg info for trucks that big, because it’s more like 8-12 mpg, especially in non-highway driving.
You also forgot to calculate the purchase price of the truck itself, which is part of that figure.
Let’s be honest, while some of these trucks are actually used for work, a large # of them are driven by guys who like driving big trucks, and commute in them. Every construction site probably needs one of these, yet every guy on the job site drives one to work,
I drive a small car, and rent a big u-haul pickup the one time a year I need one.
I have a 2000 f350 4×4 crew cab that gets 20 mpg no matter if i am hauling 6000 pounds or nothing at all ignorance is bliss!
Hey Clayton,
What do you usually see pulling a travel trailer?
Most of what I see is a heavy duty diesel pickup truck.
To buy the car is still expensive because you still have to pay for the electricity you’re using to power the vehicle, wich can be expensive.
Yeah I use my F250 for work, but the gas price is crazy!