I low key hate trucks. They have their uses like on a farm or construction site, but so many people do not need them and do not tie down their loads securely and crap ends up all over the road and it’s really dangerous. I loved how much stuff our old minivan could hold (a mattress, a couch, etc) and not have to worry about it falling out on the interstate.
I don’t need to haul large loads any more so I will stick with my Chevy Bolt. You can find a 2022 or 2023 for $12K now and it has power windows. Can also hold a small ton of stuff in the hatch!
Like the Chevy Bolt, but alas can’t fit even a cubic yard of bark in it. And in our state, there is a fine for not securing loads. We always carry belts and netting and a selection of tarps in our truck. That said, other than Ford, BEV trucks on the market are basically cars with a tiny, not very functional bed attached. The newcomer seems to suffer from the same issue.
That’s exactly why we bought our Tundra and now Flash aka “Fed.” That’s now the truck’s official name. To rescue our friends and kids who need crap hauled.
I can put 12 8foot 2x4s in my Chevy Bolt and close the hatch. I feel confident I could get a cubic yard of bark in unless it was packaged weird. I would not want to drop it loose in the hatch like you might in a truck bed, though. That would be a mess to clean out!
Ahhh, here’s someone else who did it so I don’t have to:
“This is not the first time, but it is the first time I thought to take photos of large landscape loads. Saturday morning I carried three 100 lb. bags of stone (2 on front seat, one on folded back seat) and fourteen 2 cf bags of cedar mulch (that is 1 cy for those doing the math in your head).
I also used my rear-view mirror video feed for the first time.”
I’ll admit that with the new vehicle (hybrid or not), I’m not planning to source freebie mulch/bark at the city waste diversion center any time soon.
In past years I’ve done a mix, with the nicer/bagged stuff as top layer. This was as much for “green”/reuse reasons as money. This year I’m more keen to keep my new car clean than I was with the 2006 Odyssey. Bonus - I can skip the dirty, sweaty shoveling work the waste diversion center.
I don’t buy much of that stuff either. My yard is all natural – no grass or processed bark mulch, lotta trees and native plants. But the point is that the Bolt can hold 1 cubic foot of bark which you said it could not. It can and there’s the photographic proof. I can fit a whole lotta things (and people) in that hatch and I like it much better than a truck.
I have rarely needed a truck in the past 5 years since we got rid of our old Honda Odyssey. A friend with a truck did go with me to IKEA to get a new sofa and chair and I appreciated that, but that’s the only time I’ve needed a truck since we got rid of the van and honestly I would have MUCH rather put that load in the van. It would’ve been much safer and more protected from the elements.
But to steer this back to EVs//hybrids I think the Ford Lightning or Ford Maverick or the Rivian are nice trucks. I wouldn’t buy the Amazon truck for the same reason I would never buy a Tesla.
I have a different friend/acquaintance who has the Ford Maverick. He is a beekeeper. That’s a good use for a truck! I wouldn’t particularly want to carry a bunch of hives in an enclosed vehicle, although I think my spouse did do that once.
On a more hybrid-centric topic, we are getting a kick out of looking at the trip mpg showing before turning of our Lexus NX 350h (non-plug hybrid). Not entirely sure how accurate it is as we keep forgetting to do recordings at gas station. But around town often gets over 44mpg, overall average (with plenty of highway) over 39mpg.
It’s still hard to justify hybrid cost premium based on gas costs alone unless you drive more than we do… or keep the car a long time (which we hope to do). For me though part of the appeal is the “green” aspect, less emissions during city driving.
How much is the hybrid cost premium on that vehicle?
The hybrid cost premium has been shrinking over the years, such that the hybrid version might be the base model (Maverick) or the only version (Sienna).
The NX price difference varies by packages etc… but base hybrid (39mpg combined) is almost $5000 more than gas (28 mpg combined). Hybrid requires premium gas.
No worries about damaging the battery. It has a weight limit like any vehicle but it doesn’t have anything to do with the battery. I think it’s around 900 lbs of cargo. The internet tells me that one cubic yard of bark weighs 400-600 lbs so not really an issue there.
I imagine I was over 900 lbs moving my daughter into and out of college. That girl had way too much stuff! I think she finally saw the light about living with less crap after the last move.
That is including the pax weight for passenger cars. Overloading will likely damage suspension and/or tires first before causing any battery issues.
I know you love your vehicle, but you likely overestimate the weight of your daughter’s stuff. A typical heavy suitcase loaded to the gills is 50 pounds or so. There is simply no room for the equivalent of 18 suitcases in a small car.
Cargo weight for trucks refers to what one can load in the bed in addition to pax in the cabin (or alternatively specifies towing capacity). Our Fed can haul 2,000 pounds in its bed. That’s more than plenty of gravel for my husband to deal with in one weekend.
In general, any vehicle is designed for a specific hauling weight, and exceeding this could damage the springs and/or shocks.
Also, OEM shocks will typically need to be replaced somewhere around 50,000-100,000 miles, so the condition of old(er) shocks (and springs) declines as they age, as so all those rubber and metal suspension parts like bushings, ball joints, etc.
I can haul a lot of things in my Bolt EVU but when it’s time to haul something heavy I pull out the one ton diesel truck with the 8’ bed and 3300 lb. payload capacity.
Interesting that the “half / three quarter / one ton” pickup nomenclature persists despite the trucks now having significantly larger payload ratings now.
