What will it take to make you seriously consider an EV?

Silverado EV embargo just lifted.


Seems like a really solid truck with enormous batteries at really high prices.

$80k for the long range work truck trim, $72k for the normal range work truck, and $105k for the consumer high performance, well equipped RST trim.

That price premium is really steep for a fleet truck. It's about a $20k premium over ICE Silverado 1500 WT with the 2.7L turbo that gets about 25mpg.

Assuming Texas electricity and gas prices, an EV truck saves you about 6 cents per mile. So to recoup $20k higher initial cost, it would take 300k miles. That's a lot of miles.

EV truck does save on maintenance and its associated opportunity cost though. I wonder how much it would tip the scale toward EV.

I can see the RST trim selling well though, as a status symbol. Plenty of people buy luxury $80k trucks, so stepping up to a $110k that's in short supply doesn't seem crazy.

 

Blah blah blah. Too expensive and takes too long to charge.

 

for Legitimate business, this truck true cost roughly 45 to 52k with government deduction,could be even less based on circumstances, for folks living on pay slips its different story, but many will do whatever to look rich

 

Isn't the cheapest one $74,800?

At least that's what I read. If you know how to get a $22k tax break off these, I might change my mind about them being too expensive...

Edit: just read a different source where it will start at ~$51800. My bad.


If it's as nice as the lightning work truck, that's not horrible...

 

Section 179 explains why so many expensive trucks loading lumber at your local homedepot

https://pirscapital.com/blog/section-179-vehicles/

 

This is very funny on many levels.

 

Isn't that just a deduction of net income though? That does decrease the cost of getting a more expensive truck, but it doesn't really explain why a company would 'overbuy' a vehicle.

Even with section 179, if a heavy EV costs $20k more than an heavy ICE truck, then the section 179 savings on the EV would be 21% (corporate tax rate) of the price difference. So at the most, business would pay $4200 less in total income tax for the year with the more expensive truck.

In addition, the maximum section 179 deduction for a heavy vehicle is $26,200 for 2023. So the maximum amount of depreciation a company could claim on a $80k truck for the first year is $26,200 + half of the remaining value, a total of $53,100 in depreciation or $11,151 saving in taxes. If the company had bought a $50k truck, the first year depreciation would be $26,200 + half of the remaining value, a total of $38,100 in depreciation or $8,001 savings in taxes. So the company paid $30k more for the truck, but saved an additional $3,100 in income taxes.

I apologize if I come off as combative, but it's a bit of a pet peeve for me. As a small business owner, it annoys me to see that some people seem to be under the impression that that business expenses and 'deductions' are just free money. If I am spending money today, I need to make sure that it's going to make money for me in the future. It's definitely not 'free'!

So those people who buy unnecesasrily expensive trucks and justifies it because it's a 'business expense' either have much worse accountants than I do or maybe much better accountants!

 

Purchases or 'investing' for the purpose to avoid paying taxes is bad business. Sometimes its worth buying the marginal upgrade if there is a significant tax incentive.
And then there are owners who have higher deductions than tax liabilities but yet still overbuy for the deduction. This is why I stopped bargain shopping and looking at any sales adverts. I always end up buying something I would not have bought in the first place.

 

After a little over a year of sales, price changes have seen the price of the Lightning rise dramatically. A base F-150 Lightning Pro starts at $59,974 — a whopping $20,000 higher than the original advertised price.



https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/27/23771407/ford-f150-lightning-price-increase-cancel-order-dealer

 

you either pay the IRS or divert the payment to something else, section 179 is just one way of doing it, it can be buried under "marketing expenses " if you generate enough from your business, I'm occupation based incorporated, aiming only to minimize my income tax bracket, so finding a team of financial advisor, cpa ,bookkeeper, paying my own pension, health care etc totally worth it even when making the same income and job but with a different legal entity

 

Ain't nobody buying that ****. They're delusional.

 

Yeah, when the prices first came out, I was thinking about an XLT, but man, not for over $70k. Salesman I bought the Mach-E from called and said he had a Lightning that the person who ordered it declined to accept. Said I could have it for $92,500. I declined.

 

Thanks for posting. That's an interesting article on price and is in contrast to today's piece in the Chronicle on demand.

Is the ~30% reservation cancellation rate the Ford dealer experienced high for the EV market? Seems like a lot of would be buyers are in for a shock. Many will continue being priced out or at least those interested in trucks.

 

competition no good.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/06/30/volkswagen-slashes-electric-vehicle-production/

‘Strong customer reluctance’ forces Volkswagen to slash electric vehicle production
German car maker to pause work at major factory and lay off 300 staff

 

As a consumer, I'm reluctant to buy a Volkswagen too. Primarily because they spent years lying about their emissions but also because, you know, Nazis.

 

VW infotainment system is absolute junk.

 

My neighbor has a bolt. It’s such a little car and it reminds me of what cars looked like in the early 90s before the SUV revolution took off.

 

it's what most people "need".....traffic/parking would be a lot better too!
but instead everyone's decided a tahoe is the smallest vehicle they can own..

 

Agree... it's a lot better for everyone.

 

there are so many car brands in the US. even Toyota only sold 12% of the 13+ mil cars that were sold last year

what's more interesting is how Toyota had a deal with tesla back in 2010 and yet somehow managed to fk up electrification this bad...so far.

https://www.wired.com/2010/05/toyota-tesla-deal/