Tin Foil Hat Post

[dan_meh]

You guys are much more patient than me. 30 min at a gas station would drive me crazy. Especially on a road trip after I just spent the last 2 hours passing everyone, only to watch them all pass me by while charging .

Maybe it’s age. I no longer try to win road trips. I still watch the Out of Spec races, but that’s not me. I’m perfectly happy stopping every 3-4 hours for 20-30 minutes to pee, stretch, eat.

Heck, I’m on vacation now and renting a Nissan Pathfinder. I had a five hour drive. We left at about 9 AM and stopped for about 40 minutes to get food at Noon. All the Californians in their EVs passed me

 

[Snakebitten]

Wait. Are you insinuating that the reason I'm more patient about such things is because I'm old?

OK. You're probably on to something.

It's true. And it's one of the things that offsets the negatives of the body showing its miles.

If I need a few more KWH's after returning to the truck from whatever tasks I was up to, I catch up on email, or return to a book on audible, or pop up YouTube on the centerstack. Pretty much what I would do if I were in the Lazyboy at home. 15 minutes goes by in a jif.

 

[metroshot]

I am one of those people who is already experiencing "range anxiety" over a lot of nothing (since we do not know a lot yet about any of the range/battery specs). But I will probably still do it...... Kansas to Seattle. Would be my third time doing the drive (first 2 were for my 2023 and 2025 Mavericks). I plotted it out with an EV routing database with an assumed 51 kWh battery and around 200 miles of range (95% highway driving). It would be 12-14 charging stops over roughly 1,700 miles. This would keep the state of charge at or above 15% when arriving at any of those charging stops. Most stops only want me to charge to between 50 and 80% capacity. This does not account for any hotel stays where I could charge back up to 100% overnight, etc... So it is doable, even when driving in rural Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. Many of the suggested stops were Tesla SuperChargers or Rivian branded "adventure" type charging plazas (where they have like 12 or 14 chargers). Mostly near state parks or other outdoor activities.

Standard range Fathom would not be the correct tool for the job.

With a long distance route like that, I'd look at 400+ mile range EVs with AWD not knowing the terrain & charging infrastructure along that route.

Highway driving yields you the least efficiency (lower range) and then the latitude you are in suggests colder weather which also impacts range.

OTOH I live in the southern latitudes and a standard range Fathom is more than I would need evident in my current EV w/ 230 mile range.

 

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

I don’t think the Fathom will be a loss leader, but if it’s supposed to be a low-cost pivot to SDVs, it will be low margin and subscription features will help recoup capex costs sooner. Also, it could be a sort-of loss leader if it’s a pilot for future UEV vehicles, which will cost less to bring to market.

 

[commadorebob]

I don’t think the Fathom will be a loss leader, but if it’s supposed to be a low-cost pivot to SDVs, it will be low margin and subscription features will help recoup capex costs sooner. Also, it could be a sort-of loss leader if it’s a pilot for future UEV vehicles, which will cost less to bring to market.

Yeah, I think the whole point of the UEV model is to reduce construction and part costs. That allows Ford to decrease their labor expense per vehicle. I also believe you are onto something that Ford is banking on subscriptions to make up their profit margin. A quick AI search shows that Ford only makes $1-2K profit per Maverick. Given that BlueCruise costs $500 a year, someone keeping their Fathom and subscribing to five years of BlueCruise already breaks the Maverick profit.