What would be the limitation that prevents you from mountain biking? It seems to have a similar sized bed to a Tacoma?

I’m unsure why people think they need such big vehicles for outdoors sports. We drove thousands of miles around Europe with 4 kayaks on the roof of a Ford Fiesta. Or you can easily fit three mountain bikes on a rear bike rack.

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dfee 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

I also used to throw my mountain bike on the back of my sports car! It was, in retrospect, ridiculous.

I’ve also seen a motorcyclist having a bike mounted on a hitch!

Optimization for tiny isn’t a factor in the big outdoors. Indeed, I see more people in Sprinter vans than Teslas by mountain biking hot spots. So it’s not about “could you”, it’s about comfort and practicality of anything / everything else you may want to do beyond just lugging a bike to a trail. Such as: the optionality to go truly off road - in the vehicle not on the bike.

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esseph 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Depends on what you're in to, but there's a HUGE amount of land in the US and a lot of lakes and mountains don't have paved roads to them.

(Check out Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, etc.)

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garciasn 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I need to tow a 5000lb boat 300 miles without charging and I need to fit 6 passengers. It needs to be $30K or less.

I realize Europeans have a much different understanding of distance and cargo needs; I do. But, 300 miles and 6 passengers is a pretty common requirement here in the US.

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raddan 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

Why without charging? Are there time constraints?

I often find that I want to take a break after a couple hours of driving, and even when I drove a gas vehicle, those breaks would be 30-40 minutes long unless it was an exceptionally long day of driving. With a little planning I’ve found that I can do 90% of the trips in my EV that I used to do in my gas car. I probably can’t replicate the couple 1000-mile-in-one-day trips I did in my previous vehicle, but those experiences also made me not want to.

FWIW, in the last two years alone I have driven my EV from MA to Nova Scotia and back, MA to Iowa and back, MA to MD and back, and all over the eastern seaboard (trips to the Adirondacks, WV, etc). Lately I have not even had to plan anymore. It was surprising to discover that I could plug my car (a Bolt) into a GM charger in Indiana this summer and not even need to fiddle with an app. Things have improved dramatically for road trips in the last two years, and I have probably one of the slowest charging cars out there. Really, the only thing stopping me from buying an EV pickup is that I don’t want to pay that much for a vehicle with such an absurdly small bed. My Bolt can pull a small trailer just fine.

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GiorgioG 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

Because he can tow 300 miles easily with a ICE vehicle, and he can fill up anywhere in 5 minutes or less. Once you can charge cars in 5 minutes or less, I doubt he’d have made that a requirement.

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jebarker 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I started looking at camping trailers recently to tow with my Rivian. I quickly went off the idea when I realized that each time I’d need to charge en-route I’d have to find somewhere to park the camper, unhitch, go charge, then do it all in reverse. That’s going to add at least 20 mins to each charging session. None of this is necessary if I were filling with gas. For typical places I go camping here in CO that could be two or three times per journey direction.

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1-more 4 days ago | parent [-]

My in-laws tow a heavy, non-aero homemade camping trailer on their Rivian in Colorado. Two things make this work: they don't haul it long distance like you do, and they drive uphill to campsites, and then on the way home they're just charging the whole way back. I realize that there are no free lunches in energy conservation, but this diminishes range anxiety for them I think. Or I misinterpreted our convo and it's just a funny quirk of getting around the mountains.

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jebarker 2 days ago | parent [-]

That’s good to know actually. The distance I travel is certainly not necessary, there is closer camping, but I just tend to prefer areas that are all the way across the mountains from me. Do you know what sort of range they get while towing?

	▲	1-more 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah I asked when we went camping together and I remember them saying that it's a bit better than half the normal miles/kWh. The site we went to was about 22 miles and 3,600 feet of climbing from their driveway, so they were not at all worried about range. If you really want to make sure you make it home, load up your camper with rocks at the campsite so you are charging more on your way home, then dump them when you reach the lowest point on your drive home. The camper is a cabin with cedar shingles on top of a 5'x10' Harbor Freight trailer. Heavy and not at all aero haha.

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garciasn 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Because I travel to places without charging infra.

	▲	raddan 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		I hear you. I love to go to very remote places. But I guess I see it more of a personal challenge.

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laurencerowe 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I was responding to someone worried about the practicality of carrying mountain bikes to the Santa Cruz mountains 50 miles from San Francisco.

I don't think it's possible to buy a new 6 passenger vehicle rated for towing 5000lb in the US for under $30K.

Europe allows towing with much smaller vehicles. There you can do 4400lb in a Golf and 4850lb in Passat though you might still struggle for 6 passengers for $30k new.

	▲	dfee 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		Well, you were responding to me, after I noted my excursions through Baja, the mountain west and Oklahoma. Santa Cruz Mountain roads tend to be well paved. Though, large exceptions definitely exist! (E.g. Highland Way)

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chipsa 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

No pickup will do that. Even crew cab pickups normally max out at 5 people (4 passengers), because there is no bench seat up front anymore. Even a Ford Maverick is $30k or so, and that won’t tow a 5000lb boat. Max listed towing is 4klb.

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baby_souffle 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I need to tow a 5000lb boat 300 miles without charging and I need to fit 6 passengers. It needs to be $30K or less.

Then you need a used diesel pickup truck. 6 people is a stretch unless at least one of those is an infant or you have people on laps.

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wpm 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

OK buy a different fucking vehicle then? Sorry this one isn't for you.

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rossjudson 5 days ago | parent [-]

"I commute 400 miles each way to work, every day, towing my 5000 pound boat, fully equipped outdoor kitchen trailer/classroom, my home-schooled family of 6, 6 dogs, a portable sawmill, solar-powered game freezer + ammunition, and an extra trailer because I might have to go to home depot."

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garciasn 5 days ago | parent [-]

1. I don't commute; I work from home.

2. I would use a truck as it was intended to be used--as a truck.

3. I have a lake home 150 miles from my primary home and I don't want to have to drive 4 kids and 2 adults in two separate cars every time.

4. There is no charging infrastructure near my lake home.

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chipsa 5 days ago | parent [-]

Do you have power at the lake house? Then you have charging infrastructure. Also, why are you towing the boat to and from the lake house?

And again, which new production pickup fits 6 people?

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garciasn 3 days ago | parent [-]

I have power, yes; however, I can't even run the toaster oven and A/C, for example, at the same time. There's likely no way I could charge an EV w/o having everything trip the breaker. And there's no way to go beyond what we have unless the electric company upgrades our service.

	▲	chipsa 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		More advanced EVSEs are capable of adjusting the power delivered based on the power available. It does require a sensor on the supply cables to determine how much power is being used, but it's technically capable without a service upgrade. Also, electric companies will frequently upgrade an old 50/100 amp service to 200 amp for low or no cost (because they figure you'll pay off the cost of doing so through more power usage). The panel side of the service upgrade will cost you, but then you'll be able use the toaster oven at the same time as the A/C.

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bastawhiz 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I need to tow a 5000lb boat 300 miles without charging

That's a 4-5 hour trip and you don't want to stop to charge for thirty minutes? One bathroom break or stop for food and you've already spent probably half of those 30m stopped anyway.

> fit 6 passengers

This truck does? It has a third row.

But I'm curious what truck you think will comfortably fit six passengers for under $30k. If the second row fits three people and the front row fits two passengers (and frankly, having a person ride in the middle of the front row is ridiculous), you only seat five passengers. Even if you count the driver as a passenger, at best you've got one uncomfortable occupant.

- Ram 1500 starts at 40k

- F150 starts at 38k

- Silverado 1500 starts at 37k

- Ford Superduty starts above 40k

- Sierra 1500 starts at 38k

And most of these are just bench seats in the front, not a third row.

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k12sosse 5 days ago | parent [-]

Do the Ranger

	▲	bastawhiz 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		It's base MSRP is 33k and it only does five passengers

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TulliusCicero 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm American and this sounds really off. AFAIK pickups in the US typically have space for five passengers, not six. And good luck finding new pickups that can tow 5000 lbs under 30k; as a category, pickups have experienced quite a lot of price inflation, as I understand it.

	▲	garciasn 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		Right. What I’m saying is if you’re going to make a compact car with a bed, it better cost less than a pickup.