70% of farmers cannot afford all fertilizer needs for 2026 planting season

[JDs Couch]

Admittedly, from a technological standpoint…Tesla’s are pretty slick. But not the most practical option.

Out in Ag country here in Texas, they serve no purpose though. There’s no way to make them do the work required in a large agriculture region with huge chunks of miles between everything.

There’s no possible way to utilize EV’s for anything other than a basic commuter vehicle.

You really think replacing your gas work trucks with EV’s will have a net positive on your business?

I would think the upfront cost would nuke any downstream profitability.

An inexpensive gas fleet truck even with higher gas prices is surely cheaper to operate over the life of the vehicle than an EV truck.

So why switch other than to virtue signal? I would assume that’s the sole purpose because from a business standpoint, it doesn’t make much sense.

Maybe I’m wrong.

I always associated EV ownership to two things…a draw to the technologically advanced, or virtue signaling. No other reason really makes sense to me.

If the options are a cheap used truck or a new EV, I would agree with you. But between a new ICE truck and a new EV truck, I'd take the EV for multiple reasons.
Or, a slightly used one would be more likely. A 1-2 year old EV truck with lowish mileage is a good bargain.

Then, after that, the savings start to accumulate. There is also the time and money saved from less maintenance (I pay one of my guys to take the trucks in for oil changes, for example).
We could easily charge multiple vehicles here at our shop and pay about 1/10 the cost of fuel. For example, each truck is currently costing about $8k per year in fuel. About $24k total. Cutting that to $2500 or so basically pays for lease or financing payments.

Range isn't an issue for work trucks since we rarely travel more than 200km in a day. Even towing a heavy trailer that would be no problem.

Another big factor is that they are just nicer to drive. Less vibration and noise, less breathing of exhaust.

Probably the way it will work is like this: my own personal truck will be the first to get switched out. I'll get a Silverado EV which isn't the cheapest, but has great towing ability and a huge battery, because I like to do road trips and tow a camper.

Then, as the old work trucks start to die off, I'll replace them with Ford Lightnings. Because they're older, there are some better deals on used models. Especially in a few years time.

Quite a few trades guys in my area are driving Lightnings and I'm seeing the Silverado EVs starting to appear with company logos. There are good business reasons for this.

Cheers Teestone, hope you're having a great day!

 

[Picasso]

JDan Nosack loves ChatGPT for many things.

 

[teestone]

If the options are a cheap used truck or a new EV, I would agree with you. But between a new ICE truck and a new EV truck, I'd take the EV for multiple reasons.
Or, a slightly used one would be more likely. A 1-2 year old EV truck with lowish mileage is a good bargain.

Then, after that, the savings start to accumulate. There is also the time and money saved from less maintenance (I pay one of my guys to take the trucks in for oil changes, for example).
We could easily charge multiple vehicles here at our shop and pay about 1/10 the cost of fuel. For example, each truck is currently costing about $8k per year in fuel. About $24k total. Cutting that to $2500 or so basically pays for lease or financing payments.

Range isn't an issue for work trucks since we rarely travel more than 200km in a day. Even towing a heavy trailer that would be no problem.

Another big factor is that they are just nicer to drive. Less vibration and noise, less breathing of exhaust.

Probably the way it will work is like this: my own personal truck will be the first to get switched out. I'll get a Silverado EV which isn't the cheapest, but has great towing ability and a huge battery, because I like to do road trips and tow a camper.

Then, as the old work trucks start to die off, I'll replace them with Ford Lightnings. Because they're older, there are some better deals on used models. Especially in a few years time.

Quite a few trades guys in my area are driving Lightnings and I'm seeing the Silverado EVs starting to appear with company logos. There are good business reasons for this.

Cheers Teestone, hope you're having a great day!

Weather here today is primo!

We get a short window of Spring before the furnace kicks up and brutal summer takes over.

 

[JDs Couch]

Weather here today is primo!

We get a short window of Spring before the furnace kicks up and brutal summer takes over.

Yeah man. Same story around here. Spring is the best! Rock on.

 

[JDs Couch]

One other thing I didn't mention is that the truck then becomes a mobile power bank. We could power a jobsite, charge tool batteries, run a fridge or microwave, compressor, etc. Without needing a genny. So the guys are stoked about that. All our power tools are electric other than mowers ( string trimmers, blowers, hedge trimmers, chainsaws etc) so, we are constantly charging our Stihl batteries. I can't count how many times someone left a charger plugged in at a client's house and had to run back for it
We still have a few gas blowers and string trimmers but no one wants to use them because of the noise, vibration and exhaust.

 

[84superchamp]

Note to self, buy chickens and set up a sheep pen.

New Zealander: "I understand buying chickens but....is my wife leaving?"

 

[Robostyle]

About 210,000km. But that wasn't the metric in question. Brother 70 Mach said they would be dead in 7 years.

So around 130,000 miles.
Obviously the life of the battery depends on the amount of use.
Under 11 thousand miles per year is not much use at all imho.

 

[Robostyle]

Not a genius, but it's definitely cheaper to operate an EV. Even before gas went up. By a lot.

But yeah, my business still runs 3 gas trucks so that is getting a lot more expensive. I will be slowly phasing them out for EVs.

Cheers man!

What is the GVW of your work trucks?