overcompensating for shortcomings in other areas… 
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I was dating a gal in the late 80’s. She wanted an economical car and had found a diesel Rabbit. She asked me to test drive it and give her my opinion. I called her later and “suggested” not to buy it. It was so weak it couldn’t get out of it’s own way! She ended up buying a gas Rabbit and was happy with it.
About the silly, jacked up pickup trucks. Yah, they have become today’s version of the hot rod muscle cars of the 70’s and 80’s. I have a lot of friends in the “trades” and they really need a pickup. There is one friend who does need one but he jacked it all up. When he tows anything the trailer is tilted up to the sky, not very practical.
Has he tried a drop hitch? I’ve seen them drop 10" or more.
Believe it or not he already uses a drop hitch! That’s how much he’s jacked it! It’s all about the cool factor. He almost needs a step ladder to get in.
Add a drop hitch to the drop hitch.
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There will be long haul electric trucks and they will be fairly soon, too. My guess is that Tesla or whoever else makes the truck will own the batteries outright and will set up support stations around the busiest Interstates to speed swap them out with fully charged replacements as needed. They can be recharged and reused. Imagine if Exxon Mobil made a truck that used a fuel that only they made. If that truck was better, cheaper to own and run and had less down time trucking companies would use them while Exxon made a fortune.
The jackasses who “roll coal” should be charged with environmental rape, and made to drive an open Miata behind their old truck for 100 miles of local driving.
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Tesla isn’t making the electricity to charge the batteries. They are just making the storage devices…equivalent to GM making the gas tank.
Hasn’t Tesla set up a network of recharging stations for their automobiles? They could do something similar for their electric tractors. The ideal situation would be for the tractor to go about the maximum allowable road time for the driver and they could recharge during mandatory downtime. Another alternative is switching battery packs at the recharging station or even switching tractors. Hey, I’m brainstorming. Back off. 
If they want to be successful, they will have to provide added incentive, like a way to go farther after discharging. I guess we will see what they have in mind.
Currently the prototypes are charging with an adapter that lets them plug into several superchargers at once. The plan is to build “megachargers” for the semis prior to mass deployment.
I think Tesla is part of the network, but the charging stations around here are a joint effort.
Building out charging stations, battery production, and upgrading the electric grid to handle increased demand echoes early decades of internal combustion engines needing all stages of gas and diesal production and distribution.
Even in the 1940s the motor city of Detroit still had many neighborhood side streets that weren’t paved and a surprising number of horse drawn carts for milk delivery, etc.
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IIRC, Tesla set up a charging station network with spots within a couple hundred miles of each other when they initially started selling the Model S. They may have had business partners at the time, but they initiated the enterprise.
Tesla has charging stations now, but the operators do have to wait a bit for the full charge. What I was suggesting for trucks is that Tesla could design the trucks and batteries such that they would be able to swap out an low charge battery for a different, fully charged one in a short time period, getting the truck on the road again quickly, and that they would have the trucker pay a premium price for that speedy service.
They are saying that the truck might have a 650± range. Isn’t that enough to hit the daily max for a long haul driver?
You know the plan projects automated operation someday soon.
They initiated the enterprise because for several years they were the only company producing electric vehicles.
What you suggest and what Tesla is doing is completely different.
Quote taken from article below.
> The company initially announced that the truck would have a 500 miles (805 km) range on a full charge and with its new batteries it would be able to run for 400 miles (640 km) after an 80% charge in 30 minutes using a solar-powered
100 years ago young men had traded their handsome speedy horses for handsome speedy cars with internal combustion engines. The environmental benefits were thought to be great - no more manure and urine all over towns and cities, no more dependent animals. Now we understand that internal combustion engines have consequences, too, so here come electrics. The diesel pickup boys will have to find something else to show off their power, and they will.
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And electric vehicles will also have their consequences
And as with internal combustion engines . . . it may take some time for us to realize just what those consequences are
There’s no such thing as a free lunch . . . somebody’s paying for it in some way, shape or form
And every action has a reaction . . . even if it takes a while to establish what that reaction is
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You are so right! I may not live long enough to see the consequences, but they will be found and they will be serious. My original point was that all these complex devices we are seeing on gasoline engines are evidence that the widespread use of them is becoming obsolete.
What the guys with horses said about cars.
I think that would be like justifying the murder of a neighbor’s cat, just because we kill cows to make hamburgers.
All of society is based on this; we have to permit certain amounts of harmful activity for a greater public benefit, but that doesn’t make it a damned free-for-all, geez.
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