2025 has been a bit of a wild ride thus far. It hasn't been as wild as some of the other recent years in a lot of respects, but it has been a unique form of unpredictable that we don't often see. One of the topics that has been hot has been tariffs. Another topic that has been hot has been making things in America. Yet another hot topic is electric and or hybrid vehicles.
So, earlier this year, Jeff Bezos of Amazon ownership fame, unveiled a new all electric light duty truck that has a 300-350 mile range, and is available for $28,000. Before the electric vehicle credits were discontinued, those would have taken it down to under $22,000! But it was a basic vehicle, nothing fancy, but affordable. At the time, I wondered if it would make any impact at all...Well, in the news today, Ford was announcing a new way of making some electric (and maybe hybrid) vehicles so they could be retailed for about $30,000.
I caught an interview in which the company discussed how they are revamping factories in Missouri and Michigan to help get costs down and production up on a new way of building the vehicles. It saves time, energy, and money. The interview then went into the WHY behind it...And I have to admit that it made a good bit of sense to me. And all being done right here in the USA.
This might surprise a lot of people...Because I'm not a huge fan of electric or hybrid vehicles. But, at this point, I know I'm hauling heavy items or towing heavy things. For those tasks, for the most part, traditional vehicles still seem to hold key advantages. But I have to admit that if I'm just making runs to Eau Claire, Wausau, Neillsville, Ladysmith... Less than 300 miles each way...I would not care, either way, if I was driving an all-electric vehicle or a hybrid or not! I'd just care about reliability. Maybe I'm over-simplifying this discussion. But in the end, if you like it, then by all means, go for it.