ccap41

This is a little masturbation corner for Dfelt... ?

It is mind boggling how much wrong information they spread and lack of knowledge of their own products. The steps are 100% what you just said. I told my buddy what I was looking for and what I wanted to spend and he tried to get me into something else. "You don't want that. You want xxx." Sorry bud, I like you as a friend but you're not telling me what I want and why I want it. I'd rather give him $50 and never have to worry about buying from him. Let's have a mutual agreement that won't make this awkward. He did that with both my Escape and Focus purchases. Short story; I didn't buy either from him.

I think it should be a legitimate requirement if your brand sells manual transmissions. There is no excuse for somebody who's job requires you to move vehicles around and you can't do part of the job because you're too lazy to learn. Inexcusable, imo. They don't have to be good or great at it but you should be able to do your job.

I don't really think all of those are factors. I think the biggest two are its quirky styling that isn't car and isn't SUV and the other is range. The dealerships should be knowledgeable enough to educate the buyers to let them know that they will likely never need to find a charging station unless they're traveling but I have a friend who works at a dealership and he doesn't know jack sht about cars. I can only imagine most car salespeople are the same based off buying experiences. If anything, Tesla should be helping sell EVs by having a great brand image for electric cars.

Oh yeah, it isn't a school bus I ride to work..lol

44 miles is a massive difference and can cut the fuel cost in a fourth. So about $3000 instead. Much different. Living in a rural area, I guess I just assumed they put a lot more than 44 miles a day on them(and they probably do around me).

Some simple and very estimating maths... With their estimated range of 120 miles per charge I'll assume 175 miles total per day, with a charge in between, seem fair? Maybe it's way less.. I really don't know. This changes things a lot if the miles dropped to 120. Anyway... 175 * 5 days = 875 miles per week 875 miles * 4.3 weeks per month = 3762.5 miles per month 3762.5 miles * 8 months of school(3 months of summer plus miscellaneous days off for holidays and such = 30100 miles per year. They get what, 8mpg? 30100 / 8pmg = 3762.5 gallons 3762.5 gallons * $3.00(gallon of diesel rounded down) = $11,287.50 in fuel costs alone. @dfelt Figure out what that costs roughly for an EV bus to operate.

They may be "low maintenance" but I ride a bus every day and we break down a handful of times per year on things that likely aren't just a $100 fix. I wouldn't doubt if they spend $5000 a year maintaining/fixing. The last time we swapped buses when we walked around back there was a puddle of motor oil under the engine. Fuel costs is a hue difference in the total operating costs. Personally, I don't know the difference but electricity costs a lot less than diesel and oil. That is where the savings are. Do you think a bus uses $12,000 a year in fuel?

I would assume Blue Bird puts on a presentation to the schools showing them a return on their investments. They aren't just going all willy nilly and throwing cash at something just because it's quieter. Either the school district or the state better have a functioning accounting department.

Initial investment will be high but operating costs should be much lower year after year. I assume they have the break even point figured out.

I think this is a perfect application of EV technology. There's time to charge between daily uses if 120 miles total isn't enough and obviously overnight is more than enough time to start the day fully charged. https://www.autoblog.com/2019/08/23/blue-bird-school-bus-ev-delivered/

That's a weird caveat. They produce vehicles for the market they are selling them in.

It's a nice increase and they're getting close to that magical 300 mile number.

Doesn't most everything decline as they reach the end of their life cycle? A 14,000 sales number this year would be pretty bad. They need to update that car more than just software or even hardware(which I think they have recently updated the motors themselves). They really just need to slap a new body on it. Obviously everything else new would be important as well.

They've averaged over 25,000 a year after their first year, 2014. Maybe this year will be very down but it's done quite well at its price point. http://carsalesbase.com/us-car-sales-data/tesla/tesla-model-s/

Model S..

100% agree. I actually find its better to use that backing out of a parking lot because it sees out around the vehicles next to me that are blocking my vision. I don't pull out all willy-nilly with it, but it is very helpful.

Unfortunately, I have that same feeling. They seemed to cover the rear so much to make it look like something else..it'll end up as a fckd up coupe CUV. 259 is pretty awesome. The electric-only range of like 18 miles is a little weak but I get it, it's a plug-in that seems more performance oriented.

It's shorter but it doesn't have an engine up front nor room for a driveshaft down the middle. The Bolt has more passenger interior volume. I do agree it would do better as a compact CUV instead of a subcompact. We all have been saying that for a long time now...

They(All EV-producing companies except Tesla) need to stop with trying to make their EVs quirky and weird. Make the interior "normal" and that becomes a non-issue.

The Bolt is just awkwardly shaped. If they made it more car OR more CUV I think it would sell much better. But, as a theoretical ride-share vehicle, I think the looks of it are irrelevant and it would do perfect there.

I don't know.. Once you use it, the marketing doesn't matter when the product rocks.

Most of my ride-share rides have been done in vehicle the Bolt would be equal or larger than. I've only rode with more than 2 people twice in which we needed 5 or 6 seats. Yeah, the Bolt can't cover the complete spectrum of Uber or Lyft "packages" but the entry price compared to an EV Mercedes is probably only 2/3 the price or less. I think it is safe to assume it would pay itself off quicker than the Mercedes even if you can't "Uber Black".

It seems pretty accurate to me. Especially having the US truck brands in the most loyal customers. The car/cuv owners might not be but the truck buyers alone probably force them in that list. The least loyal list seems pretty logical as well. The "crapier" brands tend to have people come and go more often than re-buy another Fiat 500. Volvo surprises me on that list as they seem to have a pretty fantastic lineup right now but being on the bottom of the list is "okay". Chevy Silverado, Ram 1500.. surprise surprise..

You're getting pretty specific there and I would wager those rides are a much smaller percentage than 1 or 2 people. It isn't actually small. It just isn't van-large.