Jamestown’s local Ford dealer believes electric vehicles are superior to traditional gas-powered vehicles in many ways; however, Ed Shults III acknowledges that electric vehicles are not for everyone. Shults is pictured with an electric vehicle charger at Ed Shults Ford Lincoln in Jamestown. P-J photo by Timothy Frudd
With more than 20 years in the car business, Ed Shults III has been surprised by the advancement of electric vehicles.
“The reception to the Mach-E and the Ford F-150 Lightning has been amazing,” he said. “Customers, once they experience it, don’t want to go back .We saw a lot of demand when the Lightning truck was first announced and the Mach-E were first announced, and we we’ve had some success. I believe we sold about 30 fully electric vehicles last year.”
However, while Shults said the dealership saw some success with electric vehicles last year, he acknowledged that since the cost of gas has decreased and the availability of electric cars has remained low due to battery manufacturing shortages, the dealership has not seen as much demand as it would like.
“That’s one thing everybody has to realize is that this is not a tomorrow thing,” he said. “This is a five to 10 year ramp up to get to a point where we’re at even 20% or 30% electric adoption, because it’s not for everyone.”
According to Shults, the “next big leap” in the capacity, range and charge time of electric vehicles will be when car manufacturers are able to transition from lithium ion batteries to solid state batteries. Shults said the current lithium ion batteries are susceptible to the environment due to the fluid inside the batteries.
Jamestown’s local Ford dealer believes electric vehicles are superior to traditional gas-powered vehicles in many ways; however, Ed Shults III acknowledges that electric vehicles are not for everyone. Shults is pictured with an electric vehicle charger at Ed Shults Ford Lincoln in Jamestown. P-J photo by Timothy Frudd
Shults said that when Ford first rolled out the Mustang Mach-E, the company said it had a 300-mile range; however, the company quickly alerted Shults that his customers would need to be notified that the vehicles could experience up to a 40% reduction in the car’s range when the temperature is below freezing. Shults acknowledged that the roll-out of electric vehicles is a work in process as car manufacturers address issues such as batteries being affected by different environments.
“There’s fluid moving around in that battery, and as it gets cold that fluid becomes sluggish,” he said. “They have heat packs that keep the battery warm, but all that takes energy. The next evolution in battery will be solid state. A solid state battery does not have any fluid in it, and it will be half the size of a lithium ion battery.”
Shults told The Post-Journal that by 2030, electric cars will be powered by solid state batteries that will have twice the power and range of the lithium ion batteries. As a result, Shults anticipates that electric vehicles will have a 600-mile range by 2030.
“It’s a really exciting time,” he said.
While Shults acknowledged that electric vehicles are not for everyone, he said electric vehicles are better vehicles than gas-powered vehicles due to some benefits that have the potential to actually hurt his business.
“Electric vehicles don’t need a lot of maintenance,” he said. “They are very simple. They have an electric motor, they have a battery pack, they have a lot of electronics, but aside from electronics and the possibility of them failing over time they’re a very simple machine; that inherently makes them better.”
Unlike traditional gas-powered vehicles with internal combustion engines, Shults said electric vehicles do not have thousands of moving parts, do not require the transmission or motor to be rebuilt over time, and do not require transmission fluid or oil changes.
In addition to these benefits, Shults said the braking system is handled by the vehicle itself. Between the way the braking system is designed and what he described as the “regenerative nature” of the vehicle putting energy back into the battery, Shults said there is “no friction” created by the brakes. As a result, he said customers might only have to replace brakes every 30,000 or 50,000 miles, rather than every 15,000 miles.
Although Shults believes electric vehicles are “inherently better” than traditional vehicles, he admitted that the affordability of electric vehicles is currently an issue.
“Ford Motor Company realizes that,” he said. “They’re losing between $3,000 and $4,000 on every vehicle they sell right now, so they’re working on lowering their manufacturing costs and lowering their battery packs. Tesla, on the other hand, they make $3,000 or $4,000 on every vehicle they sell. They’ve been in the game for 10 years; they have figured it out. Ford is a little late to the party, but the technology that they do have is great.”
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April 29, 2023 at 11:01AM
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Ford Dealer Highlights Pros And Cons Of Electric Vehicles - Jamestown Post Journal
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