Yeah, I require a large truck for work. I haul a large trailer and work rural. If I didn’t need it, I wouldn’t blow money on it. I park out of the way on principle, and pretty much don’t bother with downtown areas anymore, sadly. Sorry for the inconvenience.
ok so i want to pick your brain here. What would be the most effective way to prevent these idiots from buying these large trucks, but still allowing these larger trucks on the market for the few rare instances where people actually need them.
I’ve had a few thoughts, notably just making smaller trucks alongside these larger trucks, they’re going to be a lot cheaper and more efficient so market forces should do quite a bit of work there. Aside from there, i’ve considered just selling super duties and deleting the normal line, probably just leaving the duallies in all honesty. I’ve also considered just yeeting the bed and throwing a fifth wheel there as a standard feature, making it impractical for anything other than hauling heavy trailers.
Outside of this, i’m not sure, but i’m also not convinced most people that use these trucks even need them in the first place, even if they’re doing work.
I’ve noticed that one of the largest fleet purchaser of oversized mega-utes are the Mobile EV recovery companies. They take a Dodge RAM, stick a Diesel Generator on the back and they can drive around, rescuing the EVs that ran out of charge.
Because they are promoting EV use, they actually get carbon credits for this.
Different user, but ending the loopholes on vehicle emissions/MPG would be a good start. Here is a good summary of the situation:
https://www.wired.com/story/the-us-wants-to-close-the-suv-loophole-that-supersized-cars/
Though IIRC the Biden admin came out with new, better rules to help with this.
Another way to deal with it is to build comprehensive public transportation, relax residential zoning regulations, eliminate parking minimums, build biking/pedestrian infrastructure, etc. Doing so will reduce car dependence and therefore the number of people who unnecessarily choose a huge vehicle.
Yet another way to deal with this, is to tax auto sales based on vehicle size. As of right now, there is little financial pressure to keep cars small, so manufactures play an arms race with each other to make bigger vehicles, because they’re safer the occupants, all at the cost of everybody else’s safety. Bigger cars also impart more wear and tear on public roads, so between these things they should financially contribute more taxes to compensate.
reducing car dependence is another thing as well, though i think it’s probably good we focus on this specific problem more so at the moment, as a lot of that infrastructure is simply going to take time to mature.
a tax on vehicle weight would be a good one though.
Let fuel prices rise to a realistic level. Make them primarily business vehicles. Push for heavy duty hybrids and full electrics. Fines and annual fees for fuel system mods which decrease fuel mileage.
Mind you, I doubt these would go down well. I am not your normal truck guy, at all.
may I propose periodically inspecting and auditing if the subject needs the truck and if not they are shot on the spot?
Or, for a serious answer: ban them but not the trucks like those used in Europe (have same or better bed length but look uglier). Make trucks back into work vehicles instead of status symbols. And firebomb GM.
either one of these would work, i’m more curious as to what market forces would need to be manipulated to make it a thing.
Maybe we just have to wait for new EV manufacturers to pop up making a small truck. It would actually benefit them as well.
I wouldn’t sweat it. Folks don’t mind a truck that actually works driven by a courteous driver.
Just a heads up, farmers used to drive small trucks. They are easier to load and unload. How often do you use the bed of your big truck? It must be a pain in the ass. (If you don’t use the bed, you don’t need a truck. There are other vehicles with the horsepower that don’t have a ton of dead space in the rear.)
Horsepower isn’t all that matters. Torque and the ability of the frame and transmission to tow matter, too. If your response is “van”, check the gas mileage between a van and comparable truck. Vans tend to have worse gas mileage due to a higher frontal cross section. That gives them worse highway mileage.
Just let workers choose what they need. By all means, make fun of the people who use their oversized trucks to go to Starbucks and back.
For sure, all that matters. I was just pointing out that some people like to say an oversized truck is the only thing that can tow, which is not true at all, and comes with many drawbacks. Personally, I’d love for us to get back to small trucks, but you literally can’t but them anymore.