Electric Vehicles

From your wishlist, I still think the ev conversion is the way to go.

A conversion will let you keep all of the non-smart features on your vehicle that you appreciate and will get you an electric F-150 while saving at least ~10000, maybe more. It used to be a lot more, although I'm not familiar with the rates these days.

Some garages are model-specific too, so you might get a much better quote with the conversion from one that specializes in Ford pickups than one that specializes in VW bugs.

Have you received many quotes or just the one 40k price?

Is the range of the Slate fine for you? Slate has way more financial backing than Telo, so I'm expecting them to be easier to deal with for the next few years. If Slate actually ships vehicles this year AND they aren't lemons, I'm still considering one next year.

I think you're chasing a unicorn. You don't want a new, untested brand, so among the list you presented the Ford is the reliable option. You say you need a full size bed. What's the use case? What about the Ford's size do you not like? If you live in America, is the size really a problem for you? There could be groupthink in this community about what size is acceptable. Are you letting that dictate what will work best for you?

Why do you want manual windows etc? If it's a price of repair concern, is upgrading right now really within your budget at all? You can find a used Lightning for $50k. How could a 1998 conversion for $40k ever compare?

I personally would go for one of the newer brands for price reasons, but that would be driven by financial necessity and I doubt they come with as good a warranty. That's the risk I would have to take to go electric. It doesn't sound like you have that same restriction.

If you don't need the bed the full time you might think about a different ev with a trailer, either way towing reduces your range a ton from what I was reading with the ford lightning, which is why they are adding a gas generator to the newer models to charge as you go. Depending how much you carry in the bed and the weight

The Slate has a 5 foot bed.

You can get a used Lightning for under $50k. I have one and it is also larger than I really wanted, but I've been running solo jobs on and off with it and it's a pretty solid work truck. If you want a bed over 5 feet, it's either that or the Silverado EV, which is even larger.

Anyone aware of conversion kits for old off-roads including pickups, which would ship out of US? This not just to look for better prices, but also avoid the modern always connected vehicles and kind of saas deals. Any sturdy chassis those kits are made for? Before Tesla, and then BYD and so on, there were kits for enthusiastic people, but they were kind of expensive, and I guess now prices for such kits might have dropped considerably.

If you can wait a while, the BYD Shark will be coming to 'Murica

I've seen a Rivian truck driving around my area. Looks really nice. Decided to look up the price, and yeah that's a crazy price! Almost $150k Canadian.

I didn't read the comm name at first and I thought this post was about guitars

Ford ranchero is real but will be more like a UTE. It’s been teased but not shown off to the public yet.

Funny you posted this the same day as all the journalists published about going to see the Ford Skunkworks. Can you wait a year?

I really want to convert a crewcab f150 with tesla parts. Im on the lookout for donor vehicles.