If it needs a subsidy....... its not ready to come to market.

^so true, hopefully Ford's hydraulic hybrid will be free market.

Once the price comes down out of the stratosphere, I will buy one. Simple as that.

A Die hard import guy with toyotas I guess will be driving a chevy.

It's a shame that the automakers themselves do not make the investment to bring phev trucks to the market

I'm a fan of new technology, but it'll never be a break even deal with a price like that.

Electric trucks are not the answer they cause more waste then a normal trucks.

I agree about the need for subsidies.

@alex
I haven't heard anything about the hydraulic hybrid for a very long time. I figured that idea was dead and gone? Too expensive maybe?

GUTS
GLORY
WILL HAVE THE BEST FULL SIZE PLUG IN HYBRID ON THE MARKET
RAM

Just change subject y look a video gm beat ford 6,2 whit 5'000p trailer pull 0 to 60 gm use the new 6,2 new engine,,,,,

If the electric car hasn't taken off, you can bet the electric truck won't. Maybe for certain fleets but not for the normal buyer.

I am sure the $79k is a misprint, and they really mean $39k .Are these trucks any good in -30 or -40f weather ? . I heard that the battries are not very good in cold weather .
Cheers , happy Thanks giving and Happy Christmas .

Scenario 1:
$79,000 to save 4,500 in fuel and maintenance per year?

In 17.5 years you will break even.

Scenario 2:
They are saying truck and electric powertrain. Okay lets say 20K for a V6 base model fleet special. (Base truck is 25K approx.)
That means 59,000 over the cost of the base truck.

Based on the assumption that a company will buy the base truck anyway - 13.1 years to break even.

A 30 mpg diesel makes more sense or natural gas. Payback is around 5 -7 years.

Just what the USA needs....... borrowing more money from China to bailout business. Oh, sorry, meant to say subsidy.

If it's a truck, how far can it go fully loaded on the batteries?

I think its a waste of resources. A truck should be made with a better range.

As for the subsidisation, if it needs to be subsidised then is it viable?

Maybe if the money was put to better use.

Jay Leno tested this truck last summer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5STy6HRZEQ

Hopefully they don't Catch fire like the Testlas.

They should have used the GovtMoCo Sierra instead. No need to further wreck Chevrolet.

Government Subsidies/Government Motors/GovtMoCo Sierra.

I figured there would be a lot of complaints about this article and it seems my guess was a good one. First off please keep in mind that VIA is not GM. If GM made this vehcile it would be much cheaper since GM can built it at cost and use the more current powertrain available. VIA has to take the existing truck as is and then do all the changes.

Ram already has about 800 in a test fleet and I'd anticipate seeing something come from them in the next generation trucks although I think it would be more inline with regular hybrids than the truck above.

I know it isn't for everyone but there are going to be a lot of consumers and fleets excited over this and we should all encourage choices and R&D into new products.

No need for this !

We have oil in the U.S/Canada for thousands of years already that we know of..Oil is cleaner/greener than battery/electric powered cars/trucks.

Electric vehicles pollute more than a gas powered vehicle (process of strip minning for the battery material and there is no way to get rid of the polluting battery once it need replacing,except dig a hole and bury it as they do now)

A study showed 2 equal small cars ,one gas one hybrid electric.The hybrid electric already polluted 90,000 miles in the building process,plus the life time pollutant of the battery stuck/thrown in the ground after its use.Yes the hybrid electric with 0 miles polluted as much as driving a car 90,000 miles just in its building process..

NOW,say people dont use much gas as we are doing already with 18 mpg trucks 30 mpg cars...Government takes less tax money as they make more money on the selling of gas at the pump then the Oil Companies,blame $4 a gallon on the Government not the Oil Companies !!

So,the Government is going to pass pay per mile,so every mile you drive you pay for.I have family working for the Government and they say their plan once it is implemented it will grow up to several DOLLARS per mile sure it will start inder $1 per mile but quickly grow as they know they can tell the drone like uneducated brain dead public anything and the public will believe it !!!

You are better off driving a 8 mpg vehicle at $15 per gallon then driving in the future,the better the gas mileage the less the Government makes ,so the more they will raise the road tax,mile per driven..

So most of you will be taking the bus at a cost of more then paying insurance,gas,repairs and $550 per month in truck loan payments..And YOU are to blame for it,as YOU insisted on more mpg...

TIME FOR PEOPLE TO WAKE UP,YOU ARE SHEEP AND CLUELESS...

$$ sounds a lot like the Angry Canadian Ram owner.

Your studies have been debunked for years I am sorry to report. That 90k miles thing was the pollution to transport a single car on a freighter across the ocean versus a freighter carrying 5000+ cars so this is the same across the board.

The difference in production costs is miniscule and made up for within a couple of months for most average owners.

The electric being run only on coal you may have a point. Studies show that 100% coal is slightly dirtier than a normal T2B5 gasoline car but very few places are 100% coal and these aren't area's where hybrids or electrics do well anyways. With the new coal standards within 98% of natural gas plants this arguement will also dissapear in the near future.

While I don't disagree that now is not the time for an electric truck I do think there is room for a quality hybrid, especially if it can produce some 110v power for contractors. I look to Toyota for this since they have the most experience with the technology

Government Subsidies/Government Motors/GovtMoCo Sierra.

-YES!!! SOMEBODY with a CLUE! SCREW GM. NO Company NEEDS TWO Trucks! NOT on AMERICAN TAXDOLLARS which they'll NEVER Repay! THEN to ADD Insult To Injury, GM Screws Chevrolet IN THE PROCESS! And it was THE ONLY thing They Had Worth SAVING! Yet ANOTHER OBAMA DISASTER. GM=GMC=OBAMA. Piss On GovtMoCo Trucks. Chevrolet needs to DUMP GM.

Completely agree on the government subsidies. If a product can't stand on it's own, it shouldn't exist. Bob Lutz was in charge of the initial battery Volt program but even he wouldn't agree with government subsidizing. The GM scenario as pointed out is no different. U.S. taxdollars that went to China is essentially what was to prop up Buick. Thus we have Buick-GMC franchises. To prop up China and European Opel. Chevrolet and Cadillac got screwed in the deal which is the reason Government Motor's focus is on their GMC-Buick nameplates. It's completely Un-American. We need to elect a Republican President next time and shut this whole mess down. I guess if we default, the economy will crash and Government Motors will crash anyway. Good thing in a way. This country needs to start Truly fresh. We put a Band-Aid on the situation for far too long.

The idea of this truck is good but the technology for it to actually be useful as a truck (i.e. hauling and towing) isn't up to snuff. Looking at VIA's website it can only haul 1000 lbs. and isn't rated to tow anything as far as I could find. Plus, I would assume that extended cab truck has a 40 mi range unloaded. What happens when four 180+ lbs construction workers get in it with their tools to go to the work site (assuming these are for fleet sales)?

For this technology to be viable in anything but cars or people transporters it has to improve a lot.

Since most of you couldn’t drive your way out of a paper bag, let me tell you this, I can get highway 35-49.7 with my 5.4 Supercrew 4x4 with 3.55 gears with the optional ash tray. In town 30 - 45. My wife is impatient and is a jack rabbit driver (that’s not all she does like a rabbit, if you know what I mean). When she drives, I have to slap her around a little bit, otherwise the gas tank is empty in 1/2 the time it takes me. The thing most guys forget is that new pickups have gotten heavier, and are much more capable than old ones, and get better mpg to boot. I had a 1948 F250 5.0 5sp, 3.55 gears, bought it new at the dealer, the best I could ever get was 5-6 highway. Even my boyfriend at the time with the 5.8's was similar. My truck has over 4 hp more than that old 5.0. Even the new 5.0 slaughters the old one in mpg and performance. I don't know anyone that in the real world will quibble over 20-40 mpg difference. The only truck that in my mind is a loosing (yep folks that’s the way the moron spelled “losing” the original posting...lol) proposition is the hybrid Chev. 10K worth of batteries for a slight highway advantage. City mpg is better but not if you tow a woman around the size of my wife. If you need to tow someone around that is her size, the 5.3 is a better deal.

I do not like the idea of buying fuel from countries that hate us as much as anybody else, but to spend 79K on a truck that has no range or re-sale is not my idea of a good deal, nope I would rather buy a truck for say 30K 4x4 with horsepower, and take just half the savings to buy gas for the life of the truck! the still get something for the truck when I sell it, and not have higher electric bills to boot!

Typical from Govtmoco. Sell your soul to VIA. Just like Obummer. Sorry Chevrolet guys and/or gals. GovtMotorsCorp blew it. Just look at the new Escalade from Caddy. A joke. They threw their best designs at the GovtMoCo Yukon suv. No doubt Obama has a hand in this. GMC and Obama go hand in hand.

GMC is Ghetto Man Chevrolet. A pathetic excuse for a supposed American Company. Chevrolet Motor Company "since 1911" my a$$. GM should have gone under just like the Section 8 mess they created in Detroit. GM and Via motors can both fade into obscure bankruptcy for all I care. See ya Barack... Neither of them represent those of us who once loved Chevrolet OR Michigan.

@sandman4X4
At countries that hate the US? Isn't that a bit over the top.

If they hate you they wouldn't deal with you. Do you deal with people you hate?

You sometimes should look at what you comment.

Its a little silly. How many countries buy from the US?

How many countries is Coca Cola and McDonalds in, I bet all of those countries you think hate America.

Have you ever left the US?

@sandman4X4
At countries that hate the US? Isn't that a bit over the top.

If they hate you they wouldn't deal with you. Do you deal with people you hate?

You sometimes should look at what you comment.

Its a little silly. How many countries buy from the US?

How many countries is Coca Cola and McDonalds in, I bet all of those countries you think hate America.

Have you ever left the US?

@sandman4X4
At countries that hate the US? Isn't that a bit over the top.

If they hate you they wouldn't deal with you. Do you deal with people you hate?

You sometimes should look at what you comment.

Its a little silly. How many countries buy from the US?

How many countries is Coca Cola and McDonalds in, I bet all of those countries you think hate America.

Have you ever left the US?

@Big bonehead from Oz – wow that’s really deep. So let me see...if you can sell Coca Cola and McDonalds junk food to a country, then they love you! That’s it...the years of war are over, if we can sell Coca Cola and big Mac’s to Afghanistan, Syria, North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Russia, Lebanon, China, Cuba, Vietnam, Pakistan, Jordan, Palestinian territories, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Argentina, Venezuela and a host of others our troubles would be over....lol.

Unfortunately “Big bonehead from Oz” has been snorting the exhaust from his BT-50. Most of the many, many, many countries with the highest level of disapproval of the U.S. suffer from poor economic conditions. Most have high levels of poverty and have among the worst levels of economic and social well-being in the world. The last things they need are the capitalist voracity and greed symbols of Coca Cola and McDonalds.

Have you ever left Australia $hit-for-brains?

@LOU

Why all the hostility? Are your hemroids acting up again? Those sits baths can really help. YOu should give it a try.

Hi FordTrUcks1, the hem’s are murder! Sounds like you know all about hemorrhoids, you seem to take a lot of interest in my ass...not that there is anything wrong with that. Anyway tried the bath helps for a short while maybe I should keep the water warmer.

Other than the hemorrhoids, the biggest regret I have in life is not kiss Dr Oz on the mouth when I had a chance.

^Be sure to call him "Fake Lou," the real Lou doesn't write like that.

Be sure to call “ALEX” Big Bonehead from OZ he does write like that....lol.

Hi FordTrUcks1, the hem’s are murder! Sounds like you know all about hemorrhoids, you seem to take a lot of interest in my ass...not that there is anything wrong with that. Anyway tried the bath helps for a short while maybe I should keep the water warmer.

Other than the hemorrhoids, the biggest regret I have in life is not kiss Dr Oz on the mouth when I had a chance.

Posted by: LOU | Oct 8, 2013 9:20:08 AM

Sorry to hear that you are still having problems with the Hems. Yes, try to use warmer water. It is more soothing. Cold water will make them throb more for sure. Usually I take an interest in FordTrUcks77's heiney, but that is starting to get old. Hope you don't mind old pal.

It's good that the innovation for this Full Sized Platform is there, but it would be nice to get the "Real World" EPA Numbers based on Towing, Max Payload and when the truck isn't toting a heavy load at all, Ford also introduced a Hybrid F-150 a few years back but no word if they will follow through with an actual production model, if the EPA Numbers for the new ECO Boost are up to par, Ford may not find it necessary at this point to follow up on this idea, for now at least.

Uh, guys,

Big oil gets BILLIONS in subsidies. That's: BILLIONS. BILLIONS. BILLIONS. BILLIONS! EVERY. YEAR. Ford gets subsidies, Toyota gets subsidies, corn growers get subsidies, name a corporation and they're probably getting a subsidy of some sort. And you know who pays for it, sucker? YOU.

I think they are missing the boat on this one. What they need to do is go to a small (3 cylinder) diesel like the ones found on smaller utility tractors and connect it to a generator that powers the drive motors. Diesel engines produce more torque and have better fuel economy so they could run a more powerful generator.
Even if they have the diesel run full time (aka locomotives or M1 Abrams) it will still be much more efficient than a standard system.

Petroleum companies are subsidized----are they viable on their own ? Then why don't we find out ? The Toyota hybrid was "subsidized" via a tax break when we bought our first two and it was market ready from the start, one of the most reliable and backed cars we have owned. We are now on our third. Subsidy is no indication of being ready. I cannot afford one, but I see no reason not to help bring them online with a tax break.

I've owned the 2012 Silverado hybrid for almost 3 years, and it's all, and more, expected from any pickup. The mileage averages almost 24 mpg, with a good city/highway mix, and the power is breathtaking.
My point is, why is it necessary to go down the plug in electric road, when a pretty decent solution to fuel economy and power already was there. That's an easy one to answer. The word "hybrid" and "trucker" are incompatible. Pity. You truckers should get behind the wheel of this Chevy sometimes, if you can still find one. This isn't your father's Oldsmobile.