Keep the Jeep, or start with a Blank Slate? Pondering an EV

I have driven Jeep Wranglers for more than 30 years.  I had a CJ7 for 4 years when AMC was still a going thing.  I liked it enough to get the current inhabitant of my car port and the darn thing puts a smile on my face every time I start it up.  

While that means I am not exactly a Teenager, and not in the Prime Demographic, it raises a question.  What to go to after a Jeep.

My own Jeep is in prime condition.  I moved to South Florida 3 years (or so) after I got it, and it's been gently used all its life.  Someone was talking to me about it and I described it as a Cherry.  The last gasp of AMC.  This is the one you want.  Inline Six 4.0 liter engine strapped to a 5 speed manual transmission.

Yeah, I stubbornly row my own in South Florida bumper to bumper traffic.  Even if we do traffic here at high speeds.

It's a thirsty beast, about 16 mpg and the best I ever did was 23 on the highway.  Air conditioning is usually turned on with the motor, save the two weeks we have what we call winter.

But this one is 24 years old, and while the car literally purrs on the road, it always helps to look for what is called an "Exit Strategy".

I have always been something of a Motorhead.  I haven't dropped a new motor in a car, but I have replaced Oxygen Sensors, Fuel Injectors, and Fuel Rails.  Oil Changes are on the clock at every 3000 miles.  With 58,100 or so miles on the clock, I have the oil sitting in my bedroom waiting.

Like I said, Cherry.  

Jeeps have issues with frame rot, and mine does not seem to have that.  It does seem solid, still.  I do have that pesky check engine light that the code is telling me I need to have the "Evap System" looked at.  In newer cars, the light comes up saying "Gas Cap".  It's an annoyance more than a problem and since I have the reader I can check it whenever I get in the thing and start the motor.

Since we're looking at this I have to say that someone has put together something that catches my eye.  I like basic.  Not stripped but "right sized".  I see no reason for heated seats or steering wheels.  I see no reason for electronics that require a subscription to activate.

If it isn't there, it can't break.  Even Electric Windows and Seats I don't see the point for.  After all, I have a Jeep, the windows are plastic sheeting held up with zippers and velcro.

Reading forums for the Slate Truck, I'm constantly seeing people who best can be described as having a case of affluenza whining about not having electric door locks and, GASP!, crank windows.  I laugh at them and say to myself the windows are glass, and the doors lock when you want them, so what else do you need?

After all there are people who pay the amount of money that would be needed to buy a house on a declining balance item like a Bentley.  Then they consider it a good use of money.

I consider that at best foolhardy.  

There are only a few things that I find wrong with the whole idea of a Slate truck.  They call it a Blank Slate after all, you are expected to personalize it to your liking.  Seems like the ethos of the Jeep Wrangler brought to the Electric Vehicle age to me.  

In fact, the Blank Slate is a pickup truck that was designed with me, personally, in mind.

It isn't perfect.  There are three things I see wrong, and nothing is insurmountable.  

First, Radio.  More accurately speakers.  My old CJ7 built in the last dying gasps of AMC as an independent manufacturer had a pair of holes into which you, the owner, could mount your own speakers.  The hole was there to mount a radio.  All you needed to do was wire it.  Slate wants you to buy a $250 center speaker, and a $150 fascia plate to mount the speakers.  Once that is done, then you can put your radio that you had left over from that last car.  I think I have four in the house, but this all seems truly excessive.  I'll put something together, I'm sure.  I have a dremel, hand tools, and friends with a 3D Printer if I really need to go there. 

Second, Paint.  Or more accurately vinyl wrap.  In my climate I have to decide if I want to go through re-wrapping the thing every 3 years.  Florida Sun is fun on vacation, but it will oxidize your paint.

Third, Range Anxiety.  Slate is right, 99% of the time I won't need more than the stated 205 miles.  I drive 8 miles to the park, three times a week, and 8 miles home.  I walk when I can, and when I get to the park, I am an elite inline skater or an intermediate endurance cyclist.  I can fit my skates or mountain bike in the back which is why I am considering the Blank Slate.  Markets here are within 3 miles, and the beach is under 3 miles from my front door.  The range is currently 205 miles. The Jeep does that, maybe a little more.  My Jeep is in pristine condition and tuned well, but I don't go past 200 very often.  But gas stations are everywhere.

My plans for whatever I land in will be travel.  I'm not sure that the 205 stated mile range is quite enough.  I am also not sure that this is insurmountable.  I am not quite ready and that gives the infrastructure time to grow into my own needs.  I may be able to live with it, but the idea of having to use super computer powers on my unlimited data plan to find a top up charge to go from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando is an annoyance.  I really want 300 miles.  

Range Anxiety normally is irrelevant, but on a trip it is a big deal.  After all, I want to go cross country and I'm not sure that the infrastructure is there.  On the other hand, the Rivian people literally went from Tierra Del Fuego in the very bottom of South America to Los Angeles a couple years back.  Sure, everything was planned out well so I guess with the chargers that are coming online every day, I should be able to do it.

But still.  Is the rightsized pickup the right one for me?  Don't know.  I spend my evenings interleaving EV Technology videos with old sitcoms and errands.  I am still learning about The New Normal EV, and I guess, that is a good thing.  It keeps me honest.

Stay tuned I guess. It is a decision worth taking my time with.