Originally Posted by
STS-134
I wonder how they'd deal with a Rivian R1T or Ford F-150 Lightning? They're obviously pickups and can handle rough terrain but don't have 4LO, they have regenerative brakes so the friction brakes shouldn't overheat.
But the 4LO rule is stupid to begin with. If you overheat your friction brakes you are an idiot, and should have your driver's license revoked. Plus they have so many photos of crashed Jeeps so the problem is obviously not the cars, it's the idiots behind the wheels of some of the cars.
I would ask the same question about any EV that uses regenerative braking - since that would remove friction brakes from the equation, but maybe they need to do some tests to make sure those braking systems wouldn't fail under the constant stress of controlling the car's descent. Since overheating the brakes is an issue, they stop everyone coming down from the summit to take the temperature of your brakes and if your brakes are hot, you are sent into the parking lot (good luck finding a parking spot) to wait until they cool off before you're allowed down the rest of the Mauna Kea Access Rd back to Hwy 200 as they don't want someone to go off the road further downslope - I guess that also happened.
I think you can rent Model Y and Model 3, and maybe Polestar EVs at Kona, but the other question is their clearance over the very uneven summit access road - one bad pothole and you could scrape your battery pack open and cause a fire or explosion.