Ballista Charger

For a Vehicle to be able to attack, it must be a creature as the declare attackers step begins, so the latest you can activate its crew ability to attack with it is during the beginning of combat step. For a Vehicle to be able to block, it must be a creature as the declare blockers step begins, so the latest you can activate its crew ability to block with it is during the declare attackers step. In either case, players may take actions after the crew ability resolves but before the Vehicle has been declared as an attacking or blocking creature.

You may activate a crew ability of a Vehicle even if it's already an artifact creature. Doing so has no effect on the Vehicle. It doesn't change its power and toughness.

You may tap more creatures than necessary to activate a crew ability.

If a permanent becomes a copy of a Vehicle, the copy won't be a creature, even if the Vehicle it's copying has become an artifact creature.

Once a player announces that they are activating a crew ability, no player may take other actions until the ability has been paid for. Notably, players can't try to stop the ability by changing a creature's power or by removing or tapping a creature.

Vehicle is an artifact type, not a creature type. A Vehicle that's crewed won't normally have any creature type.

When a Vehicle becomes a creature, that doesn't count as having a creature enter the battlefield. The permanent was already on the battlefield; it only changed its types. Abilities that trigger whenever a creature enters the battlefield won't trigger.

If an effect causes a Vehicle to become an artifact creature with a specified power and toughness, that effect overwrites the Vehicle's printed power and toughness.

Ballista Charger's triggered ability resolves before blockers are chosen. A creature dealt lethal damage this way won't be around to block.