Electric Trucks

Pretty interesting. You thought your Cummins could tow. Check these out.

The technology is there and pretty much all the manufacturers are working on their own versions.
It’ll be an interesting transition over the next decade or so for those of us in the automotive industry.
I think it’ll be a long long time, if ever before gasoline and diesel vehicles are completely eliminated from production but the industry is really pushing that direction.
I’ve heard Volvo is planning to be all electric in their big trucks in the next few years.
The electric motors make amazing torque compared to gas or diesel engines that is for sure.
Me, I’ll be keeping my gasoline V8 for now.

The only thing I’m wondering is how far can I tow my boat. If the normal range is 500, what is it with a boat behind.

I guess if they have a 15 minute (or less) charge time, there is absolutely no reason to drive a gas vehicle. Did you see that one company is promising development of a 5 minute charge time? That’s insane. I can’t fill up my 36 gallon tank that fast.

I’d honestly dump my gas engine when I’m done with my truck in 4-5 years.

Intriguing!

Very interesting and it is clearly in the future. I’m thinking there’s a little #fake news in there. 300,000 lbs towing capacity and 5 minute charging.

What does a heater in -20 do to the battery life?

Im sure towing would drop the maximum range. It would have to.
I think a 5 minute charge time is a far fetched goal at this point. I agree though, it would be tough to argue with that, especially if they could go 500+ miles/ charge.
I also wonder if they realize how often us folks up north rely on electrical loads such as wipers, head/ fog lights, heaters, and fans in our vehicles. I also could see an issue if you’re on a long trip in a remote area if you’re total mileage per charge is subject to change based on electrical load.

Never happen.

Even if it did, the cost of the required electricity and the additional coal power consumption required to feed this new electric car pipe dream, defeats the whole purpose. I’ll stick with my gas V8.

I think a 5 minute charge time is a far fetched goal at this point.

With batteries, yes. However they are working on controlled release capacitors (supercapacitors) that can take a quick charge (almost immediate) and give a controlled release of energy. Their operating temperature range is much better as well. Something like -80deg to 150deg farenheit or something close.

And with electric vehicles, their range is much better in the city, in stop and go traffic and such where their regenerative braking system can recharge them. On the highway their range is much lower.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Very interesting and it is clearly in the future. I’m thinking there’s a little #fake news in there. 300,000 lbs towing capacity and 5 minute charging.

What does a heater in -20 do to the battery life?

I think you’re right on the 300k. The capability of the motors to move that weight is there and I think he’s using that figure to brag.

The Tesla owners I know don’t complain about the heaters at all. I wondered the same thing. I wonder if they use heat generated elsewhere for heat.

Deleted wrote:

Never happen.
Even if it did, the cost of the required electricity and the additional coal power consumption required to feed this new electric car pipe dream, defeats the whole purpose. I’ll stick with my gas V8.

What will never happen? These are clearly already viable options for city dwellers. A little technology advancement and it will outperform all current trucks.

I’m not sure if you’re worried about CO2 or pollution but gasoline emissions put out far more than electric.

They are also working on technology to allow vehicles charge while you drive them. Charging stations built into the road that charges when you drive over it. IMO this is what we really need to make electric main stream so you can travel anywhere and not have to stop….that is at least 20 years out IMO.

I wonder if they use heat generated elsewhere for heat.
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The batteries and electric motors are likely liquid cooled, so once warmed up they can be used for the cabin heater. Beforehand you will need to use the battery, but you may still be plugged in when you want to get the preheat going. So if you “remote start” to prewarm the vehicle you can use grid power instead of taking range away.

I wonder if they use heat generated elsewhere for heat.

Tesla just uses electric heaters. You can smell them when they turn on.

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At least the generator is green!

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Battery capacities are generally 40% lower at 0 degrees than at 68 degrees. Although supercapacitors are interesting as with standard batteries the reality is that in order to keep the currents down to a reasonable level you need to increase the voltage. These will all have batteries or power sources that are 120,000 kilowatt hours or higher. For sake of discussion that is 120VDC at 1000 Amps for an hour (less internal losses) to fully charge. If you want it in 30 minutes it’s 240 VDC at 1000 amps, 15 minutes, 480VDC at 1000 amps. Think about this, the average modern home only has 240 VAC at 200 amps at the panel (48,000 watts total before the main breaker opens). Unless your electric company rewires your neighbor hood, a 15 minute charge time is only at select charging stations. An electric vehicle must carry 100% of it’s fuel to operate. Petroleum based engines only need to carry about 10% of their total operating fuel as the fuel is mixed with air at a ratio of about 10:1 to burn in the combustion chamber. I can see it now, love the torque, quietness, so I am in Sioux lookout and need to get to Ft. Francis. Stop at a electric charging station and they have to fire up their gas powered electric generator to fill me up as it is the only practical ability to source that kind of power that quickly. Oh well.

The true electric truck and also includes perpetual motion….Never needs to stop and recharge.

“The 45-ton eDumper drives up a 13-percent incline to pick up the 65 tons of lime and marl it needs to bring to a nearby cement factory. It’s so heavy when it drives back down that its regenerative braking system generates most or all of the energy used to go up the hill”

http://www.autoblog.com/2019/08/26/edumper-electric-mining-truck-self-charging/

This stuff will never stick. Could you imagine everyone with electric vehicles that commute or vacation. How many charging stations there needs to be? At what cost per charge?

I’m sure when I get to Colorado and start heading into the mountains elk hunting pulling a trailer I’ll take my 2500 with the Cummings diesel.

Might be a place for that kind of technology but it’ll come at a hell of a price.

This stuff will never stick. Could you imagine everyone with electric vehicles that commute or vacation. How many charging stations there needs to be? At what cost per charge?

I’m sure when I get to Colorado and start heading into the mountains elk hunting pulling a trailer I’ll take my 2500 with the Cummings diesel.

Might be a place for that kind of technology but it’ll come at a hell of price.

onestout wrote:

They are also working on technology to allow vehicles charge while you drive them. Charging stations built into the road that charges when you drive over it. IMO this is what we really need to make electric main stream so you can travel anywhere and not have to stop….that is at least 20 years out IMO.

I’m thinking this is WAY out there?? No 20 years stuff.

George, Jane, Judy, and Elroy are still waiting for every person to have a jet pack.

No way this is coming. At least you and I, my kids and grandkids won’t see it.

Rural America and we will have this? State, county, and townships already cannot maintain roads. How or who would install and maintain something like this?

I don’t doubt this will happen someday soon, but I’d bet we are 5-10 years out from original adoption and another 10-20 from mass adoption. The promises in the video are whimsical at best and outright false at worst, at least in our practical use (ie -30 for 3 days straight in the middle of LOW).

riverruns wrote:

This stuff will never stick. Could you imagine everyone with electric vehicles that commute or vacation. How many charging stations there needs to be? At what cost per charge?

I’m sure when I get to Colorado and start heading into the mountains elk hunting pulling a trailer I’ll take my 2500 with the Cummings diesel.

Might be a place for that kind of technology but it’ll come at a hell of price.

What’s the range of a gas or diesel vehicle? How many gas stations are there across the country? Quite the infrastructure built to support gas vehicles.

I know a dozen people with Tesla’s that drive them for commuting and vacation. They have a 400 mile range which is pretty comparable to gas.

It might take a bit longer to get that range out of tow vehicles but it’s not far off. There is a reason billions of dollars are being put into the technology.

Really interesting. That would be cool to see this in the future, I can see myself buying one if they weren’t too expensive.

I share the same concerns about range and performance in extended cold temps because of the current technology + lack of infrastructure. I’m not too worried about those issues when everything is built out in the next 10-15 years but it’s not there yet and government $$ aren’t being put there fast enough.

I wish the auto mfrs would have made an in-between step and given us a plug-in hybrid truck with a big turbo 4 cylinder, something like a 2.8L or more. Just seems to me that would have been a good business compromise to get better fuel economy while providing the few advantages of a gas motor.

zooks wrote:

I share the same concerns about range and performance in extended cold temps because of the current technology + lack of infrastructure. I’m not too worried about those issues when everything is built out in the next 10-15 years but it’s not there yet and government $$ aren’t being put there fast enough.

I wish the auto mfrs would have made an in-between step and given us a plug-in hybrid truck with a big turbo 4 cylinder, something like a 2.8L or more. Just seems to me that would have been a good business compromise to get better fuel economy while providing the few advantages of a gas motor.

I don’t think the government needs to spend a dime. Ford and Amazon have invested over $1B in Rivian this year. Clearly the interest is there and it won’t take much form them to start developing the infrastructure like Tesla has. I don’t think the in between vehicle is needed. Ford is planning to release an electric F150 in 2021 and will certainly have plenty of willing buyers. Yes, probably mainly city dwellers but it’s only the first step.

No one is forcing this down anyone’s throat. I get the skepticism. That’s mainly because the technology is moving much faster than any of you realize. Gas engines will be around for at least another 20 years, there’s no doubt about that.

I believe that mass adoption will be dependent on two things. 1 cost and 2 turnover rate. Keep in mind that the average pickup is around 13-14 years old in this country. In those terms, it would take at least that long for mass adoption to take place plus the cost of the truck would be higher and more difficult to afford. At least until used ones hit the market.

I don’t think infrastructure will be a problem over that time period. It only needs to be developed as quickly as the demand. Also, during that time period technology will grow leaps and bounds as will reliability.

Don’t worry boys, they aren’t taking away your gas/diesel, yet.

We have 2 tesla Model 3’s for work vehicles. If they come out with a truck that works on the tesla charging network, i’d think about it.

That said, these things are dogs in the cold battery wise. a trip from the quad cities to omaha took almost 9 hours in 0 degree weather. we definitely played it safe. probably could of done it in 8 but that is still 2.5 hours longer than it takes with a gas powered vehicle.

It’s more of a waiting game to build the nationwide infrastructure to support it, vs waiting for the actual tech to get alot better, my point being the tech is basically ready, but the support base is not (every Freeway rest stop should have a quick charging kiosk)

Also being on the cutting edge is expensive, so we’ll need more and more early adapters to bite the bullet from a price perspective before they truly take off…the reduced/expired Government subsidy has slowed that trend down…

My biggest fear is that the companies don’t all agree on a common charging platform and that stalls the infrastructure build out…I don’t want to carry around a box of charging adapters in my already small trunk…

Ford investing in charging infrastructure

And they don’t even have a fully electric vehicle on the market yet.

Today Ford announced that it will be creating North America’s largest electric vehicle public charging network. The Michigan-based automotive giant will be building out 12,000 places to charge electric cars and over 35,000 charge plugs, despite the fact that it currently has no new electric cars on the market. No set date was given on the network’s completion.

biggill wrote:

… No set date was given on the network’s completion.

I have no doubt something “green(er)” will happen in the future to replace gas.
However, these statements irk me as they are nothing but marketing hype to stay in the news.

Unless one of us needs a commuter vehicle for work, IMO not many of us IDOers are the target market for these…yet. To BigWerm’s point, electric vehicles sitting on the ice in -30F temps for a 3-4 day weekend doesn’t promising.

Jamin wrote:

electric vehicles sitting on the ice in -30F temps for a 3-4 day weekend doesn’t promising.

Plug it into your generator?