Tesla semi

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Your govt is protecting you more than you can possibly know. USA would be a polluted cesspool. Like Beijing.

Which has absolutely nothing to do with subsidies to politically connected interests.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't think he was suggesting NO trailer brakes, just not regenerative brakes on the trailer.

 

[cqaigy2]

When the auto industry was born subsidies didn稚 exist, they lived or died on their ability to perform.

Possibly true in the sense of what we call subsidies today, but that doesn't mean they didn't manipulate the market and laws in ways that pushed money toward them over and above straight market pressures of supply and demand.

 

[Sodo]

regenerative braking to the trailers as well, maintenance costs would drop even more!

Not brakes per se,,,,, trailers will have drive motors that are 途egenerative brakes? That will be the next huge improvement in traction. That will take awhile though, lots of fleets will want to just change out tractors and pull any existing trailer.

 

[vvanders]

What about batteries, they are not lasting half a million miles? And again, where is your proof of what you post?

Plenty of Teslas hitting 200-300k miles so far, most of the battery degradation is in the first 50k so I don't see any reason they could go to 500k.

Tesla Model S durability: cars with 25K and 3K miles still humming along happily

 

[flyerdan]

Regen braking would really be a good deal for trucks, no worries about running out of air on long downgrades and the air brakes would last forever as they would only be used on <5 mph stops and parking. And having trailer drive would really cut into Jamie Davis and Al Quiring's business when they could walk right up the smasher and not spin out going up the Coq.

 

[Redneck in training]

--If that's true-- it would be a very sensible change for any operator, and put a lot of $$$,$$$ back in their pockets.

So ---- if that's true --- it would be VERY compelling for a truck mfr.
And for an operator.
And for that matter, for a country who whats to keep on top (the USA?) of the truck market.

But that would spell significant losses to the "petroleum investment sector" who would then need to do a few things to fight it.

Reduce the price of fuel to reduce the economy of electric vehicles. But that "costs" profit.

Pour massive $$$ into keeping the public from supporting such a thing, (or supporting such government incentives). How do you think the petroleum industry would fight off such a formidable rival as electricity? Fund a network that will publish fake TV news? Paying lots of fake news websites. Maybe hire Public relations firms who use forum trolls to spread the confusion? Buy politicians?

Sounds like a daunting task, but really all it takes is money and a calculation of "return on investment" and it makes a lot of sense.

There is also political cost of suporting unfriendly countries only because they have oil.

 

[Redneck in training]

Defending shipping routes is not a subsidy. It's the cost of living in this world as it is.

As to the rest of them, let's just eliminate them all. Every single tax break, every single direct or indirect subsidy, to anybody and everybody. No picking favorites, no shaping" the economy. That's not a legitimate function of governments, and never was.

Then we don't have to argue about it and we can really find out which technologies/products/services offer genuine value, which means we can stop paying for those that don't, but have the right connections.

Once we stop all of that, the free market value of a politician drops like a rock, which, oddly enough, is actually a good thing.

That is utopia. Have you ever been in a country with powerless government? They are horible places to live.

 

[Redneck in training]

Proof?

UDSA burns about 143 billion gal of gas and about 30 billion of diesel per year. 18.5 billion divided by 173 billion equal 11c/gal. That is the best case. 52 billion divided by 173 billion equals about 30c/gal. That is the worst case. In any case it worse than my previous estimate.
How much gasoline does the United States consume? - FAQ - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

 

[PILOON]

What might well work for local delivery electric vehicles is the concept used for electric fork lifts.
Rather that charge the battery on the forklift they change the battery at each shift.

A local delivery vehicle could swap battery each time he picks up a new load, naturally that would call for a specific purpose designed vehicle.
Not impossible. Slide in a freshly charged battery at same time the truck/van is loaded up.

Same might be viable for electric taxis, swap battery when back at the taxi stand, after all most taxi rides are rather short runs and a taxi generally parks at his stand against roaming in search of a fare.

Would be just like a battery powered drill, install a fresh battery every so often.
Battery meter would warn the driver as to how much time or mileage he has to the next battery swap and he'd soon learn to plan his routes accordingly.