MossRoad
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Would you buy an electric truck?
- Thread starter Muhammad
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- Views: 14312
Gale Hawkins
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Love's Truck Stops Are Making The Pivot To Electric
Thanks I did not realize how fast the EV movement is gaining attention. I knew EA cut a deal with Walmart last year. It sounds like VW's dieselgate move is putting EV's on the minds of more and more drivers. Gas stations popping up 100 years ago put driving cars on the minds of the world.
"The electric revolution is coming, and it will be live streamed. This week electric charger infrastructure company Electrify America announced a partnership with Love痴 truck stops to install 28 new stations in six states. The company recently installed its 2000th charging station installation in just two years of operation, and the growth shows no sign of stopping. One way to assuage the truly American sense of range anxiety is to provide easy access to charging points along routes that people want to travel."
Gale Hawkins
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Check this out...Sparkcharge Portable DC Charger | Chevy Bolt EV Forum
This is the first time I heard about this start up company. I can see its usefulness in a city environment but as more Walmarts, Love's and other similar locations add fast EV charging options it could be helpful in more locations. A true boost of 6 KWa would give our Leaf another 20-25 miles of range with just one battery unit. I wish them the best but as the CEO said it very hard for a start up in any field of technology. I watched entire video and as with EV sales in general batteries are going to need to double in capacity and cost have as much to compete with gas cars. That will happen with folks like Elon Musk building more space travel machines I expect. Hopeful the solid state batteries will be main stream in 5 years.
Industrial Toys
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I wonder if Auto Clubs will offer mobile emergency charging?
aczlan
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Some already do and some companies make portable gas or diesel powered chargers. See this story from last year: Charged EVs | Mobile EV chargers deliver power where it’s needed
Aaron Z
Many of us like to pick on Cali..... it's just too easy at times.
Went looking at EV related charging info, and came across this post in the comments.....
Some Californians Are Buying Gas-Powered Generators To Power Electric Vehicles During Blackouts | Watts Up With That?
"Donald L. Klipstein
October 11, 2019 at 4:14 pm
What of PG&E kept up with keeping trees from getting too close to their power equipment? Where I live, the electric utility trims trees that grow too close to power lines.
Boris
October 11, 2019 at 9:33 pm
Well Donald that requires permits to actually cut OH MY GAWD TREES. Then there is the land access permits and the crossing of the creek permits and the requirement for the proper easement permit and the removal of the brush permit from public lands and the disposal of the cut brush permit.
When I worked for a pipeline company supplying gas to customers we would brush the right of way every 3 to 5 years under a normal world. Now we have to plan for three to five years just to get the permits all in order. Then after all that we had on over zealous environmental officer shut down our work crews because we crossed a creek and when we tried to show him the permit he ran our whole crew off the public land and tried to charge us. Two weeks later it turned out this Bozo either did not get the email or he did not read it. In that three ring binder FULL of permits for that brushing season the proper permit was in there and the proper access had been granted to cross that creek."
I've come across many other similar in-field comments regarding utilities in Cali, or even just maintaining fire-roads (forget about building a new one). Paperwork and other obstructions often prevent much of anything getting done......
Whether or not you drive an EV in Cali, I'd say a standby generator there is a really good idea....
Rgds, D.
Went looking at EV related charging info, and came across this post in the comments.....
Some Californians Are Buying Gas-Powered Generators To Power Electric Vehicles During Blackouts | Watts Up With That?
"Donald L. Klipstein
October 11, 2019 at 4:14 pm
What of PG&E kept up with keeping trees from getting too close to their power equipment? Where I live, the electric utility trims trees that grow too close to power lines.
Boris
October 11, 2019 at 9:33 pm
Well Donald that requires permits to actually cut OH MY GAWD TREES. Then there is the land access permits and the crossing of the creek permits and the requirement for the proper easement permit and the removal of the brush permit from public lands and the disposal of the cut brush permit.
When I worked for a pipeline company supplying gas to customers we would brush the right of way every 3 to 5 years under a normal world. Now we have to plan for three to five years just to get the permits all in order. Then after all that we had on over zealous environmental officer shut down our work crews because we crossed a creek and when we tried to show him the permit he ran our whole crew off the public land and tried to charge us. Two weeks later it turned out this Bozo either did not get the email or he did not read it. In that three ring binder FULL of permits for that brushing season the proper permit was in there and the proper access had been granted to cross that creek."
I've come across many other similar in-field comments regarding utilities in Cali, or even just maintaining fire-roads (forget about building a new one). Paperwork and other obstructions often prevent much of anything getting done......
Whether or not you drive an EV in Cali, I'd say a standby generator there is a really good idea....
Rgds, D.
Grumpycat
Veteran Member
"Watts Up With That" used to be a pretty good site but lately has me wondering if it hasn't gone Drudge.
A 2000W generator will put 3 miles of range in a Tesla Model S per hour. A Honda EU2000 will run about 4 hours on a gallon of gasoline at that load. 12 MPG.
I haven't actually tried putting my Model S on my EU2000. Others say the car will refuse the poor quality of power and will not work on many generators. Teslas monitor their AC power and shut off if it looks squirrelly for fear of bad wiring burning houses down.
A 2000W generator will put 3 miles of range in a Tesla Model S per hour. A Honda EU2000 will run about 4 hours on a gallon of gasoline at that load. 12 MPG.
I haven't actually tried putting my Model S on my EU2000. Others say the car will refuse the poor quality of power and will not work on many generators. Teslas monitor their AC power and shut off if it looks squirrelly for fear of bad wiring burning houses down.
travisbb
Bronze Member
According to the Internet, the key to charging a Tesla with an EU2000, and many other generators, is bonding the generator neutral and ground together. Many generators come this way by default, but the EU2000's need a dummy plug to do that.
strantor
Platinum Member
Something seems amiss there. I googled and found people saying that their teslas get (avg) 3-3.5 miles per kWh, twice what you quote. Granted that's output not input, and there will be charging losses, but a 100% disparity? That seems excessive. And even if the disparity was eliminated, still only 24mpg? I would think that a small engine running constant RPM at rated load (right in its power band) would be more efficient. The little Honda generator + Tesla combination should be about the most efficient hybrid out there. I would expect it to beat prius' 50mpg without batting an eye. What is the issue? Is the Honda generator just a little turd or what? Surely the turd isn't the tesla?
travisbb
Bronze Member
The issue is with the generator. The engine in a Prius is a relatively large, fuel injected, water cooled engine optimized for fuel efficiency which costs several thousand dollars new. The engine in a generator is a small, carbureted, air-cooled engine optimized for price which costs a few hundred dollars. From the start the generator engine will be less efficient.
The EU2000 has two other disadvantages on top of that. The first is that it's a low power generator. Bigger engines of the same type tend to be more fuel efficient and the 100 cc engine simply won't be as efficient as something bigger. Then there's the fact that the EU2000 is an inverter generator. Inverter generators are a great optimization for variable, often low, loads. It comes at an efficiency cost though. At full power an inverter will be less efficient than a conventional generator of the same size.
The EU2000 will get the job done, but for charging an EV a bigger, standard generator will give better MPG.
At least one person did the test with a good diesel generator and found a mileage of 4.2 l/100KM, or about 56 US MPG, but they don't say how they accounted for slow charging as the EV reaches 100%.
The EU2000 has two other disadvantages on top of that. The first is that it's a low power generator. Bigger engines of the same type tend to be more fuel efficient and the 100 cc engine simply won't be as efficient as something bigger. Then there's the fact that the EU2000 is an inverter generator. Inverter generators are a great optimization for variable, often low, loads. It comes at an efficiency cost though. At full power an inverter will be less efficient than a conventional generator of the same size.
The EU2000 will get the job done, but for charging an EV a bigger, standard generator will give better MPG.
At least one person did the test with a good diesel generator and found a mileage of 4.2 l/100KM, or about 56 US MPG, but they don't say how they accounted for slow charging as the EV reaches 100%.
