Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

[Larry Caldwell]

Those are all good questions and thoughts.
My hours are, for lack of a better term, are crazy. Yes, I have worked late into the night and then may have the following day "off", but use it to make repairs, pick up parts, etc. Honestly, I dont know what the range on a hypothetical "Ram 5500 electric truck" would be? What would it be towing 40,000lbs? I would need to know top make an informed decision. My typical day for delivering mulch hay would be 2 or 3 loads travel distance is only about 15 miles each way, so even a 200 mile range would work. Delivering feed hay, I could drive as far as 75 miles each way, so again, a 200 mile rage would be enough.
I would say if itll tow heavy for 300 miles on a 8hr charge, I could make it work-maybe be a buyer, but 500 would be way better. My current Ram 5500 range on a full tank of diesel is 500-700 miles (50 gallons @ 10-15 MPG). Refuels in 5 minutes.
However, I don't see the range of 500 miles or more happening for a while. I would think the first models might be 200 miles. At 200 miles, I could get most any day of work done, but would need a full recharge. How long would that take?
BTW: I have a Jeep Rubicon for running around. Wife & kids have vehicles

To comment on a subject I know very little about, I suspect towing with a battery would be hard on the battery because of increased current and heat. I suspect towing would shorten the battery life; how much it would affect battery life I don't know. Just a guess here. If I were planning on heavy towing, I would also be planning on a diesel or large gasser.

If I were looking for a tow rig that would run forever, I fantasize about converting a V10 to propane. I bet you could get a million miles out of that engine, no problem. Does Ford even make a V10 any more?

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Coal is dead. Every year, more coal fired plants are taken OUT of service. Renewables will continue to grow, and if fossil fuel generation is needed, it will be cheaper cleaner natural gas. RIP Dirty Coal.

Where’s the thumbs down button? Coal plants are best!!

 

[Chewwy]

There are some "new" methods that could be used in nuclear power plants that would produce a fraction of the waste the current legal method. There will have to be some laws changed to use them though.

What are these new methods that you are referring to. I worked in the nuclear power industry for over 40 years. I find this just as believable as “to cheap to meter.”

 

[Larry Caldwell]

What are these new methods that you are referring to. I worked in the nuclear power industry for over 40 years. I find this just as believable as “to cheap to meter.”

Thorium-based nuclear power - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[3930dave]

If I were looking for a tow rig that would run forever, I fantasize about converting a V10 to propane. I bet you could get a million miles out of that engine, no problem. Does Ford even make a V10 any more?

IIRC, the V10 carried on for a while in the cutaways, but I'd have to look again to see if it's still there.

P/U gas big-block is now the 7.3. The 6.2L has a factory propane/NG prep option (different valve seats), but I haven't seen that option listed yet for the 7.3L.

That new 7.3 is a great engine, but I could make do with a 6.2L on propane just fine.

Rgds, D.

 

[Hay Dude]

To comment on a subject I know very little about, I suspect towing with a battery would be hard on the battery because of increased current and heat. I suspect towing would shorten the battery life; how much it would affect battery life I don't know. Just a guess here. If I were planning on heavy towing, I would also be planning on a diesel or large gasser.

If I were looking for a tow rig that would run forever, I fantasize about converting a V10 to propane. I bet you could get a million miles out of that engine, no problem. Does Ford even make a V10 any more?

Well, they better figure out how to solve those battery problems, because it isn’t fair saying I’m polluting the environment with diesel truck and not giving me an electric “clean” , non-deplorable option.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Well, they better figure out how to solve those battery problems, because it isn’t fair saying I’m polluting the environment with diesel truck and not giving me an electric “clean” , non-deplorable option.

I sympathize with your quest for perfection, but they're way too late. If they had done a Manhattan Project sized effort 30 years ago, they may have saved the planet. You would do better to concentrate on how to survive crop failures, famines, raging pandemics, droughts, floods, and lethal heat waves. Meanwhile, EVs promise to be reliable and cheap to operate if all you need is a commuter car or in-town utility pickup truck.

 

[/pine]

I sympathize with your quest for perfection, but they're way too late. If they had done a Manhattan Project sized effort 30 years ago, they may have saved the planet. You would do better to concentrate on how to survive crop failures, famines, raging pandemics, droughts, floods, and lethal heat waves. Meanwhile, EVs promise to be reliable and cheap to operate if all you need is a commuter car or in-town utility pickup truck.

That is what man has been doing from the beginning...How do people get so gullible and naive that they are overcome by the Henny Penny syndrome...?

 

[Hay Dude]

I sympathize with your quest for perfection, but they're way too late. If they had done a Manhattan Project sized effort 30 years ago, they may have saved the planet. You would do better to concentrate on how to survive crop failures, famines, raging pandemics, droughts, floods, and lethal heat waves. Meanwhile, EVs promise to be reliable and cheap to operate if all you need is a commuter car or in-town utility pickup truck.

Quest for perfection? Enviromentalists are already vandalizing farming, construction, logging and mining equipment. Diesel powered trucks and equipment are routinely criticized and characterized on TV as polluting, even with DFP & DEF.
Do we have to accept that, with no viable alternative?
Do environmentalists realize people need to eat and have their Amazon packages delivered?
Ive heard “the world is going to end in 10 years” in the 1990’s, 2000’s, 2010’s and now 2020‘s unless we.............

 

[5030]

Elon Musk is ok with new nuclear power plants as long as not built on the ocean beaches or fault lines.

Musk is nothing more than an opportunist, existing on government handouts.

never argue with a greenie, they are always right, even when dead wrong.