Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

[Hay Dude]

I would buy an electric Ram 5500 in a heartbeat.
Short trips, loaded to the max and beyond is perfect for high torque electric powered vehicles.
Now that diesels are ruined by DPFs and DEF, might as well bring it on with the electric trucks!
Kind of makes you wonder if that was the strategy from back in 2008-2016 (make diesels so unreliable that replacement form of propulsion became necessary).

 

[PuffyC]

I would buy an electric Ram 5500 in a heartbeat.
Short trips, loaded to the max and beyond is perfect for high torque electric powered vehicles.

It really is amazing how much power these EVs put out. Not certain but I’d guess the Lightning will be the most powerful half ton pickup you can buy with its 775 lb-ft of torque. The 6.2L Supercharged V-8 in the Ram TRX makes “only” 650 lb-ft. You’d probably have to go to the HD and the Cummins turbo diesel to get more and iirc that’s about a $10,000 upgrade all by itself. If all you’re doing is hauling some cattle down to the local auction house or taking your boat to the lake on Saturday, something like the Lightning would be a great tow vehicle.

 

[PuffyC]

Speaking of battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow, I saw this in an article about Fords new electric SUVs:

“Ford expects 40 percent of its vehicles sold globally by 2030 will be battery-electric”

and

“Ford expects a third of the full-size truck segment in the U.S. will be fully electric by 2030, which represents more than 800,000 vehicles annually”

At less that 10 years away that would be a pretty significant shift in the market.

 

[Phil Timmons]

I would buy an electric Ram 5500 in a heartbeat.
Short trips, loaded to the max and beyond is perfect for high torque electric powered vehicles.
Now that diesels are ruined by DPFs and DEF, might as well bring it on with the electric trucks!
Kind of makes you wonder if that was the strategy from back in 2008-2016 (make diesels so unreliable that replacement form of propulsion became necessary).

Seems Dodge is trying to be the last one to the party . . . .

Dodge CEO says EVs can save America's new 'Golden Age of muscle cars'

Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis believes EVs – whether they're hybrids or all-electric vehicles – can save what he has called the new "Golden Age of muscle cars."

www.cnbc.com

 

[cqaigy2]

No thats a old farts hike when you get over 60 if the snows 2 ft deep.

Very true, especially when it's up hill, in both directions.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Wife of my sons friend works in battery research for one of the Detroit area companies.

I rode in a Tesla 2 or 3 years ago, didn’t even realize it was a Tesla until after I got out and I looked to see what kind of car it was.

 

[ning]

Best thing I can say about Teslas is from my experience lane-splitting a motorcycle in CA bay area traffic. From what I can tell, a substantial number of people that owned Teslas (at least a few years ago) "moved up" the car ladder a lot to get the Tesla (as in, they didn't just move from a $70k BMW to a $70k Tesla or even from the next-lower tier but lots of people jumped up a lot to get into them) and as a result, they really don't want anything near their baby... as a result, they gave a lot of room to the lane-splitter, more than pretty much any other car. It was almost a rule.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

It really is amazing how much power these EVs put out. Not certain but I’d guess the Lightning will be the most powerful half ton pickup you can buy with its 775 lb-ft of torque. The 6.2L Supercharged V-8 in the Ram TRX makes “only” 650 lb-ft. You’d probably have to go to the HD and the Cummins turbo diesel to get more and iirc that’s about a $10,000 upgrade all by itself. If all you’re doing is hauling some cattle down to the local auction house or taking your boat to the lake on Saturday, something like the Lightning would be a great tow vehicle.

Put my deposit on a Ford Lightening last night. My dealer says maybe late summer next year. Of course still waiting for the f 150 powerboost I ordered in Feb. Might see that in the next 6 weeks he thinks.

 

[NoTrespassing]

The last new car I bought in 2008 cost me $12,500 plus $1000 tax etc. It averaged over 34 mpg for 12 years and I put over 230,000 miles on it. Total maintenance was probably around $2000 not including tires. I just bought a used Mazda 3 stick and I'm getting about 38 mpg. I paid $15K + tax/title. I expect to get over 200,000 miles out of it. It has a range of over 450 miles per tank. Is there any electric vehicle that can compare monetarily to either of these vehicles available now? I prefer cars over SUV's for commuting.

Kevin

 

[California]

It really is amazing how much power these EVs put out. Not certain but I’d guess the Lightning will be the most powerful half ton pickup you can buy with its 775 lb-ft of torque. The 6.2L Supercharged V-8 in the Ram TRX makes “only” 650 lb-ft.

And it's outside the scope of traditional thinking to realize that all that torque starts from zero rpm. Instead of just being a point on a graph showing that peak torque is attained at mid-rpm.

Seems to me that some sort of traction control will be needed on any stronger EV.

 

[California]

Best thing I can say about Teslas is from my experience lane-splitting a motorcycle in CA bay area traffic. From what I can tell, a substantial number of people that owned Teslas (at least a few years ago) "moved up" the car ladder a lot to get the Tesla (as in, they didn't just move from a $70k BMW to a $70k Tesla or even from the next-lower tier but lots of people jumped up a lot to get into them) and as a result, they really don't want anything near their baby... as a result, they gave a lot of room to the lane-splitter, more than pretty much any other car. It was almost a rule.

That concern for their 'baby' is likely but I think also Tesla's proximity sensors alert the driver sooner compared to most driver's awareness, they aren't thinking 'motorcycle coming'.

 

[ning]

That concern for their 'baby' is likely but I think also Tesla's proximity sensors alert the driver sooner compared to most driver's awareness, they aren't thinking 'motorcycle coming'.

Probably but the proximity sensors in very heavy traffic are already going off non-stop without the motorcycle coming up the middle.

 

[/pine]

I wanted to use an electric vehicle the last time I visited Africa but there was none available...so I Madagascar

 

[California]

Q to anyone with a Tesla: Does the dash display show a moving icon representing a motorcycle coming up in the blind spot? That might explain Teslas moving aside sooner than the average car.

I'm seldom in dense slow urban traffic so a motorcycle splitting lanes is unexpected and close, before I notice him. Generally, too late to move over if he's far faster than the traffic.

I saw a CHP motorcycle cop nearly eat it when someone changed lanes as he passed at pursuit speed on the motorist's right. One of the couple of times I've seen a motorcycle go straight forward with the front tire turned hard right, and hopping.

A week later I read of an officer injured in a MC crash in the same stretch, the downhill grade into Cordelia. I'll bet it was the same guy.

 

[PuffyC]

Y

The last new car I bought in 2008 cost me $12,500 plus $1000 tax etc. It averaged over 34 mpg for 12 years and I put over 230,000 miles on it. Total maintenance was probably around $2000 not including tires. I just bought a used Mazda 3 stick and I'm getting about 38 mpg. I paid $15K + tax/title. I expect to get over 200,000 miles out of it. It has a range of over 450 miles per tank. Is there any electric vehicle that can compare monetarily to either of these vehicles available now? I prefer cars over SUV's for commuting.

Kevin

You could get a 4 year old Nissan Leaf for about what you paid for your Mazda. Factory warranty is 8 years or 100,000 miles but who knows how much life you’d get out of it beyond that. You might need to replace the battery in a few years but between not paying for gas and no maintenance it would probably still come out ahead depending on how long you kept it.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Y

You could get a 4 year old Nissan Leaf for about what you paid for your Mazda. Factory warranty is 8 years or 100,000 miles but who knows how much life you’d get out of it beyond that. You might need to replace the battery in a few years but between not paying for gas and no maintenance it would probably still come out ahead depending on how long you kept it.

Would you drive a say 10 year old Nissan Leaf 80 miles in zero degree Fahrenheit snowy weather 5 days a week? I'm not sure I'd trust it as much as my ICE vehicles. I've had to sit at idle with the heater running on the interstate waiting for wrecks to be cleared several times in the last 20 years. I'm sure I'll own an electric someday but not for a few years, maybe when I'm retired and don't have to commute so far.

 

[Hay Dude]

And it's outside the scope of traditional thinking to realize that all that torque starts from zero rpm. Instead of just being a point on a graph showing that peak torque is attained at mid-rpm.

Seems to me that some sort of traction control will be needed on any stronger EV.

Yes, it'll be a game changer for "off clutch pedal torque"
Course I dont think there will be a clutch and gear shifter??? Hmmmm, well, maybe?

The thing they will have to continue to battle is vehicle range. They can brag about torque numbers, but you wont make that torque long before the batteries die. Then its a significant waiting period to recharge. Add a massive load and reduce it even further.

A modern efficient diesel can make more torque than that for hundreds of thousands of miles and refill its fuel nearly anywhere in 3 minutes.
Thats a big hurdle to overcome for trucks pulling weight over long distances.

 

[PuffyC]

Would you drive a say 10 year old Nissan Leaf 80 miles in zero degree Fahrenheit snowy weather 5 days a week?

Ha! I would not. Where I’m from that kind of weather means you don’t drive

 

[California]

Company Argues Its Two-Speed EV Gearbox Is Better Than A Single-Speed

Going from no articulating parts to this potential fail point in an EV would be hard sale to me. Very early Tesla Roadster had two speed transmission of some design.

It surprised me to ride urban light rail (overhead electric powered) and feel it shift low to high gear after it was moving along, maybe 20 mph. While Tesla has a far greater motor rpm range and does it in a single gear. Maybe that was just a shift from parallel to series current but its noticeable.

 

[Grumpycat]

I saw my first Tesla yesterday. A fellow over from Seattle was visiting here in Cheney. It was the sport model. They are much nicer looking, up close, then on their TV commercials. I am very impressed.

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