buickanddeere
Super Member
Can not store electricity in sizable amounts for low cost in a compact and light weight media.
GM with the 2.8 diesel
- Thread starter lostcause
- Start date
Can not store electricity in sizable amounts for low cost in a compact and light weight media.
a little over 4k miles now. 26.0 mpg on the dash meter for the entire amount of that mileage. again, i have hand calc'd a few tank fill-ups and it was off by about 0.5-0.7 mpg at most. the dash gauge has two separate meters, so i have left one since nearly new, hence the over 4k update. the other one i usually reset each fill-up, and it was consistently 26.7 mpg for every tank until the temperature fell off. the 30's and 40's degree mornings aren't as fuel friendly as the 60's and 70's.
next issue to tackle is the inability too see anything behind a trailer this winter. see my related post for more info.
next issue to tackle is the inability too see anything behind a trailer this winter. see my related post for more info.
roadhunter
Elite Member
buickanddeere
Super Member
Just as I said it's just a short range golf cart . How many KW hr to charge the battery pack and how much is useable ?
roadhunter
Elite Member
LOL. Do your own research. All you want to do is argue and I have no interest in arguing with you.
There are plenty of great options on electric vehicles from golf carts to street legal. The technology just keep getting better and will continue to do so.
DieselBound
Elite Member
If you go with Li-ion you can get a fair amount of miles. Costly though. From reading on the Polaris EV forum I'm seeing a price tag of around $23k. I got my 2013 Polaris Brutus demo, diesel, for about $11k: I don't have to worry about hearing from the wife that she didn't plug it in (have no handy outside receptacles anyways- garage is currently being constructed and that would solve that).
I was originally looking to go EV but bailed owing to the lack of stable EV UTVs: looks like the Li-ion might be closer to something that is actually usable. Weather always plays havoc with batteries: I don't have weather issues, other than rain, but for some this might present some an issue.
Four wheel electric motors are cool. You can turn in place. But here too, I don't really have a need for this (other than it could be fun). My interest was in a workhorse: "work" and "diesel" are proven to go together. This is a bit dated now (couple years old, I think):
EVDrive Electric UTV Terra Torque Drive™ AWD Torque Vectoring Technology Demonstrator Video on Vimeo
I was originally looking to go EV but bailed owing to the lack of stable EV UTVs: looks like the Li-ion might be closer to something that is actually usable. Weather always plays havoc with batteries: I don't have weather issues, other than rain, but for some this might present some an issue.
Four wheel electric motors are cool. You can turn in place. But here too, I don't really have a need for this (other than it could be fun). My interest was in a workhorse: "work" and "diesel" are proven to go together. This is a bit dated now (couple years old, I think):
EVDrive Electric UTV Terra Torque Drive™ AWD Torque Vectoring Technology Demonstrator Video on Vimeo
roadhunter
Elite Member
While discussing alternative tractor options on another thread I noticed that power trac makes little electric vehicles that are smaller than a golf cart. They advertize 15-20 miles per charge on level ground, which surprised me. That's a long way on a battery IMO.
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buickanddeere
Super Member
I am more interested in logical facts instead of trendy politically correct ideals that run contrary to the laws of physics. If you are looking for the energy density of batteries to improve, you will be waiting until the Almighty to re-writes the Periodic Table. Run the numbers between the Chevy Sonic and the Chevy Bolt in up front cost and operational cost over 8 years and 150,000 miles. The electric can't touch the gasser.
DieselBound
Elite Member
And, I'll take my diesel cars (and truck) over gassers. BUT...
While for many these statements are valid, for others not. It really depends on one's needs/requirements. I figure everyone here should know that electric motors are almost impossible to kill (well, w/o extreme abuse they seem to nearly last forever). Battery technology, as you note, isn't gaining as much as all the over-optimistic types would suggest (talk to Samsung
), though battery reclamation is said to be vastly better than in the past. If I had a nice solar power setup (off-grid; I was going to go that route years ago, but it didn't materialize [didn't move to where I was aiming for]) I'd look to leverage That investment and go with an EV. And the point here is that, yes, up-front investments sometimes don't look so good; but, many times, as we know, things change and our earlier calculations don't hold due to changing dynamics (economics) of the world. When fossil fuel usage drops, due to aging populations and less people being able to afford their use, you start losing the leverage of economies of scale, and decreased production monkey-hammers things, causing per unit costs to increase -> higher end costs (follow the swirling vortex downward).I wouldn't likely touch a Chevy Volt. I might consider a Nissan Leaf. But, as I stated, my diesels serve me very well: I'm about $0.05/mile; they're fully depreciated, fully paid for; I expect to get another 150k miles out of them (300k miles).
I don't expect to ever see electric trucks (semis) or electric tractors, but that is based on what today looks like (don't count out dedicated electric lines for moving stuff- kind of like the electric passenger trains in some cities). I see the probability as being less than 50%.
buickanddeere
Super Member
Only way long distance, high speed or high duty cycle electric trains, subways, street cars and buses can operate is to have access to a power rail. Batteries are too much $$$ per kw hr, too heavy per kw hr and too bulky per Kw hr.