by "The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock" (jukesjukesjukes)
Published 01/07/2017 at 12:26
by "The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock" (jukesjukesjukes)
Published 01/07/2017 at 12:26
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Regarding hybrid autos:
Why haven’t highway tractors, and heavy duty diesel trucks adapted diesel-electric. It’s has been proven in trains, and big ships. The engine/generator could hold the same RPM, and the motor could change speed. The generator could charge a battery pack, if it’s getting low you increase the generator RPM to top it up. I see many advantages to this, the big one be better fuel economy. Also less meintence costs. One down side I see is weight, batterys and motors are not light.
What are you thoughts on diesel-electric trucks?
"Tekamul" (tekamulburner)
01/07/2017 at 12:41, STARS: 1
One issue would be where to put the batteries. Most of the mass of a tractor trailer is in the trailer, but since those are not necessarily owned by the trucking company, you don’t want to put them there. And they would need to be pretty big batteries.
"MrDakka" (mrdakka)
01/07/2017 at 12:51, STARS: 0
It always comes down to the batteries. Chemists have been slacking off if you ask me, always getting high off whatever they just mixed and taking all the grant money XD
"MyJeepGetsStuckInTheSnow" (myjeepgetsstuckinthesnow)
01/07/2017 at 12:56, STARS: 0
Weight is a big issue. Most states have a weight limit for the roads where you can only load a trailer let’s say 45,000 pounds. The heavier the batteries the less cargo you can carry making it cost more money per item shipped. For example, I work in the chemical industry. When shipping a product a couple cents per pound can make or break a sale.
On a side note heavy semi’s tear up roads. To increase the load rating of the road is very expensive. For those wondering why Michigan roads are so terrible compared to other states, semi’s can be loaded about twice as heavy.
"Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer" (dash-doorhandle-and-bondo)
01/07/2017 at 13:25, STARS: 0
hybrid rigs would be a good home for gas turbine hybrids. (never really worked out in cars)
chev turbo titan III
"PS9" (PS9)
01/07/2017 at 15:19, STARS: 0
Diesel features an energy density of 37kWh/gal. Your average tractor trailer will have two 150 gallon tanks on it, so total energy density there is 11,100 kWh.
The battery on a Model S at the highest trim level features a 85 kWh battery. Far, far, far less than that of all the fuel on a fully loaded tractor trailer, but electric motors are much more efficient than ICE, which is why you can get 300 miles of range out of such a small amount of energy. All well and good for a car, but you encounter serious scalability problem if you want an electric tractor trailer. Even with 3X the efficiency, you’d need a 3,700 kWh battery for your eTractor, which is fantastical. It’s 43 Model S batteries stacked together. You could put them on the trailer instead of the tractor, but that makes the tractor and the trailer a package deal, with the cab not being able to do long hauls without the battery pack/trailer. This is not ideal at all, and would be a serious impediment to owner operators considering an eTractor.
Another problem; cost. At $200/kWh at the lowest, the battery you need is going to cost $740,000, so your eTractor is going to brush up against the seven figure mark when it hits the market. This is a non-starter for owner operators. It’s also a huge impediment to even the largest players in logistics, who are gonna need a damned good reason to start spending 10x more than they do on new trucks, and will not be seduced by neato new gizmo tech the way a normal consumer would be.