Electric Super Duty??

[attaboy]

That's a lot of questions but the answer to most of them is yes. [emoji16] lol
As battery technology increases in capacity and charge time and decrease in weight I can see it as a future standard. Its come a long way already.

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When it does happen it will be developed by a company like Amazon because
it is not in the mfg. segments best interest. Just another opinion.
Bob A.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

I just bought a Chevy Bolt for my wife (which I didn’t know existed prior to a month ago).
It’s 100% electric and we get about 280 miles on a single charge. This is WAY more range than we need, as we would never drive close to that in a day, even on a road trip.
It is a remarkable car especially when you consider the price.
They just started making these in 2017 so all the 3 year lease returns are hitting the market which is how we got one for $19,500 out the door (after TT&L, doc fees, etc.)
The torque is amazing, it’s probably the quickest car I’ve driven in 20 years and since the center of gravity is so low it handles like a Porsche. I kinda want one for myself now; I am constantly nailing the go pedal at stop lights and flying through roundabouts. The torque is instant and will put you back in your seat whether you’re starting off the line or already doing 50 and punch it.
It’s just a ton of fun to drive.
The Bolt also has a lot of nice stuff our 2011 F250 Lariat doesn’t like front and rear heated leather seats, a heated steering wheel, a 10” screen with CarPlay etc.
And get this, it has WAY more headroom and legroom than our SuperDuty; it’s not even close. And while charging it with electricity isn’t free, it’s pretty cheap. It costs us about $10 to “fill it up”. It also has all kinds of safety gizmos, lane keep assist, automatic braking, etc.
I will definitely be driving an electric truck someday soon!


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[Ynot4me2]

I just bought a Chevy Bolt for my wife (which I didn’t know existed prior to a month ago).
It’s 100% electric and we get about 280 miles on a single charge. This is WAY more range than we need, as we would never drive close to that in a day, even on a road trip.
It is a remarkable car especially when you consider the price.
They just started making these in 2017 so all the 3 year lease returns are hitting the market which is how we got one for $19,500 out the door (after TT&L, doc fees, etc.)
The torque is amazing, it’s probably the quickest car I’ve driven in 20 years and since the center of gravity is so low it handles like a Porsche. I kinda want one for myself now; I am constantly nailing the go pedal at stop lights and flying through roundabouts. The torque is instant and will put you back in your seat whether you’re starting off the line or already doing 50 and punch it.
It’s just a ton of fun to drive.
The Bolt also has a lot of nice stuff our 2011 F250 Lariat doesn’t like front and rear heated leather seats, a heated steering wheel, a 10” screen with CarPlay etc.
And get this, it has WAY more headroom and legroom than our SuperDuty; it’s not even close. And while charging it with electricity isn’t free, it’s pretty cheap. It costs us about $10 to “fill it up”. It also has all kinds of safety gizmos, lane keep assist, automatic braking, etc.
I will definitely be driving an electric truck someday soon!


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Last year we got the chance to test drive the Tesla model 3. OMG the torque. I was so impressed. And instant too like you said. The only lag is the time it takes for your brain to tell your feet to push the pedal.

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[Airrace]

@DaveMatthewsBand I know you boondock a lot and use solar power so would like to know what the chances are of charging a truck from the trailer roof mounted solar panels as you drive?

[SolarPoweredRV]

@DaveMatthewsBand I know you boondock a lot and use solar power so would like to know what the chances are of charging a truck from the trailer roof mounted solar panels as you drive?

As far as Solar panels and charging up your Electric Tow Vehicle goes...

You won't get any appreciable miles added to your EV Tow Vehicle while you are tooling down the road from Solar Panels mounted on your Camper.

The most you can hope for is a few miles per day added if you are stationary for a few days while Boondocking (maybe 10 miles per day). The biggest reason is because you will be using the Solar on your camper to charge the battery(ies) in your camper and to supply your electricity needs throughout the day. Another reason is you are limited as to how much Solar you can install on top of your camper, between all the vents and two (or three) Air Conditioners sitting on top of your roof, there is simply not a lot of room left where you can add big 3' by 5' Solar Panels.

The other thing to consider is Solar Variability, clouds and shadows interfere with how much energy your system can generate in a day and the low angle of the Sun during Winter really reduces the output of your Solar System, not to mention Winter's shorter days.

The real answer is small, transportable, Nuclear Reactors that would be capable of powering whole campgrounds wherever you park for the night.

[Chewwi]

. . . what the chances are of charging a truck from the trailer roof mounted solar panels as you drive?

No chance.

Solar energy available in perfect weather conditions and sun directly perpendicular to the panels is about 1kW per square meter. Current photovoltaic cells are somewhere between 12% & 40% efficient. Assuming they are 50% efficient gives you about 500W per square meter.

Covering the entire top of a 40 ft RV with photovoltaic cells would give you about 30 square meters. 30 square meters of panels would provide 15kW. 15 kw is about 20 hp. Even with 100% efficient cells, you can only get 40 hp.

Could you tow an RV with only 40 hp? Yes you can, but only very slowly.


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[SolarPoweredRV]

No chance.

Solar energy available in perfect weather conditions and sun directly perpendicular to the panels is about 1kW per square meter. Current photovoltaic cells are somewhere between 12% & 40% efficient. Assuming they are 50% efficient gives you about 500W per square meter.

Covering the entire top of a 40 ft RV with photovoltaic cells would give you about 30 square meters. 30 square meters of panels would provide 15kW. 15 kw is about 20 hp. Even with 100% efficient cells, you can only get 40 hp.

Could you tow an RV with only 40 hp? Yes you can, but only very slowly.


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Current Solar panels are around 20% efficient, Residential panels are a little bit less and Power Grid panels a little bit more.

[orbiker]

I don't think the USA can produce enough electricity for everyone to have and use all electric cars to even 50%. Many areas still have brown-outs in the summer because of too many AC units. KEN

[Aridon]

Tesla vehicle's, more or less the gold standard as of now, get around 400 miles.

Imagine if it weighed 25klbs and was 13.6ft tall, what would that range would be? Don't forget you still need to account for pin weight, drivers gear etc. You just can't stuff 5k lbs of batteries in there. Most trucks are pretty much at their limit as is with a rig.

I think we'll need yet another revolution in power storage or power generation to get it where it really makes sense. We'll see. The is a publicly traded company going after the trucking market, they have yet to really show much more than promises and there have been accusations it's getting pretty deep over there in the smelly stuff

[SolarPoweredRV]

I don't think the USA can produce enough electricity for everyone to have and use all electric cars to even 50%. Many areas still have brown-outs in the summer because of too many AC units. KEN

There have been studies that look at this "What If" question. The results show that there would be no problem supplying electricity for 100% electric transportation because there is plenty of capacity on the electric grid right now, additionally, the switch to electric transportation would happen gradually, over a period of several years, which would allow for installation of additional generating capacity. The key to accommodating electric vehicle charging is to shift charging times to the early morning hours, there is plenty of extra capacity available while most people are sleeping.

The electric grid is sized to accommodate our electrical needs on the highest usage day of the year (usually in summertime on the hottest day of the year), at all other times there is excess capacity that is sitting idle (peaking power stations) just waiting to be called into service. One issue that is starting to appear on our electrical grid is an excess of generation capacity mid-day due to all the Solar Panels in use, this is creating times where charging an EV would be beneficial for the grid, all it takes is software that can communicate with the utility that lets an EV know when to charge.