Electric vehicles

Bnorth said:

My mother-in-law wants one too. I think she, like Karebear would be a good candidate. A decently long commute one way (assuming you're still on the westside) then a long break during the work day to charge and a long drive home. The commute is long enough to actually save some decent money on fuel and is well within the range of an electric vehicle with good charging time available at both ends.

One of my biggest concerns would be battery lifespan. Ie is the thing pooched at 120k km rendering the vehicle virtually worthless?

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jhurkot said:

Battery life on a hybrid is actually quite impressive. I think there are people on youtube who have 200,000miles or more on their original battery (chevy volt). For a pure battery vehicle how you treat your battery will have a lot to do with the longevity. Basically don't charge it over 90% unless you're doing a road trip. If you do charge to 100%, don't leave it at 100% for long periods of time. Battery price right now is approaching the $100/kWh and will continue to decrease.

Worst case scenario your battery fails outside warranty, it will be much cheaper to replace in 4 years than it is now.

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jhurkot said:

Don't worry I'm still burning 50,000L of diesel annually ha ha.

EV are better in every conceivable way. Next to 0 maintenance, low daily energy costs, and more fun to drive. I guess you have to change the tires once in a while due to all that torque.

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jhurkot said:

I'm obsessed with electric vehicles right now. They are so much better than ICE vehicles. The two vehicles I have experience with are the 2017 chevy volt (18kwh battery) and a 2018 Tesla model S 100D.

The volt is a great transition vehicle for someone who wants to try electric but is concerned about charging or wants to do long road trips without stopping to charge. The summer range is about 80-90km and the winter range is more like 45-50km. The engine will run when it's below a certain temperature so you will still burn fuel even with a full charge (the 2019 model fixed this). I drive this car nearly every day to commute and use about 13kWh to drive 80km. The power is smooth and instant, easily will spin the tiny tires on the front. There is a regen paddle on the steering wheel which gives you additional braking and puts power back into the battery. Running around town I'm sure you could get 100km of city stop and go driving on a single charge. Electric cars seem to do the worst on the highway with the additional wind resistance and high speeds. With fuel and charge you are at about 600km of total range. If I was doing a 200km one way trip to the city I would force it to run the engine on the highway and then switch to electric for all the slower stop and go city driving. It's a small car, the back seat is not the biggest. The body work on the front end isn't the greatest for plowing through snow drifts. Charge time at 120volts is about 9 hours from empty. Level 2 charger (240volt/3.6kw) takes about 4.5 hours. If you can charge on both ends it works out really nicely. There also seems to be a lot of these for a great price in Ontario kijiji. They were however just discontinued this past week. In 28000km I have burned less than 280L of gas and done one oil change.

Tesla Model S 100D
This car is basically the closest thing I've experienced to a roller coaster. The instant torque makes merging and passing vehicles way too much fun. With 540km of rated range and an extensive supercharger network across north america, this is something you can actually take on a long trip. Autopilot makes driving through the worst traffic completely stress free. Switching lanes is automatic too, just have to signal and it will do the rest. The navigation and interface make it feel like you're driving an iPad on wheels. I could go on and on about how amazing this car is but I won't.

The volt is probably the best bang for the buck hybrid vehicle. A great transition vehicle with very few drawbacks.
The Tesla is pretty pricey but is on a completely different level.

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jhurkot said:

Battery life on a hybrid is actually quite impressive. I think there are people on youtube who have 200,000miles or more on their original battery (chevy volt). For a pure battery vehicle how you treat your battery will have a lot to do with the longevity. Basically don't charge it over 90% unless you're doing a road trip. If you do charge to 100%, don't leave it at 100% for long periods of time. Battery price right now is approaching the $100/kWh and will continue to decrease.

Worst case scenario your battery fails outside warranty, it will be much cheaper to replace in 4 years than it is now.

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Dawizman said:

Id be interested in a plug in hybrid heavy duty pickup. The torque could be awesome for pulling. The diesels are already so heavy, you should be able to fit a decent size battery pack without adding too much weight. Toss in a small diesel engine to keep those batteries topped up on the long hauls and you'd be golden. Regenerative braking would also be a huge benefit while hauling a decent load.

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jhurkot said:

Check this out...

https://electrek.co/2018/11/29/rivian-r1t-electric-pickup-truck-order/

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Dawizman said:

Id be interested in a plug in hybrid heavy duty pickup. The torque could be awesome for pulling. The diesels are already so heavy, you should be able to fit a decent size battery pack without adding too much weight. Toss in a small diesel engine to keep those batteries topped up on the long hauls and you'd be golden. Regenerative braking would also be a huge benefit while hauling a decent load.

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Rene G said:

I’ve been saying this for years!! A diesel electric hybrid would kick a$$! They’re already unsung diesel / electric for heavy equipment, it shouldn’t be too hard to make a mini version for a HD pick-up.

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DaveB said:

I can see it now....sitting in the parking lot rolling coal and bragging about charging at 2.5 megawatts....

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Cdnfireman said:

imagine being 10th in line at a recharging station alongside the transcanada somewhere in the summertime waiting to recharge your truck.....should only be there 20-30 hours or so waiting.....or sitting beside the road somewhere letting your little backup engine recharge your batteries for several hours because your truck and 16K fifth wheel killed your batteries.... cant wait for that!!!!

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Rene G said:

I don’t think it should be a plug in Hybrid, but attach a generator to a smaller Diesel engine. You could have the same or more power than now with a fraction of the fuel used.

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lilduke said:

That is how trains work. The diesel powers a generator, to power electric motors which turn the wheels....

There is no batteries involved though. Just a transformer.

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DaveB said:

I get that. They run big-ass diesels, not little diesels.

The point is that even a diesel tuned for ultimate efficiency running a constant RPM to power a generator, is still not very efficient. The amount of work done still requires a set amount of power...whether its amps or horsepower. Running a truck with say 4 e-motors (1 per wheel) and enough power to pull a trailer up the Coquihalla will need a LOT a amp/hrs in a battery pack.It can be done. But in order for the usage to be a long period of time, it would require a large generator to replenish the batts.

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DaveB said:

I get that. They run big-ass diesels, not little diesels.

The point is that even a diesel tuned for ultimate efficiency running a constant RPM to power a generator, is still not very efficient. The amount of work done still requires a set amount of power...whether its amps or horsepower. Running a truck with say 4 e-motors (1 per wheel) and enough power to pull a trailer up the Coquihalla will need a LOT a amp/hrs in a battery pack.It can be done. But in order for the usage to be a long period of time, it would require a large generator to replenish the batts.

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