Actual Tesla CyberTruck Towing Test in Cold Weather
- Thread starter alarmguy
- Start date
Yup. Thats why trains use motors fed by engines. Anyway, battery tech is finally where I feel comfortable and so I bought. Quick charging, reliable, minimal degradation over time, all added up to good enough for me. Most people with 100k miles on cars like mine have around 5% battery degradation, no other issues. Charging is about 15-20 minutes on a road trip to 80%. Real world range is enough to hop between fast chargers, and skip one if its down. Good nuff!
I have toyed around with the idea of locomotive inspired propulsion in my 3500 truck. I have said this many times before on this forum, but they should have started with trucks and not "compact" cars. More room for parts, larger areas and high weight carrying capacity for batteries and so on.
As stupid as it may seem, I wonder if wind powered alternators could help keep batteries charged for a longer duration while driving. Air resistance is always there at at speed, and of course perpetual motion is not possible. Something like a drum fan. I suppose smarter people than me have thought of that.
It would create drag and not be worth it.
They started with cars because a car is a much more sensible use of EV technology until battery technology advances. I believe this thread is actually about that very thing.
Heavy duty short haul trucking may be ideal. Make it the size of a sleeper where the battery goes in the back. Considerably better control where 18 speeds aren’t needed. No tailpipe emissions, especially in areas where lower-income residents living near container ports have long complained about diesel emissions.
Diesels used to be known for excellent long term reliability, but I understand a lot of that has changed with lower emissions. I believe older commercial trucks can't typically be used these days. So electric might be a good option - especially for short-haul trucking.
It's not efficient doing diesel/electric setups unless you can continuously hold the revs and under higher load. It would be horribly inefficient in a street vehicle. you'd lose at least 20%-30% of your fuel economy just from going to a generator/motor setup from an actual transmission and drivetrain. The main reason why it's used for locomotives is reliability. It gets rid of all the fragile drivetrain pieces.
As far as the alternator stuff, any drag will always eat more energy than it makes. It's more efficient to improve drag than try to harness any power that could be harvested from air movement.
Correct WOT is most efficient, but it could be explored as an alternative for some vehicles. ICE has been the go to for 100 years due to ease, and full electric could be the way for some. I am just saying that there can be more than ICE or EV.
Yes, this is 100% correct. I have just wondered if it would extend the range, and if the investment would be worth it.