Macho man one ton diesel pickup diminisher, electric drive motors. Don’t get in the way of one. There is a reason for the drive motors being electric for hauling. Nothing better. This has been known for about a hundred years or more. The clock on the wall still moves ahead, time is not frozen. The obstacles to battery vehicles are chipped at year by year. Maybe diesel electric locomotives will even have batteries some day. There is nothing inherently wrong with electric drive, it doesn’t have to be a conflict about everything. Electric drive is great.
What Factors Are Swaying EV Adoption in the U.S.?
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Doesn't even need an engine to serve as an electric generator as long as there's a catenary line. However, I think even trolley buses have some battery backup these days just to get out of the way (or even stop) if there's a disconnect. I've seen them disconnect before, with the driver apparently trained in how to reconnect the probes.
Not 100% sure what would happen with am electric train if the power went out. I'd hope there was some sort of battery backup, if only for the control, communications, and braking systems. They mostly use Westinghouse braking systems where loss of air pressure applies the brakes, and I'd think they'd want to slow down to avoid hitting anyone. There could be crazy things happening like the lightning strike that disabled a HSR train in China, where the train following it still had power and rammed into the disabled train.
The problem with the Chinese HSR crash is their signaling system design, not the power loss or the train's drive system. From what I heard they don't want to pay billions for a "software" so they want to develop their own..... and paid the price.
Most likely there are lowish voltage system powering everything on the control and the battery backup would be for those voltage instead of the high voltage ones, not sure how it would work if glitches occur but it got to be part of the design, otherwise in a glitch if they lose control a train might derail.
Those overhead lines would be awesome if every EV end up with one in the future, and public road will have sections of these for hill climb assist (and bill you later for this). Having more "hybrid" options open door for many low hanging fruit use cases. If hybrid isn't good enough, overhead lines in sections of hill climb certainly would be good.
The same argument can be said when people transition from horses and wagons / carriages to cars and pickup 100 years ago. The farmers would found use cases that horses and donkeys are better, but it doesn't prevent many of them keeping both and gradually transition to cars and pickups eventually.
The beginning of EV pickups will not be for towing despite the advertisement of such capability, people know that already, but that doesn't mean many people will be able to use EV pickup very well to tow a light weight or short distance, or use them at sites for the battery capability instead.
I wasn't necessarily thinking of the crash itself, but what would happen if the catenary lines lost power in the same area. But that was unique in that the lightning only disabled on train while a power outage would likely disable several and prevent any trains from getting close to the disabled ones as they entered the blackout area.
And no way would there ever be catenary lines everywhere. But it could be cool if there was something like bumper cars with a metal floor and an electrified grid on top.
The thing about electric is that it is absolutely awesome for just pulling a heavy weight really slowly since it won't stall, doesn't need a transmission, and will have near maximum torque immediately. I know most people don't understand torque, but in that case it really helps pull a load. That's the main reason why diesel-electric locomotives don't have a transmission. Just keep the engine running at a constant speed and generate the electricity needed to power the electric motors.
I think the most important thing would be the strength of the chassis. The Boring Company was using Teslas to pull a ridiculous amount of dirt in mine cars on rails. It was pulling 125 tons, which was a bit more than the 2.5 ton tow rating.
The thing about electric is that it is absolutely awesome for just pulling a heavy weight really slowly since it won't stall, doesn't need a transmission, and will have near maximum torque immediately. I know most people don't understand torque, but in that case it really helps pull a load. That's the main reason why diesel-electric locomotives don't have a transmission. Just keep the engine running at a constant speed and generate the electricity needed to power the electric motors.
I think the most important thing would be the strength of the chassis. The Boring Company was using Teslas to pull a ridiculous amount of dirt in mine cars on rails. It was pulling 125 tons, which was a bit more than the 2.5 ton tow rating.
Last I know back in about 1999, there's still limit in EV motor's torque and it would be the cooling capacity of the motor. A liquid cooled EV motor we used could in theory have 100hp peak for about 8 sec and about 75hp for constant load. Still, after 8 secs of acceleration usually you are doing ok dropping the power output for normal use cases.
I think Tesla and others have figure out how to make more power. However, the thing about electric drive that helps with pulling anything is that you don't need a transmission like a tractor needs 18 gears including some extremely low ones to be able to move a massive weight without stalling. Even then it's going to be a diesel engine with a lot of torque (and thus power) at lower revs, which is what's needed to move something really heavy.
The strange thing is that steam was actually superior in many ways for moving something really heavy, although reliability wasn't one.
I wasn't necessarily thinking of the crash itself, but what would happen if the catenary lines lost power in the same area. But that was unique in that the lightning only disabled on train while a power outage would likely disable several and prevent any trains from getting close to the disabled ones as they entered the blackout area.
And no way would there ever be catenary lines everywhere. But it could be cool if there was something like bumper cars with a metal floor and an electrified grid on top.
Seattle had or maybe still has some electric buses that use the overhead wire to get power from. I know they are switching to battery but that is slow progress.
San Francisco has had trolley buses for a while. This article says that their newer buses (circa 2019) had batteries that allowed going off-grid for a few miles at a time. However, I was thinking that they at least had enough battery backup to operate the controls and braking enough to stop and hook them back up.
Is it a bus or is it a trolley? New SF Muni fleet can go off-wire
Muni replaced its 40-foot trolley buses with a new generation that can run off-wire for...
San Francisco has had trolley buses for a while. This article says that their newer buses (circa 2019) had batteries that allowed going off-grid for a few miles at a time. However, I was thinking that they at least had enough battery backup to operate the controls and braking enough to stop and hook them back up.
Is it a bus or is it a trolley? New SF Muni fleet can go off-wire
Muni replaced its 40-foot trolley buses with a new generation that can run off-wire for...www.sfchronicle.com
I’m guessing it is due to the hills. Seattle has steep hills like San Francisco in the downtown area.
It has been years since I’ve rode a bus but in Tacoma which also has steep hills downtown the buses would crawl up. They were diesel powered then and now are CNG but they still go pretty slow.
Our local transit agency provided bus service for my school, and some kids came as far as 4 miles away (it was a weird district map). We had hills and they used standard diesel buses. It got really weird around one steep hill where it would just chug really slowly but somehow more of the passengers towards the front helped.
If my phone ain’t ringing, I’ll assume it still ain’t you. Crickets at the PetroCanada station west of Calgary on Highway 1 this morning.
The transition to battery operated lithium electric vehicles is not imminent in the United States. That’s not to say sometime in the future when none of us are alive there may be some type of electric that could replace gasoline.
What Factors Are Swaying EV Adoption in the U.S.? - Lubes'N'Greases
The transition to electric vehicles is imminent, but the speed of adoption remains debatable. Explore the factors that may influence how quickly EVs will permeate the car parc.www.lubesngreases.com
Right now for convenience, cost and versatility gasoline rules. Nothing is going to change that in this vast country for the majority. Lithium battery electric vehicles will have a place in American culture, but it will never replace gasoline and there’s no reason too at this point.
It just makes no sense and never will.
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The near term reason has always been aimed at reducing GHG emissions in order to contribute to an overall reduction in GHG emissions and thereby avoid the tipping point of 1.5C in global heating.
It's hard to beat some of these new hybrid ICE from Toyota and Honda.
Absolutely and that new Prius looks pretty darn good.
Over a year ago, consumer reports to the course analysis of strictly EV against hybrid.
In many cases, hybrid was more cost effective.
I suspect hybrid is the solution versus lithium battery powered cars.
Everybody on planet Earth was trashing Toyota over that mythology only a year ago and it turns out they were the one company that got it right
I've come to think this. The HAH is a nice overall combination of operating economy along with needing no real planning for trips, except maybe using an app to find the cheapest gas en route.
that i need to rewire my house to charge 2 ev carsWhat Factors Are Swaying EV Adoption in the U.S.? - Lubes'N'Greases
The transition to electric vehicles is imminent, but the speed of adoption remains debatable. Explore the factors that may influence how quickly EVs will permeate the car parc.
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The X5 PHEV from BMW is VERY nice, I haven't tried the X3 PHEV, but I suspect it is also quite nice. If somebody is looking for better than Toyota appointments.