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Thread: Electric Car Challenges

  1. #136
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Henderson View Post
    I suppose, technically, that all you need to generate is the amount of energy that the car is using cruising along the highway, plus a bit to put some in the battery for when you have to hill climb. Cruising along a flat road doesn't take a lot of HP - Google says between 10 and 20 HP. Ignoring efficiency, 15 HP is 11.25 kW. So the generator would have to be at least 15 kW and 20 kW would be better.

    A 20 kW generator is not a small (or cheap) generator. It would take a lot of the truck bed.
    Kinda what I expected. A quick look at the Harbor Freight catalog shows ~200lbs for a 10KW "portable" generator, which makes it a 2+ person job (or an engine hoist) to get it in or out of the bed.
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  2. #137
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Mills View Post
    <sarcasm on>
    Gee, maybe they could permanently mount this generator and fuel canister somewhere in the truck so that you wouldn't need to be putting it in and out of the bed.
    <sarcasm off>
    Sounds a lot like a Chevy Volt.

    Among the reasons the Volt was discontinued were (1) the whole lash-up is complicated/expensive and (2) it doesn't scale to larger, less-aerodynamic vehicles, like say, pickup trucks.
    Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
    "Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
    We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
    The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
    The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
    You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.

  3. #138
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    Put a motor in the 'Frunk', making it a plug in hybrid, and I am there.
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

  4. #139
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    I'll assume those looking at EVs have seen the new F150 intro the last few days. Consumer reports (not anyone that I stand behind 100%) has estimated a less than 100 mile range if fully loaded to the 10K capacity touted.
    And that was best case use. Winter use? Towing anything like an RV? You won't get out of a metro area. The new electric hummer? Such a joke. Unless you live 10 minutes from a place you MIGHT want to go off roading, what in the heck do you do if you get 10 miles out and you find you can't get back to the road? Carry on board generator? Joke.

    Yes 14,000 folks were sent a survey, and 1400 said they wouldn't buy another EV or would buy a ICE. That is a big number. And Women were behind most of the changes. Oh, I saw someone post 1500 charging cycles. That is only 5 years if you have to charge your vehicle every day. Or less than 7 years if you only drive it to work 5 days a week and no other travel.
    I'm not against electric vehicles, but I'm totally against forced conversion AND government grants to pay you to buy one.
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  5. #140
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    We have many, many billions of dollars in government support to go before we come anywhere close to subsidizing electrics to anything like the extent to which we've subsidized petroleum based fuels with tax dollars. Not saying whether that's a good or bad thing, but it's important to recognize that our current system has been heavily subsidized as well. Not giving the electrics something as well leaves them at a substantial, and some would argue unfair, competitive disadvantage.

  6. #141
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    Dec 2006
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    John, where I live most of the trucks have a single occupant with a briefcase heading for work downtown.

    They are so pristine that you know they’ve never had a job box or concrete mixer in the bed.

    An electric pickup is a great method of reducing the carbon footprint of that sort of owner.

    Is it for everyone? No, of course not however many people who own a truck have no rational reason for owning one, this is a good solution to that problem...Regards, Rod

  7. #142
    Quote Originally Posted by Lee DeRaud View Post
    Kinda what I expected. A quick look at the Harbor Freight catalog shows ~200lbs for a 10KW "portable" generator, which makes it a 2+ person job (or an engine hoist) to get it in or out of the bed.
    Once you put a generator in the truck bed, you've (in a way) converted the truck to a Chevy Volt

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

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