Coast to coast in an Electric car towing a trailer.

tpi wrote:
Smkettner is very tuned in to the energy density capabilities of batteries, if you'll check out his posts in tech issues. I'm certainly aware of their limitations.

We're not going to be pushing a big rig down the open highway on battery power anytime soon. Or a typical motorhome used as motorhomes are.
...?

Maybe not battery power alone,however hybrid electric is on the way

https://nikolamotor.com/one

^^^^^^^^Tesla has been at it since 2003, doesn't look like the price has dropped much in 13 years.

Course it did take them 5 years to make their first car, so they've really only been at it for 8 years. :)

fj12ryder wrote:
"Still kinda pricey."

Gasp, choke, snort.

When I first bought my Satellite TV Dish it was 600 dollars. Now they are 50 bucks.

If we give it time the price will get lower.

"Still kinda pricey."

Gasp, choke, snort.

Tom Trostel wrote:
I thought it was interesting that the tow vehicle costs $50,000 and the trailer costs $27,760.

50.000. Maybe they got it used. I'm on the Tesla mailing list because we took one for a drive. I just got a promotional email for the S60 and it was 86000. Still kinda pricey. Then again. We see 80000 F350's here routinely.

I thought it was interesting that the tow vehicle costs $50,000 and the trailer costs $27,760.

Here's the kind of technology our RV's will likely move too long before becoming pure electric. It's a hybrid that can be made to run on natural gas, diesel or gasoline, supplemented with plug in electricity.

Imagine having 2000hp and 3700 lb-ft on tap! It'll be the first 80,000 semi climbing grades at the speed limit and with a 1200 mile range.

https://nikolamotor.com/one

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

John & Angela wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

smkettner wrote:

fireman41 wrote:
Why not hydrogen.(disclosure I transport and deliver liquid hydrogen). Right now Toyota is in the process of building a hydrogen fueling network in the north east it's going to start small and only consists of 12 stations but it's a start. Also lots of food wearhouse have switched there fork lift fleets over to run on hydrogen.

Hydrogen will find it's niche and right now it is a bit expensive for personal transportation.
Huge amounts of government money is trying to get this started. Automakers have also invested huge.
IMO it is just not going to pan out until the cost comes down.

Going to be a long time before a cross country trip is even possible let alone practical.

Hydrogen is not a fuel and never will be.

Most of you have no idea of the energy density problems of batteries. Gasoline has about 100x's more energy density than LI batteries.

Electric cars are fine around town but they will NEVER have the energy density of gasoline.

LINK

Physical energy limits of batteries.

Good morning. I understand that lithium ion batteries will never have the energy density of gas but I'm not sure why you would say that electric vehicles are only useful around town. Many EV owners already use them for more than that and Tesla owners routinely use them on 300 mile or more trips with no issues. They simply take a 20 or 30 minute break half way for a coffee and a quick charge. One of our two vehicles is still an oil burner and we never go more than about an hour and a half without a little break. Our electric vehicle has one of the shortest ranges out there (120 to 150 KM) and yet we still use it routinely between two cities. When we get to where we are going we plug in to a charge station and go shopping. When we are done shopping we unplug and go home. We do things differently when we are in our electric but it isn't any more convenient and doesn't take any more time.

I think there is a lot of mis-information out there in regards to living with an electric vehicle. It's actually pretty cool.

Safe travels.

Poor choice of words on my part.

This is a RV forum. When I say "around town" I mean around a town or small commute. Not towing an RV on the open road.

I want this guy doing this stunt to show a video of him going over Steamboat pass. Or going over Donner Pass. Or any other major passes that I tow over.

My point is, it's easy to show an electric car and trailer going down the road when it's flat with no hills or mountains. It's a whole different animal to tow over mountains with an electric car and trailer.

People complaint about the range of E85 and it's miles better than batteries.

I hear ya, and yep my consumption meter definetly cranks over when I am going up hills so yep, towing in hilly country will be a challenge for these folks.

No lack of torque or power though. Electric vehicles in general tend to gobble up and spit out any oil burner. Just the consumption of power from a finite source becomes the issue.

It will be interesting to see how this develops over the next 10 or fifteen years. It has already changed so much in the last 6 or 7. We are waiting till fall of 2018 to replace our last oil burner. Right now we are leaning to towards the new Nissan Leaf as Angela wants four seats. I'd be okay with spending an extra 10 K on the Tesla but we'll wait and see the specs of both. Anything over 150 miles range is a waste for us and both of those will be over 200 so we'll see. Whoever offers the smaller battery pack wins...assuming the price differential makes it worthwhile.

Google 'electric bus' to get an idea what is possible with an RV.
Not really practical for part time private use. A public bus running all day every day saves enough fuel to makes the extra cost feasible.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Most of you have no idea of the energy density problems of batteries. Gasoline has about 100x's more energy density than LI batteries.

Electric cars are fine around town but they will NEVER have the energy density of gasoline.

Density is similar if you were required to carry the reactant along with you in the gasoline vehicle. But since the air (oxygen) is brought in as you drive, the gasoline vehicle has that advantage. For every 1 pound of gasoline you burn 14.7 pounds of air. So a 20 gallon tank processes over 1700 pounds of air. A bit less if you had a tank of pure oxygen but you get the idea.

The hard part is converting that CO2 back to O2 & C as nature is not able to keep up with the amount we burn. This is the part that is most often forgotten and scientists are saying is a cause for warming the planet.