Electric Tow Vehicles - Getting close
Used to be a guy on the forum towing a tear drop with a tesla but really not suitable for the vast majority of RVers. We had a young family camp next to us this weekend and something didn't look rig...
Forum Discussion
Are you concerned about the eco-faith end of things or the practicality?
If you are looking at the eco-faith, there probably are some benefits but far less than some of the proponents claim.
I was bringing this up from the perspective of do we have an option that works (setting aside the current pricing issues).
Probably none of the above. Mainly the literal amount of energy needed to move the load at hand. Yes one does need to look at the overall cost IMHO of both the actual machine, and the how to get the "fuel" to the table to use. Hence why I'm not really a fan of alcohol in gas. Takes me in my last truck, from 10 literal gals of fuel to 11 gals of fuel plus a gallon or so of alcohol to go the same distance. I admit, to being on the green side of things, but this equation makes no sense to me in more than one way.
The distance traveled I've mentioned is equal before stopping IMHO currently. Like all things great and small, how big is the fuel tank? Stopping for fuel as noted can be a good thing, kids/parents get a restroom break while feeding the tow rig! With four kids, one has to stop every hour or two max depending upon multiple issues.
Yes one can fill at half full in less time than 30 of 35 gals. Then again, my current rig with a 26- or 27-gal tank, takes less time than the last four with 35 gal tanks......gee, I wonder why? Yes we have done the pop in, get filled with fuel, no one leaves their seats too!
With 6 of us, I had a tendency to prefer rest stops or fueling vs using the RV to relieve ourselves. With a 25 gal iirc black tank, we can fill it quite quickly, vs a couple using it.
Everything is variable depending upon multiple factors. While I do not like the current cost of diesel, if driving enough miles per year, it can pay for itself, at 15K it does not pay to drive a diesel. Get it over 30K, then the ROI is worth it. I'm not a drive it 2-3 year type of person, more of a 200-250K miles in 10 years, work it hard, it's not worth what some baby their truck at after 10 years and maybe 50-100K miles!
At the end of the day, choose your poison! Everything has a plus or minus to it. Even my green family realizes a hybrid, battery operated vehicle at this point in time, does meet the needs of my use, and many others! My stepdad by the by, was one of the engineers that designed a car that drove on the moon back in the day! HE was a BIG proponent of different fuel types!
Marty
Hybrid =/= Plug In Hybrid (PIH)
There is a fundamental difference. If he's got an PIH and only getting 1/2 MPG better commuting, he either has a several hundred mile commute or he is using it wrong.
Also, hybrids don't cost $10k more. In fact, they are now often the same or cheaper.
$4.00-$4.50 depending upon where I am in the greater Seattle, Tacoma, Everett are for regular. $4.50-$5.00 for Diesel/premium gas. Where I am at in Everett right now, $.50 less than Ballard area of Seattle I work in. I'm not going to argue about the MPG etc on the gas vs diesel. An equal power plant as one can make them, diesel will always be better MPG. With that said, I find a cost difference as it is here currently at .50 higher per gal to be just as cheap to go gas. One needs a lot of miles to payoff the $10K+ difference vs my 96 at 2200 or so higher than a BB gas. Then again, back then diesel was >.50-.75 lower than gas.
I realize that east coasters get fuel for upwards of a dollar less than west coast folks. Ca is a bit higher than here yet! We need to choose fuel costs for where we are vs somewhere else.
For what I'm doing, my 4.3 V6 6sp pulls every bit as well as my 6.5td, 4bbl/TBI 454's and 2bbl/TBI/Vortec 350 GM's with 3 and 4 sp trannies. I have more ponies, 285 vs 255 and lower than any of them had too. 305 lb ft of torque vs 200-385 depending upon time frame.
Any way, time for dinner and heading to bed, 430 comes early!While I do not like the current cost of diesel
what is diesel down there related to gas?
up here gas is close to 1.50/L or 4.13 per US gal, where diesel is 3.40/gal, plus I get about 50% better milage when towing with diesel and about 5mpg better than the equivalent gas motor when empty. so cheaper fuel and better fuel milage, its a no brainer for me.
I calculated before that the extra milage I get from diesel over gas, even if they were the same price, pays for all the maintenance on my truck out of the savings and more.
if your driving is mostly highway a hybrid isn't any better than a fuel efficient gas motor, a buddy I work with has a plug in hybrid and in town it is phenomenal , but commuting to work and back he just gets slightly better milage than I do, were talking about 1/2 a MPG better than I get, but he paid 10K more for the "Hybrid" version of our car, so now we are back to the "is it worth 10K to get 1/2MPG better? "
Don't get me started on Plug-In-Hybrids. They are doable today and there is no reason they can't be financially viable today. Again, I think they tried to do too much going pure battery EV and missed the better option.
A PIH with a 50mile battery range (not towing) - Maybe 20-30kwh battery bank for $2-3k and another $2-3k for the electric motor sandwiched between the ICE and transmission and a small efficient 170hp (continuous rated output) ICE would be a game changer.
- Most days commuting or running around town, it functions as a pure battery electric vehicle. (if you do exceed the battery range, the ICE kicks in, no big deal). This would represent probably 90-95% of miles for most owners.
- Have a "road trip" setting (not towing) where you input your estimated trip distance before you next expect to plug in and it optimizes your battery use to first keep the ICE at it's ideal efficiency and when possible, uses battery only.
- Have a "tow/haul" setting where it goes to the ICE even with a full charge on the battery pack. I lost the source but your average midsize trailer, the engine is putting out around 140hp at freeway speeds on level ground. If you hit a steep grade, the battery can boost the output if you exceed the ICE capability and then engine brake thru the electric motor to recharge the battery bank on the downhill.
- They could have an advance setting for the "road trip' & "tow/haul" modes where it integrates with GPS to predict the grades and using that info, it can maximize the battery usage. ie: if you are starting with a 5mile flat ground before doing a 10 mile downhill grade, maybe it runs battery only for the first 5 miles before recharging on the downhill. Or you are 10 miles out and it has enough battery to make 12miles under battery, so it kills the ICE and finishes on battery.
- This also substantially addresses some of the other issues raised on this thread. A 30amp shore power pedestal can handle 2kw to charge the battery overnight, so no need for 50amp or if the campground has limited power, it could be set to self recharge using the onboard ICE. If boondocking, you could set a reserve battery level, so you arrive with say 10kwh and can plug the trailer into the truck and run the aircon overnight off the truck battery. 20kwh battery bank is maybe 500lb so it's not crazy amounts of weight added and substantially reduces the concerns about mining lithium.
