Electric truck - tow vehicle of future ?
Interesting article about an electric Class 7 truck . Begs the question, are electric powered heavy duty pickups...ready for HD towing service... far behind ? Range right now is somewhat limite...
Forum Discussion
When they make an EV Pickup that can tow across country, I'm in. Until then, there isn't an EV made that I can drive to and from work every day, which is 120 miles round trip. I can't sit in a car for very long, getting in and out is painful, which is why I drive an F150 everyday, which pound for pound equates to a Hybrid in gas mileage. Lets see a Prius get 20 MPG while weighing 6000 pounds! :) My previous car was a Fusion Hybrid, and going up to 47 MPH on electric was pretty neat, but didn't go very far.
Mybe 20 years from now, power cells will make it possible for long range travel, but for now, the best marriage would be Hybrid gas/electric. LiOn packs have grown in Mah, while getting smaller, and now there is newer LiPo technology for faster amp draw with less heat, but LiPo still is a dangerous tech to work with. I fly RC planes, and a few of them run on LiPo. A crash with one of those usually ends up in a fireball. Those are from packs that fit in your hand, so imagine what the belly of a Tesla would look like when it gets punctured. When the seal is compromised in a LiPo, and they have energy still stored, which in an EV would be roughly 80% capacity, they flash immediately when Oxygen hits them.
I had a 3300 Mah 3S pack with a bad cell, so took it to the range, and put a 22 through it. It went POOF into a large flaming mass almost instantly. Scary.
If anything, better hope that the cells are well protected in an EV, all it takes is to pierce one cell for them all to go up.
Mybe 20 years from now, power cells will make it possible for long range travel, but for now, the best marriage would be Hybrid gas/electric. LiOn packs have grown in Mah, while getting smaller, and now there is newer LiPo technology for faster amp draw with less heat, but LiPo still is a dangerous tech to work with. I fly RC planes, and a few of them run on LiPo. A crash with one of those usually ends up in a fireball. Those are from packs that fit in your hand, so imagine what the belly of a Tesla would look like when it gets punctured. When the seal is compromised in a LiPo, and they have energy still stored, which in an EV would be roughly 80% capacity, they flash immediately when Oxygen hits them.
I had a 3300 Mah 3S pack with a bad cell, so took it to the range, and put a 22 through it. It went POOF into a large flaming mass almost instantly. Scary.
If anything, better hope that the cells are well protected in an EV, all it takes is to pierce one cell for them all to go up.
