Have our trucks got too much power yet?
I've often thought about all the energy being wasted with braking applications and exhaust braking on down grades. It's only a matter of time before our rvs will have electric drive axles to help hold...
Forum Discussion
Commercial trucks things can be viable because they do 50-100k miles per year so even very small per mile improvements can be justified.
RV's...might average a couple thousand miles per year.
But even with trucks, freeway driving, there isn't a huge savings from going the hybrid route (even in mountains). Where hybrids shine is stop and go traffic....city busses, garbage trucks, UPS trucks but those have wildly different use patterns compared to the typical RV.
Keep in mind, once you get a diesel up in the 50-90% of max power range, you don't see a lot of difference in efficiency over that range, so there isn't a lot to gain.
RV's...might average a couple thousand miles per year.
But even with trucks, freeway driving, there isn't a huge savings from going the hybrid route (even in mountains). Where hybrids shine is stop and go traffic....city busses, garbage trucks, UPS trucks but those have wildly different use patterns compared to the typical RV.
Keep in mind, once you get a diesel up in the 50-90% of max power range, you don't see a lot of difference in efficiency over that range, so there isn't a lot to gain.
