Heavy Duty Electric Trucks are Coming...
I saw this article yesterday. An all electric truck with a 35,000lb towing capacity and a 5000lb payload capacity. They are discussing quad cab and dually versions as well. Range (unloaded presumably)...
Forum Discussion
Eric&Lisa wrote:adamis wrote:
...If I was on the road full time doing 1600 miles a month, I'm looking at $600 alone in fuel costs. At some point, it's going to be cheaper to finance a loan on an electric truck than it will be to put fuel in my 7.3. I suspect this will be the reality for many people over the coming decade as fuel costs continue to increase.
The assumption here is the electricity is free or negligible cost. I guarantee that one nanosecond after the first all-electric RV hauler hits the market that campgrounds will immediately ban them or automatically charge more money for them.
A quick look at Tesla's web page... A 240v/50a charger gives them 20-30 miles per charge hour. A 120/15a charger gives 2-3 miles per charge hour. So let's assume a truck chassis allows for enough battery packs for the truck to get that same 400 mile range the diesel truck gets on a tank of gas. With a full 240v hookup, that is a solid 13 hours to charge. With a 120v hookup, that is 133 hours to charge. Time to stop for the night. With a diesel or gasser, you fill up at 400 miles, switch drivers, and keep going.
No, I don't see electric truck for recreational usage anytime soon. Probably more of a limited market for your local contractor who does all his jobs within 50 miles of home base.
-Eric
I agree that RV parks might have something to say about charging but I'm sure they would be happy to start charging a little extra as well.
Overnight charging isn't going to be a thing from an RV park without serious infrastructure work but the math works out for different types of uses. At 1600 miles a month, that's four 400 mile drives in 30 days. At 133 hours to charge (on a 120v, 30amp service), that comes to 5.5 days of charging to go 400 miles. Doing that 4 times (to cover 1600 miles) is 22 days of charging plus the 4 days of driving leaving enough days in the month to make this plausible. Now whether one is comfortable staying for 5 days at each RV park is another question...
I personally like more remote campgrounds where 30amp service is an exception rather than the rule but 400 miles of range and careful planning still makes it plausible. What I would like to see is a drop in kit to go in the frunk that would be a fuel cell for generating electricity efficiently to extend the range. I could find a remote campground, park for 2 or 3 days while the fuel cell does it's thing and gives me the range to comfortably drive out to the next high amp charging station.
I also am very skeptical of their 15 min charging time. I don't think it is realistic but fast charging is still in development and considering how far it's progressed in just 5 years, who knows where it will be in another 5.
