smkettner wrote:
06Fargo wrote:
So why don't trucking companies use a couple light weight Eco motors:
remove 1 big heavy expensive oil change diesel that makes 450hp & 1650lb-ft of torque that doesn't matter...
replace with 2 x 365HP Eco's that would make 730hp, but still deliver 420lbs-ft of torque down the drive line... but that doesn't matter - so this arrangement will "smoke" the big lazy 15 litre ISX ...
right?
Think of the payload increase getting that 3000lbs diesel out of there...
The change will come with a 400 hp electric motor combined with a smaller diesel or even natural gas. Electric will draw on the lithium battery to climb and will be used to recharge and provide braking on the decent.
I think Greyhound had some buses with two engines back in the 1960s. Apparently that did not pan out for low cost.
About 10 years or so ago I recall reading an article in Popular Mechanics about gas electric power for a Class 8 highway tractor. It used a Chevy 4300cc industrial V6 (the old Chevy V8 with 2 cylinders cut off ) engine. The 4.3 V6 charged large batteries that powered a large powerful electric motor that powered the class 8 .
The 4.3 Chevy didn't do the heavy work of moving 80,000 lbs of load....the electric motor did that. The Chevy engine charged the batteries that powered the electric motor.
Again kind of like a diesel electric in a train locomotive. The beauty was that the only liquid fuel used was for the Chevy engine. From what I recall, I think the Chevy engine wasn't running all the time, it only ran when the batteries were low. I think there might of been also a charging system that worked...without the V6...that charged the batteries when the truck was moving.
I read this article about a decade ago, so I can't attest to the accuracy of my recollection.
Also, wonder why this locomotive idea...didn't catch on for for highway tractors' motive power ?
Les
