Forum Discussion

  • John___Angela's avatar
    John___Angela
    Explorer
    Feb 05, 2018
    I’m kinda wondering if Tesla is using the same business approach to the semi truck side of the business as he is to the car side of the business when it comes to charging infrastructure. What I mean by this is: Right now if you look at the plug share App and look at the new charging sites that have come on line in the last few hours probably 75 percent of those are Tesla sites. Some of these are Superchargers but most are level two chargers that businesses and hotels and restaurants and parking plazas are installing. It varies depending on time of day and time zone etc but just looking at the last few hours it looks like about 100 new charge stations have come on line in the world. Hard to count because it keeps scrolling as new ones are added but I would bet 70 to 75 are Tesla. So here is an example of how it affects buying decisions. We are a few years away from replacing our Nissan Leaf. Great car and does what we need, but when we retire in a few years we want something different. We really like the new hatchback Leaf and are comparing it to the Tesla Model 3 sedan. We actually lean towards the Leaf for a few reasons. But at this point would probably buy the more expensive Tesla Model 3 for one reason. The charging infrastructure is just simply so much better. There are 7000 ish pre-ordered leafs right now. There are literally hundreds of thousands of pre ordered Tesla Model 3’s. I would think some of those are because of the better infrastructure and certainly the TMC forum supports that.

    So I am wondering if this also wouldn’t play out in the heavy and medium truck industry. The article talks about different companies collaboratings on the charging infrastructure. I can see this market approach working. Obviously there are a bunch of trucking companies testing the waters but I wonder if an established infrastructure will have an effect on purchase decision.

    Time will tell. Interesting though.
  • 8_1_Van's avatar
    8_1_Van
    Explorer
    Feb 05, 2018
    valhalla360 wrote:
    8.1 Van wrote:
    valhalla360 wrote:
    If it's a tow vehicle, I want to see it pulling something heavy for long distances.

    If you want a track day, I'd rather have a Ferrari or Lambo. Maybe a Vette if we need to keep the costs under control.

    Electric motors pulling a heavy load

    Electric motors drive the Belaz 75710 dump truck with 496 ton payload rating


    So what is the range on either of those under battery power?

    I never suggested electric motors couldn't pull heavy loads. They actually do great at it. The problem is heavy loads FOR LONG DISTANCES.

    Tesla’s next move: mega-chargers for its new Semi electric trucks
  • John___Angela's avatar
    John___Angela
    Explorer
    Feb 05, 2018
    valhalla360 wrote:
    John & Angela wrote:

    Interesting read on Norway changing all their ferries to Electric and seeing 80 percent cost savings on operating costs. No idea how that would cross to the trucking world though.


    https://newatlas.com/norway-electric-car-ferry/25756/

    Here's a link to it. A few things that jump out.

    More than 2/3 of the fuel savings appear to be due to the new lighter weight catamaran design as the old ferry runs at 1500kw and the new one at 400kw, so it's mostly about a more efficient hull design which could easily be adapted for smaller more fuel efficient diesel engines.


    Edit: Just found, it's actually a plug in hybrid, so they aren't trusting it yet.


    That's the same article I read. There are a few nations watching to see how it works out for them. Probably still lots of hurdles to overcome. I wish there had been more detail on the connecters for charging etc. Lots of speculation on how Tesla is going to do it. I'm not sure they know yet. Interesting stuff.
  • valhalla360's avatar
    valhalla360
    Navigator
    Feb 05, 2018
    John & Angela wrote:

    Interesting read on Norway changing all their ferries to Electric and seeing 80 percent cost savings on operating costs. No idea how that would cross to the trucking world though.


    https://newatlas.com/norway-electric-car-ferry/25756/

    Here's a link to it. A few things that jump out.

    More than 2/3 of the fuel savings appear to be due to the new lighter weight catamaran design as the old ferry runs at 1500kw and the new one at 400kw, so it's mostly about a more efficient hull design which could easily be adapted for smaller more fuel efficient diesel engines.

    I checked on Google Earth and it's about a 3mile run each way with charging on both ends. The run is about 20minutes (one way) and it does a run approximately every 42 minutes (34 per day) so it has 22minutes of charging between runs on average.

    This is a use case where pure electric can work though it sounds like they put in a huge amount of infrastructure to accommodate it as the chargers were too big for the small town electric infrastructure, so they have chargers constantly charging on shore battery banks which then dump thru high speed chargers to the boat battery banks.

    Edit: Just found, it's actually a plug in hybrid, so they aren't trusting it yet.
  • John___Angela's avatar
    John___Angela
    Explorer
    Feb 04, 2018
    valhalla360 wrote:
    8.1 Van wrote:
    valhalla360 wrote:
    If it's a tow vehicle, I want to see it pulling something heavy for long distances.

    If you want a track day, I'd rather have a Ferrari or Lambo. Maybe a Vette if we need to keep the costs under control.

    Electric motors pulling a heavy load

    Electric motors drive the Belaz 75710 dump truck with 496 ton payload rating


    So what is the range on either of those under battery power?

    I never suggested electric motors couldn't pull heavy loads. They actually do great at it. The problem is heavy loads FOR LONG DISTANCES.


    I think at least in the mid term the plan is not to get into the long haul market. Most of the costumers that have put down deposits are looking at the 300 to 400 mile hauls. The max range has been cited at 500 miles. There are a couple other competitors using different technologies that have expressed longer range rigs though.

    Interesting read on Norway changing all their ferries to Electric and seeing 80 percent cost savings on operating costs. No idea how that would cross to the trucking world though.
  • valhalla360's avatar
    valhalla360
    Navigator
    Feb 04, 2018
    8.1 Van wrote:
    valhalla360 wrote:
    If it's a tow vehicle, I want to see it pulling something heavy for long distances.

    If you want a track day, I'd rather have a Ferrari or Lambo. Maybe a Vette if we need to keep the costs under control.

    Electric motors pulling a heavy load

    Electric motors drive the Belaz 75710 dump truck with 496 ton payload rating


    So what is the range on either of those under battery power?

    I never suggested electric motors couldn't pull heavy loads. They actually do great at it. The problem is heavy loads FOR LONG DISTANCES.
  • Ralph_Cramden's avatar
    Ralph_Cramden
    Explorer II
    Feb 02, 2018
    I hear Marcus Lemonis has a contest going also for signing up the most members to Good Sam. If you win you get to drag a Forest River trailer behind a Thor MH over 500 miles of frost heaved washboard road in the Yukon, and see if anything is left of either when you arrive LOL.

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