Tesla is thinking of making a Van. B plus MOHO?

[Reisender]

Elon says they are thinking about making a van when they catch up on battery capacity. It might work for a B plus motorhome. Access to the Supercharger network could give it an edge.

https://electrek.co/2021/02/11/elon-musk-tesla-electric-van-solar-powered-deployable-roof/

[Reisender]

Bordercollie wrote:
From what I have seen, car batteries for EV's consist of lots of little cylindrical batteries that add up in weight. As an RC modeler I use "Lipo" batteries that are quite expensive and require careful, slow, balanced charging. They require discharging to storage level 3.8 volts per cell. If we crash a model and damage a battery pack it may become unsafe to use or store. It may be that EP car batteries use safer, more robust, chemistries and the above may be or become irrelevant. It seems that miles between recharges is still a concern to EV users.

A concern sure. A problem? Depends what car you bought and expect it to do. An 800 kilometer road trip in our EV takes about the same as it did in our Grand Cherokee. We haven’t gone much further than that so can’t say. For us that’s all we need it to do. Different folks have different needs.

[Bordercollie]

From what I have seen, car batteries for EV's consist of lots of little cylindrical batteries that add up in weight. As an RC modeler I use "Lipo" batteries that are quite expensive and require careful, slow, balanced charging. They require discharging to storage level 3.8 volts per cell. If we crash a model and damage a battery pack it may become unsafe to use or store. It may be that EP car batteries use safer, more robust, chemistries and the above may be or become irrelevant. It seems that miles between recharges is still a concern to EV users.

[Gjac]

From my experience in aircraft design when ever a new piece of equipment is added to the existing airframe it adds a lot of weight because the surrounding airframe has to be beefed up to support the added item. However when the paper is blank the required item like an antenna for example can be integrated in the the structure for a lot less weight. So an antenna can be part of the structure, be an antenna and a grab handle all at the same time. Having said all that I think the only way that an electric RV can save weight is to integrate the batteries and other electrical stuff say into the initial design of the box beam frame for example or making the RV shell where the outside layer of fiber glass is replaced with a bonded on solar panel film thus reducing the over all weight. I don't know enough about solar to understand if the panels are getting more efficient as a function of time like Moore's Law in electronics or not. I know cost has come down over time has the efficiency improved also? If so can solar add much charging to the batteries to make it worth while in 5 years? 10 years? any years?

[time2roll]

Rick Jay wrote:

time2roll wrote:
Battery should last 20+ years and currently prices are still dropping.

I know this is an apples to oranges comparison, but if those "20+ years" of expected battery life are anything like the "22+ years" some of my LED replacement light bulbs promised me on the package, we're going to be in trouble. LOL

I've changed probably 20-25% of the LED bulbs I've installed since I converted our sticks & bricks house to LEDs about 4-5 years ago. And they didn't get bounced around on New England's famous pot-hole filled roads for 6 months of the year!

Just saying! 🙂

~Rick

ALL my home LED and RV LED lamps are still working. Some more than a decade.

Even if you have a few fail you have collectively saved enough electricity to pay for replacements. LED bulbs will definitely pay for themselves in direct costs. An EV maybe not so much.

You did not go back to incandescent did you?

[pianotuna]

Rick Jay wrote:
I've changed probably 20-25% of the LED bulbs I've installed since I converted our sticks & bricks house to LEDs about 4-5 years ago. And they didn't get bounced around on New England's famous pot-hole filled roads for 6 months of the year!

Just saying! 🙂

~Rick

Rick you may have an over voltage problem at your home.

I've changed just one led out of 34 bulbs in a five year time span. That one started to flicker. My bulbs came from a dollar store.

[Rick_Jay]

time2roll wrote:
Battery should last 20+ years and currently prices are still dropping.

I know this is an apples to oranges comparison, but if those "20+ years" of expected battery life are anything like the "22+ years" some of my LED replacement light bulbs promised me on the package, we're going to be in trouble. LOL

I've changed probably 20-25% of the LED bulbs I've installed since I converted our sticks & bricks house to LEDs about 4-5 years ago. And they didn't get bounced around on New England's famous pot-hole filled roads for 6 months of the year!

Just saying! 🙂

~Rick

[time2roll]

Bordercollie wrote:
If weight and cost of batteries, plus power consumption to quick charge vehicles can be greatly reduced, electric power may become a viable alternative. I shudder to think of handling curvy mountain roads in an extremely heavy motorhome and paying for a new set of batteries when needed.

Have you driven an EV? They actually 'feel' lighter and handle better due to the lower center of gravity. Battery should last 20+ years and currently prices are still dropping.

[Bordercollie]

If weight and cost of batteries, plus power consumption to quick charge vehicles can be greatly reduced, electric power may become a viable alternative. I shudder to think of handling curvy mountain roads in an extremely heavy motorhome and paying for a new set of batteries when needed.

[Reisender]

Bordercollie wrote:
Somebody make the electro-power fanatics aware that motorhomes only average some 5000 miles per year and that "replacing" gas and diesel powered motorhomes with much more expensive, and much heavier, electric powered ones would not greatly improve the environment.

Yah. I don’t think manufacturers will build EVRV’s for environmental reasons. It will end up being for performance reasons when the technology allows.

[Bordercollie]

Somebody make the electro-power fanatics aware that motorhomes only average some 5000 miles per year and that "replacing" gas and diesel powered motorhomes with much more expensive, and much heavier, electric powered ones would not greatly improve the environment.

[time2roll]

pianotuna wrote:
MDKMKD,

He has spun his way into being a billionaire.

Spin? There is actually a small factory now.

[pianotuna]

Here is an interesting idea:

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1118496_german-rv-maker-builds-electric-camping-trailer

[MDKMDK]

pianotuna wrote:
MDKMKD,

He has spun his way into being a billionaire.

If you say so, Don.

He might tell you that he's also an engineer/economist/physicist, and he became a billionaire as one of the founders of PayPal which eBay bought for $1.5B, long before he became the ecclectic, and some would say eccentric, CEO of Tesla and founder of Spacex. The early victories weren't achieved by spin, it was mostly innovative thinking, with some hard work, in the right place, at the right time. The spin started when people like Obama/Gore canonized him for the electric cars thing, about 10 years ago. As the billionaire (Greta Thunberg 1.0), he managed to get all kinds of government handouts. That was the spin part.

[rjstractor]

Tesla has certainly become a very profitable company, but as of late much of Tesla's profit comes from selling regulatory credits, not cars. FCA is spending as much as 2 billion in 2020 and 21 buying regulatory credits from Tesla. As far as a camper van, Ford's eTransit will be on the market in about a year. I don't know if it will be offered in a cab and chassis or just a cargo van.