Future of the diesel?

[BurbMan]

Good article from Ward's Auto that gives a good global overview on the diesel market with interviews from big brand executives.

Interesting commentary that electric powertrains are angling to replace the diesel as the preferred torque monsters for towing....not sure how you get enough battery life to pull a 15k 5er up a pass in the Rockies though....no question that an electric traction motor will out-torque a diesel, but the electric trains around here run on 750v AC power, not on-board batteries.

Link to Article

[Chris_Bryant]

Nikola motors has a hydrogen fuel cell tractor- 1200 mile range, 1000 horsepower- software limited because of tire limitations.

[thomasmnile]

rjstractor wrote:
The scary stuff about hybrid battery replacement has turned out to be largely urban legend. My son drives an Escape hybrid with over 160,000 miles on the original battery with no decline in performance.

Now if they could only make a lithium ion battery with a decent lifespan in a smartphone, especially since more and more of them come with integrated, not consumer replaceable batteries. :B

[horton333]

BurbMan wrote:
but the electric trains around here run on 750v AC power, not on-board batteries.

Most diesel electric trains have a generator off the diesel to run the electric traction motors. I'd expect to see the same on large trucks as fuel costs go up and the larger the truck the more likely, and the batteries really only need to run for a couple of minutes if they are added to the equation to make a significant fuel improvement.

[rjstractor]

The scary stuff about hybrid battery replacement has turned out to be largely urban legend. My son drives an Escape hybrid with over 160,000 miles on the original battery with no decline in performance. Prius batteries routinely go 200,000+ and can be reconditioned for as little as $1500, far cheaper than a set of diesel injectors. But I will admit that hybrids may not fare so well in the RV world. The key to the long battery life is the controller maintaining a state of charge between a fairly narrow range. For more power on long pulls you may have to draw the battery down much more, resulting in shorter battery life.

[donn0128]

I can see a hybrid, aka Prius using a small diesel motor running at a constant speed supplying power to a large battery bank in turn feeding an electric motor. Cost is still going to be the biggest hurdle. DD had a Honda hybrid for a while. When she found out how expensive a replacement battery pack cosg and how often it would need replacing..... well lets just say the hybrid went away pretty fast.