Have our trucks got too much power yet?

[4x4ord]

I've often thought about all the energy being wasted with braking applications and exhaust braking on down grades. It's only a matter of time before our rvs will have electric drive axles to help hold back on the down hill while charging a battery pack so the energy can be used to help push us up the up hill sections of our journey. Instead of having 500 hp under the hood we could get by with a more fuel efficient 300 hp diesel and have another 200 hp available at our trailer axles.

[Cummins12V98]

wilber1 wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"I live in a place that has the highest gas prices in North America but relatively cheap electricity. I am seriously considering a PHEV as my next vehicle."

YEA but think about all the Salmon you will be killing.

Why? the two main salmon rivers are the Skeena and Fraser. They don't now, nor will they ever have dams on them.

Where do you think your power comes from in the NW??? Dams, they KILL Salmon.

EVIL Coal, Natural Gas or GOD forbid Nuclear!!!

No free ride and they are NOT Clean Green as many want to push.

[Lynnmor]

Fish ladders are not very effective. In my area, only about 3% make it over the ladders and then they are too tired to do a good job of breeding.

[rhagfo]

winniman wrote:

rjstractor wrote:

wilber1 wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"I live in a place that has the highest gas prices in North America but relatively cheap electricity. I am seriously considering a PHEV as my next vehicle."

YEA but think about all the Salmon you will be killing.

Why? the two main salmon rivers are the Skeena and Fraser. They don't now, nor will they ever have dams on them.

BC gets about 90% of its power from hydroelectric-from the Columbia and Peace rivers. The BC power from the Columbia doesn't harm any salmon- because the dams downstream in the states take care of that... all joking aside, it's too bad we can't (or won't) develop hydroelectric technology that allows for fish passage. Hydro power is literally solar energy.

I have been to the Bonneville Dam in the Columbia Gorge. They have fish ladders for the fish to get around the dam.

Yes, several of the dams on the lower Columbia have fish ladders, but there isn't one on the Grand Coulee dam that I know of.

[4x4ord]

^^^^ You may be right that the difference in mpg cruising down the highway might not be "that much". It would probably be 10% and overall mileage would be affected by about 15%. So in my case if I owned a smaller engine truck for 10 years I could expect to save $5500 .... I don't think it would pay for the electric axles I would want on my RV if I had the smaller engine.

[valhalla360]

4x4ord wrote:
I think the point is that a 5.0 liter turbo diesel designed to make 300 hp will use considerably less fuel moving a pickup truck down the highway at 60 mph, where the power output is only about 60 hp, than will a 6.7 liter turbo diesel designed with a low compression ratio to allow for high boost levels and a 475 hp out put doing the same job.

I suspect, you won't find that much difference when those engines are mounted in the same truck.

Now if you compare a light 1/2ton to a 1 ton dually, you are likely seeing the result of the extra weight and aerodynamics.

[winniman]

rjstractor wrote:

wilber1 wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"I live in a place that has the highest gas prices in North America but relatively cheap electricity. I am seriously considering a PHEV as my next vehicle."

YEA but think about all the Salmon you will be killing.

Why? the two main salmon rivers are the Skeena and Fraser. They don't now, nor will they ever have dams on them.

BC gets about 90% of its power from hydroelectric-from the Columbia and Peace rivers. The BC power from the Columbia doesn't harm any salmon- because the dams downstream in the states take care of that... all joking aside, it's too bad we can't (or won't) develop hydroelectric technology that allows for fish passage. Hydro power is literally solar energy.

I have been to the Bonneville Dam in the Columbia Gorge. They have fish ladders for the fish to get around the dam.

[rjstractor]

wilber1 wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"I live in a place that has the highest gas prices in North America but relatively cheap electricity. I am seriously considering a PHEV as my next vehicle."

YEA but think about all the Salmon you will be killing.

Why? the two main salmon rivers are the Skeena and Fraser. They don't now, nor will they ever have dams on them.

BC gets about 90% of its power from hydroelectric-from the Columbia and Peace rivers. The BC power from the Columbia doesn't harm any salmon- because the dams downstream in the states take care of that... all joking aside, it's too bad we can't (or won't) develop hydroelectric technology that allows for fish passage. Hydro power is literally solar energy.

[wilber1]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"I live in a place that has the highest gas prices in North America but relatively cheap electricity. I am seriously considering a PHEV as my next vehicle."

YEA but think about all the Salmon you will be killing.

Why? the two main salmon rivers are the Skeena and Fraser. They don't now, nor will they ever have dams on them.

[Cummins12V98]

"I live in a place that has the highest gas prices in North America but relatively cheap electricity. I am seriously considering a PHEV as my next vehicle."

YEA but think about all the Salmon you will be killing.

[ShinerBock]

FishOnOne wrote:

ShinerBock wrote:
While I like 500 crank hp in stock form on a diesel truck, I don't like what they will have to do to get it there to keep emissions in check. That means pushing fuel systems to their limits and adding more unreliable emissions equipment. I am more of a fan of adding reliable power after it rolls off the assembly line.

It would be nice if they added the ability to change power levels on the fly like a tuner does. When you are not towing, it is safe to run higher powered tunes and switch to lower power tunes depending on load and temps. Although, most trucks(both gas and diesel) already do this without a switch and most people don't know it.

And you have engines with the CP4.2 pump producing 400hp and less.

Based on the way they achieve their dyno numbers and pull less power under load(from my experiences), yes. There is big difference between advertising power that can only be sustained unloaded or under light load and power that can be sustained at it's heaviest rated load. There is a reason why every review site from PUTC to TFLTruck says that the Cummins, while slow unloaded(partially due to the slow shifting Aisin), is the least effected by a load.

[Groover]

Edd505 wrote:

Groover wrote:
A German company has shown an intriguing prototype.

Self propelled camper

One big advantage of a driven trailer would be the extra traction available.

A big disadvantage is that the drive train wouldn't get used nearly as much as it would in tow vehicle so payback would be much longer. However, if the system makes such that you can pull the trailer with a much smaller vehicle there could be some real advantages in that.

Isn't self propelled campers Class A/B/C's?

Only if it can operate independently. This camper just assists the vehicle towing it.

[4x4ord]

I think the point is that a 5.0 liter turbo diesel designed to make 300 hp will use considerably less fuel moving a pickup truck down the highway at 60 mph, where the power output is only about 60 hp, than will a 6.7 liter turbo diesel designed with a low compression ratio to allow for high boost levels and a 475 hp out put doing the same job.

[valhalla360]

wilber1 wrote:
A small engine at a higher power setting is more thermally efficient than a larger engine at a lower power setting. That's why the Rutan Voyager shut down its larger engine when it got to altitude and just used its smaller engine in cruise during its round the world flight.

For automotive engines...within reasonable power output ranges, once you get up above 25-30% of rated HP, there isn't a lot of efficiency gains bumping up to 70-80% of rated HP.

This is why, you see 350-400hp gas V8s that match or exceed older 250-300hp V8s...most of the time the HP generated is roughly the same, so fuel burn is pretty close to the same.

[Edd505]

Groover wrote:
A German company has shown an intriguing prototype.

Self propelled camper

One big advantage of a driven trailer would be the extra traction available.

A big disadvantage is that the drive train wouldn't get used nearly as much as it would in tow vehicle so payback would be much longer. However, if the system makes such that you can pull the trailer with a much smaller vehicle there could be some real advantages in that.

Isn't self propelled campers Class A/B/C's?

[wilber1]

bikendan wrote:

mkirsch wrote:

Bedlam wrote:
A plug in hybrid would work well as a tow vehicle, but the weight, cost and complexity makes it hard to recover any savings

Nobody ever promised any "savings" at least not any monetary ones.

You're supposed to spend as much as you can, "sacrifice" in the name of the planet, so you can show off how good of a person you are to everyone else. "See? I drive a HYBRID! It cost me a LOT of money, but I'm SAVING the planet, so it's worth it! Pat me on the back! Please?"

That's why the Prius nickname is the "Pious", because that's how their owners act.:W

Depends where you live. I live in a place that has the highest gas prices in North America but relatively cheap electricity. I am seriously considering a PHEV as my next vehicle.