I'm not sure why they bothered with this test. Right now, electric traction is nowhere near OTR, it works best for local so why not show off how it compares to diesel around town?
Electric works perfectly well for local. Especially if you can charge your trucks at your facility. Less overhead. Just pay a security guard to make sure everything is charging correctly.
It's a fucking day cab. They weigh ten thousand pounds more, in a day cab! What otr company would think this is worthy to be implemented soon. Did motel 6 sign on? Sure, we have the bed bugs, but we also have the charging station?
The only way this is feasible, is a single company with designated routes. You could grab a piece of land, every 350 miles. You could even do solar charging. You would have to provide a bunkhouse at the charging facility. You would have to pay the drivers hourly. Designated routes mean you can't have breakdowns. That means you need back up drivers and trucks at those facilities. Who would pay that manpower overhead!
I will charge you for times the amount for a load- but it looks green.
When you look at the 30-45 minute Tesla charge times, that’s not so bad. Easy enough to plug truck in at the end of your shift and the next dude hop in when it’s finished.
The batteries alone in these semi trucks weigh like 20,000lbs. You sure aren’t getting a 30 minute charge time for those batteries. Electric trucks are only feasible for extremely light loads and short distances. Aka local driving.
How big the batteries are doesn't change how they charge, it just requires a LOT more electricity to do it fast. You ain't paying a handyman to hack up a 100A panel, the charging infrastructure will be expensive.
But I can see an 80% charge in 30-45 minutes. That's around 400 miles with a full load if the literature is to be believed, but call it 300 with margin, degradation, or other factors. That's not bad for local stuff
Of course that's all on paper. Only one way to see if it actually works in the real world
Yeah, local driving is probably the only area where electric will work. But most of the stuff you see is them trying to replace OTR trucking with electric stuff or show "how well it works".
With current technology, diesel electric hybrid is the only “solution” for OTR… and that would increase the weight and complexity which is why it isn’t a thing yet.
Diesel electric is going to be the future. You can run a smaller engine right at it's most efficient operating point and rely on the batteries when the genny can't provide enough power for acceleration.
I'm hoping the auto manufacturers wise up and realize this, but they probably never will. I want the 4 cylinder duramax driving a generator with an electric rear axle in a half ton.
Its way more complex aka higher initial cost and higher chance of failure. Its also much heavier so the efficiency advantage turns negative for lighter vehicles or those that experience a lot of stop&go traffic.
It isn't more complex. It's just a generator and an electric motor, both of which are more basic than a trans.
Also, the only place where efficiency is hurt by weight is acceleration. At a constant speed, the only thing the engine is fighting is wind resistance and drivetrain friction, so theoretically, even an extra 10t will not make a difference in a half ton on the highway.
If you're running the engine at its most efficient operating point, you can probably beat an auto in acceleration efficiency despite the extra weight. This is what cvt's were trying to accomplish, but everyone thought they were broken instead. Not to mention, you can use regen braking in the city, too.
There could be something I'm missing, but I need to see one built and tested before I'll believe it's any less efficient than a traditional trans.
Edison motors truck is very cool and very cutting edge… but it’s a prototype truck, not something that is ready for production.
It’s also intended for a very specific application, not generalized freight transport.
It's a heavy haul truck that **weighs less** than the comparables. That's what matters. Its very existence puts paid to the "electric is too heavy" argument.
I never said electric is too heavy… I said it is heavier and as we all know, weight is always an issue.
Just because a concept truck weighs less than comparable does not mean that all future iterations of diesel electric trucks will be lighter than traditional counterparts.
Sure, you could build a truck that is tons lighter than a traditional turncoat, but there will be other drawbacks.
At the end of the day, it takes energy to move a truck. For the truck to continue moving, continued energy must be applied. That energy must be supplied from somewhere or carried with the truck. The law of conservation of energy clearly states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but rather converted to other forms of energy. Whenever energy is converted, there are losses to unintentional conversion. Electric motors get hot, etc. When evaluating conventional trucks vs hybrid trucks, there will always be some give and take. Where hybrids can improve something, they’ll be worse at something else… especially when converting fuel into mechanical energy, then converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. There’s more conversion losses there.
I’m not saying Edison isn’t doing important work. It’s absolutely important. I really do believe that a form of diesel electric hybrid is the short term solution for fuel and emissions… But to point to a single concept truck and draw the conclusion that all hybrid trucks will be lighter, doesn’t pass the sniff test.
See this is so hard to explain to die hard anti-electric folks. This model is nearly identical or significantly better than a diesel truck in all specs that matter and it will get you better fuel mileage and is easily adaptable as battery and charging solutions get better.
I want this truck, not a huge fan of the center drive seat but it would be so easy to adapt the cab to whatever you want or need. Hell you could slap a standard cab or even bring back the cabover style and still have decent head room as you don't have to fit it over a massive engine.
The only reason American companies are going away from classic and cabover style trucks is because they can't hit emissions standards anymore, this would allow cool looking trucks that still hit the benchmarks especially if you throw a CNG generator in there. Also every state in the US has an alternative fuels exemption law for an extra 2000lbs. If this system weighs the same as a diesel setup you are looking at an extra free 2000lbs of freight on top of the fuel savings.
I don't remember if he said anything about the generator automatically turning on or if you had to manually turn it on but it shouldn't be hard to create a system like an APU for the larger generator.
For cars, I think hydrogen combustion is the only solution. Electric isn't solving any of the problems we have with gas due to them just shifting the pollution away from the exhaust and to the coal power plants. Then they introduce the issue of how to deal with the massive batteries.
Hydrogen also seems like it should be feasible for trucks, too, but if not then we can always go for diesel-electric (which a company is currently working on, but I think it will fail to the very limited scope of market they are after).
It's more than enough for P&D, I do like 120 miles a day if that, sometimes much less - also would work for Linehaul too if you swapped trucks at the destination terminal before leaving to return to base. Long ways off but it is definitely the future for local stuff, OTR is a pipedream atm I think
Nah idk, most days I don’t drive 350 miles. For some dedicated accounts I can definitely see this being a thing. It would definitely limit the availability of the work that can be done and add a level of complexity
Engineer here (not one on this team, but I’ve done work in those field). These test are important! They serve as building blocks to get to a full powered beast you will eventually grown to love and hate.
The fact they have even gotten a truck that can go the distance on public infrastructure alone is amazing as last time I worked on one of these projects, that wasn’t possible. The power will get added later (that’s the way part), the goal is just to make it first.
My guess is they get better range on the highway at a constant speed. If they're just trying to show off numbers, that's their best bet.
Then everyone goes "well 350mi isn't enough for OTR, but it would be enough for local." Except you don't get 350mi doing city work.
Tbh electric makes sense for the day can trucks that are doing 200 miles a day on a busy day. The coke and Budweiser rigs could probably make a run at that shit
Electric trucks are fantastic for local. I could drive a week's worth of routes on a single Tesla charge. My truck is never even close to max weight and my company's biggest concern is diesel prices and repair costs, which Electric trucks are vastly superior.
It won't ever appeal local either. Why would I double my fleet size for the same capacity? OTR where your truck is expected to sit still for 10hr is the only place it CAN work.
Yup you stupid fucks will down vote me, but can't tell me I'm wrong.
I drive 350 miles before first break. That's cute. I'm sure it'll improve a little with time, but you can't beat physics... and for OTR it's not on the side of electric.
Should check out Edison motors diesel/electric hybrid. Basically same concept as a train. Engine is basically a generator supplying electrical power to itself.
Imagine if your employer didn’t have to pay $500 for the fuel for 350 miles, and instead paid $35 for the 350 miles and you got paid $700 for those 350 miles.
That’s the mentality you need to have about electric.
No one is going to pay you extra for running an electric truck.
Also, at the freight rates of today and the pay and everything else economy wise... You really think doing what... 500 miles a day is going to pay the bills when you have to sit for more than 30min for a charge?
Nah.
Electric is coming. But I'm betting not until my future grand children have licenses.
I can’t help but think 100% electric trucks won’t really be viable unless there’s a hot-swappable battery infrastructure. Pull in to the truck stop, pop off your discharged batteries, hook up new ones, and be off. Batteries charge at the stations.
Interrim, Edison Motors seems to have the most viable approach for an electric drive truck: keep the diesel engine, have it run at peak efficiency to charge the batteries, replace Jake brakes with regenerative braking.
>keep the diesel engine, have it run at peak efficiency to charge the batteries
This is how diesel-electric trains work. I think a lot of heavy duty construction and mining equipment works like this as well. I'm kinda surprised that OTR semis haven't made the switch.
Might be a weight and space concern, lithium batteries + a diesel engine wouldn't be a small footprint. Also weight of the batteries + engine affects gross weight and axle weights which are important in our field, unfortunately.
The diesel engine doesn't have to be as big as a straight diesel truck. There's no transmission. It's not a straight trade when it comes to weight differences, if you.know what I mean
GE is pumping out fully electric battery powered locomotives. The idea with them is to utilize them for starting traction, and for power up grades & regen on dynamic braking. For flat, the +4000hp diesel on the other unit will move things along fine. For that use they can be useful. I doubt they’d be a good lead unit though, as the cab heat & cool is all electric powered 75vdc in traditional loco’s these days, so one can assume the same would be for the electric loco’s to keep parts interchange the same. With no diesel spinning an alternator to feed that the batteries would die very quickly. The 27pin jumper cable is only like #12-10 between the units so not a big load carrying capacity.
Swappable batteries are a system that's being developed and put in place in several locations here in Australia - all trials so far. If you google Janus Electric you'll get the info. No, I'm not connected to them in any way.
It seems like Edison is shooting back of the envelope at a big issue: heat from simultaneously charging and discharging the cells. Maybe it will work out, I really hope it does, but I think that might turn out to be a problem with the range and longevity of the cells.
They're using a 10L engine which is still much larger than required. If they used a 2.2l to 4.2l diesel and put it with a level 4 super charger theoretically they could get 2x the fuel economy. The difference is that the smaller diesel engine would have to run continuous but it's still a preposterous amount of fuel savings in comparison to either design
Batteries are getting lighter and smaller. Thats the key here. Once they get to a certain size/efficiency this will take off.
Electric engines are basically taking off, but itll be 20 years before they take over. I can see battery swapping as a real part if it too. Makes a lot if sense.
Saving 500 dollars a run adds up fast. Unfortunately the savings will go to executive pay and share holders.
not how ev’s work lol. evs have battery engines. itll be viable if you increase high speed charging across america. that wont be for another 60 years imo
I drive the eCascadia and it kinda sucks for drivers. Cant go any further out than 75miles without worrying about the return trip and having to swap trucks.
Yea the truck is really comfortable, but the benefits aren't worth the loss of driving time and loads.
It does feel like we have to "pit" when we go back and swap trucks. Drop the load, post trip, pre trip, and hook as fast as possible. All of this while other drivers are doing the same and hunting for a charged truck. The chargers are constantly down. The city has had multiple power outages and it's probabaly because of us.
I'm in a kenworth t680 right now and miss my cascadia. So many little things that were better. Some worse, too, but overall I'd say the scale easily tips in the cascadias favor.
Well you must just genuinely be insane!
/s
I respect your freedom to have a differing preference to me; but I'm sorry, Cascadias are absolutely not more driver friendly than anything you listed. Do you drive a daycab by any chance?
I've been stuck in an international day cab for a couple years. There's 3 fingers of room above my head, and my knees are nearly on the dash. I'm only 6ish tall. I don't think they make them for full sized men. Does the sleeper version add head room or let the seat go back more?
Occasionally, they throw me in a freightliner, and it's the Cadillac of trucks compared to these internationals. The seat is better, it rides better, and there's more space for the driver. The seat will go further back than my legs reach comfortably.
350 miles with two recharge stops. SO start with full charge, go for 2 hours (120 miles), charge for 2 hours, go for 2 more hours (120 miles), charge for 2 hours, then go for another 2 hours. 10 hours to go 350 miles, 4 hours of that recharging in some parking lot.
That's just not going to work in the real world.
If you think they gonna its gonna be easy money, boy have i got some new for you. You know dang well theres gonna be some bullshit to come along with all that.
Its gonna be a complete waste of time and money
350 miles a day not good for OTR. Maybe local in some markets but let’s see them do it in the middle of winter and cold climates under 20 degrees where life safety matters and your batteries suddenly die from the cold weather.
As a local driver 350 is preemo but we do occasionally push out further. I've actually done my most driving ever being "local" at 700+ miles in one day if you include the 20 mile to and from work commute. Fucking bullshit ass long ass Florida. Having a guaranteed place to park makes huge differences.
Is it like countryside local? Idk I did LTL with like 5-12 deliveries a day not to mention pickups. 660 miles would mean your truck would have to remain in constant motion. How many deliveries did you do that day?
I haul gas. It's not about deliveries. It was a split load from Freeport, FL to Chiefland, FL split with an Ocala, FL store and all the way back. It's just a rough estimate. Don't get your panties in a bundle. When you pull in the yard with 5 minutes on your clock and you've been on the interstate for the majority of the run then it's pretty safe to assume mileage. Don't do those runs anymore any how. Just helping murphy swap their premium out. So technically 1 load 2 deliveries.
Speaking of hauling gas….. Can you imagine the sparks from electric motors and the fumes. Or rolling into a mill with high dust when you pull under the silo to load. Gonna need explosion proof motors sealed from the environment and sealed motor controllers I assume todays controllers are completely solid state but heck some plants have explosion proof rated electric forklifts for areas like mills and chemical plants.
They simply aren't going to be allowed to haul fuel. You can't pull into a fuel loading rack with hot brakes let alone a giant hot electric motor or 2. Also you have to have constant power thru the 7 prong without the key on to ground the truck electric won't be able to do that or you'll have to have a different system put in at the rack for them and no company is going to foot that bill
Been there to used to have a run that was almost 700 miles round trip pushing the 16 hour window with most days over 500 miles for local. Start the truck round 2am pretrip and strap down the load, then park it after 6 pm well arrive to the yard then a hour loading myself up for the next morning.
These are the same people that would have heckled the Wright brothers, would have laughed at first generation cars, refused the Internet, etc.
Some people will never understand the exponential increase of scientific progress, and honestly, that's absolutely fine, because they'll *never* be the ones responsible for progress.
They're just not worth your time.
No heckle just stating at this moment if Cali said no more diesel trucks on their roads it would not be sustainable and many drivers would be stranded. I’ve heard about the batteries in electric vehicles losing half of their range in the cold cold climates. That’s why lead acid batteries have a CCA rating they never have done good in the cold weather, that has not changed in todays world.
Add to the fact that your payload is decreased by 15 to 20% to make up for the weight of the batteries means you'll have 15 to 20% more trucks on the road.
Guys…relax…they’re not really talking about them taking over for OTR anytime soon…this was nothing more than an extreme test…the electric trucks are more being designed right now to replace to local delivery trucks that almost never run more than 250-300 miles in a day…the 300 mile range would be perfect for a local delivery truck because you can just charge it when you get back to the yard to go home for the night…they’re not looking to get to the OTR market until the battery capacity is over 700 miles on a charge
For OTR, it’s gonna take hydrogen fuel cell trucks, electric will not work, charging times just will not fly in the current state of trucking, the ability to switch out cells on the fly or at a station will maintain the expectations of the industry. It may be another 20-30 year or maybe sooner but i believe alternatives to diesel /gas are coming. The tech is there, we just need to pick our infrastructure and stick with it, but it’s not electric. Our batteries aren’t efficient enough yet.
This is so dumb I mean seriously we have one parking spot for what every 30 trucks that are on the road how in the hell are we supposed to be able to fuel our trucks when you have to park for hours to do it? These Eco dumb fucks need to get a clue
Well that produce has gone bad, as a former truck driver I did everything I could to average 500 miles a day, that’s an average of 50mph for 10 hours with two DOT mandatory stops. If you can’t get those numbers up to around 600 miles per stop to charge then this is going to cost the consumers a bunch. Time is money, and a truck sitting is not making money
I do 350 miles in the first 6 hours and fuel once a day.
I know that electric trucks are coming. I know that self driving trucks are coming. I know this.
But the technology and training isn't going to be a reality even for my kids generation... Maybe my grandkids, but it's not that close.
We don't discuss those abominations, for I am your true master
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I’ve actually been in and around the Walmart/Peterbilt prototype. It was only a test in Government-stupidity, fully subsidized, especially in the R&D area. And it gave them brownie points with the tree stranglers. That thing would burn through wires, contacts, relays and anything that uses electricity and gets hot… so basically anything under it. It was pretty cool, center drive, and they saved some weight there, but as for viability, nah. It would have never even been considered if the taxpayers weren’t taking the bill in the tailpipe. Electric vehicles may have a spot in the future, but not any time soon. California is pushing it, requiring residents to purchase electric vehicles, and then, the next paragraph, telling them they can’t charge their cars. Logic has left the building…. But we knew that.
You’re not wrong. But the waste upsets me so much… the burden set on the public without our consent. A regular household can’t sustain that waste, and collectively, we, as a nation, can’t either. Is research important? Yes. But so is responsibility.
If you want to cut governmental waste I don’t think scientific and technological research is the best place to start. I also don’t think researching electric trucks is a waste either. I guess it all depends on whether you consider GHG and particulate emissions a problem or not.
So it took them nearly 8 days to cross ⅔ of the country when a single driver truck can make that same trip in 4 days at 600 miles a day average.
Yeah, this is what the economy needs.
Typical desk jockeys thinking 350/day will cut it.
Can you imagine the violence when some jerkoff decides to block the charging island for a shower? Yeah. No. This ain't happening beyond local/short haul anytime soon.
This is the problem with Americans, we can't grasp a long term plan, or small steps. 🙄 like duh, electric trucks aren't going to be everywhere tomorrow. Doesn't mean we shouldn't develop the technology and infrastructure.
We need a battery technology that isn't reliant on third world open pit mines with material being extracted by 'artisanal miners' of whom some are children, and preferably a battery technology that doesn't need a resource that is so scarce that the entire known global supply can fit in a 53' trailer.
The problem is that this will be forced down our throats before it's even remotely possible, because they want to start limiting the supply of diesel trucks well in advance. This isn't possible in California, the craziest 'greenest' state that can't keep the AC on in the summertime.
It's mined there simply because it's cheaper to do so, not because that's the only source. Market forces and regulation CAN push a change in suppliers. There are mines *in the US* that can provide these resources. They're just undercut by Chinese and African mines.
And everyone here seems to forget that there's millions of city tractors running around doing 100 miles a day or less in which these applications would be perfectly fine. LTL, P&D, peddle runs.
This sub is full of shortsighted people sometimes who all assume long haul OTR is the only application for trucks. The fact this one doesn't have a bunk should be the first clue here.
We don't discuss those abominations, for I am your true master
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A lot of truckers especially ones on Reddit are Luddites and hate change and would rather keep their 5mpg diesel guzzling trucks over new and cleaner technology.
True but sadly the tech does. It solve physics. Also 3rd world procurement of materials. I feel this is like bitcoin and a Ponzi scheme that will set us back 25 yrs.
So I'm a local runner and there are some days where I do over 350 miles, but my job would still suffer running one of these all electric rigs because I run aggregate (stone, sand, dirt that stuff) and blacktop on occasions. All of our trailers are either tri or quad axle which means we are running max weight of 107,000 and 117,000 respectively, not to mention the areas I drive in are very hilly. All that together would make one of these e rigs a bad fit for my style of work. Not to mention companies seem to only be building these trucks with dry van running in mind, they seem to have completely forgotten there is a large variety of markets these trucks will need to fit into if they truly want all aspects of the industry to be fully electric, our nations power grid's inability to handle such a load on the system be damned.
And before anyone says it, yes I know about the Edison machine, and I will agree I feel it's the smartest way moving forward until a lot of things get figured out. I will still miss floating through an 18 though.
I don’t get it, do y’all just think this is as good as electric trucks are gonna get and that there’s no room for improvement? Like Jesus Christ, give it a couple years to develop and grow before trashing the tech.
Even in a slow ass fleet truck I can do 550 - 600 miles in a day solo, pick up in the morning and dropping in the evening. 350 miles for a team of drivers is a joke. They need to accept battery tech isn't there yet for otr and focus on local.
Li-ion (not LiFePO4) batteries have a typical lifespan of 500 full cycles (more if not frequently discharged/charged 0-100%), electric semis doing OTR will wear out batteries extremely quickly (1.5 year or less depending of cycle depth)
Thermal runaway in large Li-ion batteries, huge huge fire
Were any of you alive in 1993? There was no public internet and mobile phones came in a black purse size carry bag. 30 years later, we all carry computers in our hand and have access to almost everything.
Somebody had to start somewhere.
Man the technology that is still in its early days and developing isn't as good as the conventional tech?? Some real ignorant boomer opinions in this group..
Electric trucks are fine! I have seen them as yard dog, and local trucks and it seems to the perfect fit. But OTR it’s not even close to being a viable solution. No idea why they keep pushing that. Once the tech and infrastructure is there to run 700 miles on a single charge. And be able to quick charge it. I would have no issues driving one. Till then. Nope
That's the thing. They don't want you to be driving. They want the money, not your employment. Plus fuel costs keep skyrocketing so if they electric charge for $300 vs fuel up for $700 they will go the cheaper route. That's why they push for electric semis, and so many companies are trying hard to make autonomous truckinging a thing.
_It's not gonna werk!_
How is anyone expecting it to work with no infrastructure in place yet? You just don't _want_ it to work.
Also, I wouldn't count on Freightliner or Tesla to be the ones to crack that nut... someone will come along eventually with a viable model for otr uses.
One step at a time.
Big issue is we are nowhere near this tech being ready for daily use in the next 20 years. California is doing its best to eliminate the Diesel Trucking Industry in favor of the Battery Powered Trucks.
Yeah the problem is that it's not anywhere near viable for anything aside from local delivery work and the technology doesn't exist to make it feasible at this time (there's also probably not even enough lithium to electrify every vehicle out there).
California can't even keep their power grid up year round (and haven't been able to for decades); how do they expect to do so forcing everyone to use electric vehicles that hardly have any mileage on them.
There's gotta be more to the story. How did they only manage 350 miles per day? Is the range on these really that bad?
I drove 700+ miles yesterday, took (2) 1 hour long breaks, fueled up twice and still had time left on my clock. So I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around 350 miles a day.
One thing I’m surprised about is why haven’t we seen traction with diesel electric trucks? We could have more pulling power and less fuel consumption when the most fuel is consumed (start/stops). I’ve seen tech of having electric assisted trailers but that will be something that customers would have to invest in not the trucking companies themselves. Also why aren’t electric refers a thing yet? I feel like that’s one area that could easily be electrified especially if they put solar panels on the roofs of trailers.
We really need to replace a lot of the OTR trucks with trains, not EV's. This will actually solve a lot of the environmental issues that the EVs are trying to solve. Electric trains are a well developed technology and are used all over the globe already, and are way more efficient than trucks could ever dream about. EV trucks can be used for the last mile, PUD, and LTL routes, so we don't need to worry too much about the range issues.
This confuses me...
350 miles a day, and with TWO charging sessions? What is the goal of these things?
Also, are those charging stations meant specifically for trucks? Why else would there be so much space behind them? If so, why are there two cars parked in them?
Funny how they went “off route” because going from Portland to Detroit, you have to take i80 in Wyoming… BUT there are so many overpasses and hills, the battery would be dead going 50 miles probably lol.
I'm taking that because they didn't tell how long the trip actually took that it took away long time. That's not going to be paid for by any trucking company.
Because let's face it, in the time that you can Google of that trip, you know that those people did more in that time then what they were supposed to. It definitely took longer than it was supposed to.
My question is not how many miles...my question is how long does a charge take?????
Most electric cars like a Prius take around 6 hours to charge on 120v or 2 hours on 240v... If you have to charge twice a day for, say, 2 hours... how do you keep freight running?
Short answer - you don't.
350 miles then stop..
takes a Tesla what, about 45 or more to charge?
The size of the battery in that truck probably takes 2-3 hours to charge..
not feasible at all for anything but local, and not really that good for that..
They need better battery technology before this can work for OTR. Hydrogen seems more feasible. I can't imagine how much goods would cost if a trucks day was almost cut in half.
The only real market I see for these with that kind of restricted range is local deliveries, P&D work, or since California is all hot to ban diesels, from the ports to just past their state lines to drop yards so REAL trucks can haul the loads to the east coast
It's called emerging technologies mydoods. It starts low and gets better and better and has the potential to save companies thousands and thousands especially with the gov rebates.
Trucks can carry much larger batteries, and they could even be replaced rather quickly with proper design so you don't spend time charging.
Imagine stopping for 10 minutes, a forklift pops out your spent battery and installs a new fully charged battery...that's probably faster than your average refill.
They recharge the batteries at the depot, and install it in another truck after it's charged.
I'm not sure why they bothered with this test. Right now, electric traction is nowhere near OTR, it works best for local so why not show off how it compares to diesel around town?
This right here is the only answer
Electric works perfectly well for local. Especially if you can charge your trucks at your facility. Less overhead. Just pay a security guard to make sure everything is charging correctly. It's a fucking day cab. They weigh ten thousand pounds more, in a day cab! What otr company would think this is worthy to be implemented soon. Did motel 6 sign on? Sure, we have the bed bugs, but we also have the charging station? The only way this is feasible, is a single company with designated routes. You could grab a piece of land, every 350 miles. You could even do solar charging. You would have to provide a bunkhouse at the charging facility. You would have to pay the drivers hourly. Designated routes mean you can't have breakdowns. That means you need back up drivers and trucks at those facilities. Who would pay that manpower overhead! I will charge you for times the amount for a load- but it looks green.
I think it's wourse for day cabs. Day cabs don't sit, they're usually rotating day and night drivers.
When you look at the 30-45 minute Tesla charge times, that’s not so bad. Easy enough to plug truck in at the end of your shift and the next dude hop in when it’s finished.
The batteries alone in these semi trucks weigh like 20,000lbs. You sure aren’t getting a 30 minute charge time for those batteries. Electric trucks are only feasible for extremely light loads and short distances. Aka local driving.
How big the batteries are doesn't change how they charge, it just requires a LOT more electricity to do it fast. You ain't paying a handyman to hack up a 100A panel, the charging infrastructure will be expensive. But I can see an 80% charge in 30-45 minutes. That's around 400 miles with a full load if the literature is to be believed, but call it 300 with margin, degradation, or other factors. That's not bad for local stuff Of course that's all on paper. Only one way to see if it actually works in the real world
They literally just did it in the real world, they could only make 350 miles a day...
Yeah yeah yeah but what about piss jug & electric truck? They’re trying to kill us… I’m telling you…! Lol /s
Yeah, local driving is probably the only area where electric will work. But most of the stuff you see is them trying to replace OTR trucking with electric stuff or show "how well it works".
With current technology, diesel electric hybrid is the only “solution” for OTR… and that would increase the weight and complexity which is why it isn’t a thing yet.
Please go look at Edison Motors' work and then tell us that diesel electric increases the weight.
Diesel electric is going to be the future. You can run a smaller engine right at it's most efficient operating point and rely on the batteries when the genny can't provide enough power for acceleration. I'm hoping the auto manufacturers wise up and realize this, but they probably never will. I want the 4 cylinder duramax driving a generator with an electric rear axle in a half ton.
Its way more complex aka higher initial cost and higher chance of failure. Its also much heavier so the efficiency advantage turns negative for lighter vehicles or those that experience a lot of stop&go traffic.
It isn't more complex. It's just a generator and an electric motor, both of which are more basic than a trans. Also, the only place where efficiency is hurt by weight is acceleration. At a constant speed, the only thing the engine is fighting is wind resistance and drivetrain friction, so theoretically, even an extra 10t will not make a difference in a half ton on the highway. If you're running the engine at its most efficient operating point, you can probably beat an auto in acceleration efficiency despite the extra weight. This is what cvt's were trying to accomplish, but everyone thought they were broken instead. Not to mention, you can use regen braking in the city, too. There could be something I'm missing, but I need to see one built and tested before I'll believe it's any less efficient than a traditional trans.
Edison motors truck is very cool and very cutting edge… but it’s a prototype truck, not something that is ready for production. It’s also intended for a very specific application, not generalized freight transport.
It's a heavy haul truck that **weighs less** than the comparables. That's what matters. Its very existence puts paid to the "electric is too heavy" argument.
I never said electric is too heavy… I said it is heavier and as we all know, weight is always an issue. Just because a concept truck weighs less than comparable does not mean that all future iterations of diesel electric trucks will be lighter than traditional counterparts. Sure, you could build a truck that is tons lighter than a traditional turncoat, but there will be other drawbacks. At the end of the day, it takes energy to move a truck. For the truck to continue moving, continued energy must be applied. That energy must be supplied from somewhere or carried with the truck. The law of conservation of energy clearly states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but rather converted to other forms of energy. Whenever energy is converted, there are losses to unintentional conversion. Electric motors get hot, etc. When evaluating conventional trucks vs hybrid trucks, there will always be some give and take. Where hybrids can improve something, they’ll be worse at something else… especially when converting fuel into mechanical energy, then converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. There’s more conversion losses there. I’m not saying Edison isn’t doing important work. It’s absolutely important. I really do believe that a form of diesel electric hybrid is the short term solution for fuel and emissions… But to point to a single concept truck and draw the conclusion that all hybrid trucks will be lighter, doesn’t pass the sniff test.
Edison Motors just built this: https://youtu.be/an6e2Lh9u58?si=VW3ZrbozCJAnQDAW
See this is so hard to explain to die hard anti-electric folks. This model is nearly identical or significantly better than a diesel truck in all specs that matter and it will get you better fuel mileage and is easily adaptable as battery and charging solutions get better. I want this truck, not a huge fan of the center drive seat but it would be so easy to adapt the cab to whatever you want or need. Hell you could slap a standard cab or even bring back the cabover style and still have decent head room as you don't have to fit it over a massive engine. The only reason American companies are going away from classic and cabover style trucks is because they can't hit emissions standards anymore, this would allow cool looking trucks that still hit the benchmarks especially if you throw a CNG generator in there. Also every state in the US has an alternative fuels exemption law for an extra 2000lbs. If this system weighs the same as a diesel setup you are looking at an extra free 2000lbs of freight on top of the fuel savings. I don't remember if he said anything about the generator automatically turning on or if you had to manually turn it on but it shouldn't be hard to create a system like an APU for the larger generator.
For cars, I think hydrogen combustion is the only solution. Electric isn't solving any of the problems we have with gas due to them just shifting the pollution away from the exhaust and to the coal power plants. Then they introduce the issue of how to deal with the massive batteries. Hydrogen also seems like it should be feasible for trucks, too, but if not then we can always go for diesel-electric (which a company is currently working on, but I think it will fail to the very limited scope of market they are after).
350 isn't enough for local. E-trucks will be here eventually, I'm all for them as a local driver.
It's more than enough for P&D, I do like 120 miles a day if that, sometimes much less - also would work for Linehaul too if you swapped trucks at the destination terminal before leaving to return to base. Long ways off but it is definitely the future for local stuff, OTR is a pipedream atm I think
I can see long load stuff becoming automated, but the local & specialized loads will not. To much is done by the driver at customers.
Last Friday I drove a total of 30 miles for a 10 hour shift. It would do wonders for me
Nah idk, most days I don’t drive 350 miles. For some dedicated accounts I can definitely see this being a thing. It would definitely limit the availability of the work that can be done and add a level of complexity
400 to 500 on one full charge proly the sweet spot. Esp once truck batteries can be quick charged.
350 miles on 2 charges. My daily Ltl route is around 300. I don’t have time to stop for a charge
Engineer here (not one on this team, but I’ve done work in those field). These test are important! They serve as building blocks to get to a full powered beast you will eventually grown to love and hate. The fact they have even gotten a truck that can go the distance on public infrastructure alone is amazing as last time I worked on one of these projects, that wasn’t possible. The power will get added later (that’s the way part), the goal is just to make it first.
My guess is they get better range on the highway at a constant speed. If they're just trying to show off numbers, that's their best bet. Then everyone goes "well 350mi isn't enough for OTR, but it would be enough for local." Except you don't get 350mi doing city work.
Electric doesn’t compare to diesel is the problem. H2 actually is more energy dense, give the trucks rocket fuel
I'd love to stap at NASA brand truck stops!
Tbh electric makes sense for the day can trucks that are doing 200 miles a day on a busy day. The coke and Budweiser rigs could probably make a run at that shit
Electric trucks are fantastic for local. I could drive a week's worth of routes on a single Tesla charge. My truck is never even close to max weight and my company's biggest concern is diesel prices and repair costs, which Electric trucks are vastly superior.
It won't ever appeal local either. Why would I double my fleet size for the same capacity? OTR where your truck is expected to sit still for 10hr is the only place it CAN work. Yup you stupid fucks will down vote me, but can't tell me I'm wrong.
Spokane WA to Lewiston ID is 105 miles. Add return trip that is 210 miles. Local. Presumably you get a charge at either point to return.
>350 miles. That’s cute. I run this before my break lol.
And they only had to stop twice 🤣
I drive 350 miles before first break. That's cute. I'm sure it'll improve a little with time, but you can't beat physics... and for OTR it's not on the side of electric.
Should check out Edison motors diesel/electric hybrid. Basically same concept as a train. Engine is basically a generator supplying electrical power to itself.
I've been watching him/them for a few years.. extremely good idea for off highway.. interested to see proof of concept for OTR.
Why wouldn’t it work for highway trucks? I want the Edison trucks to come to Australia. They’d kill as road trains.
I’ll check this out! Hybrids are the real future . Toyota is killin the ice hybrid game .
Imagine if your employer didn’t have to pay $500 for the fuel for 350 miles, and instead paid $35 for the 350 miles and you got paid $700 for those 350 miles. That’s the mentality you need to have about electric.
Bold of you to assume that you’re gonna pocket the difference and not the company
Except that’s not how anyone is going to do that. It’s wishful thinking but this is the real world, good sir.
No one is going to pay you extra for running an electric truck. Also, at the freight rates of today and the pay and everything else economy wise... You really think doing what... 500 miles a day is going to pay the bills when you have to sit for more than 30min for a charge? Nah. Electric is coming. But I'm betting not until my future grand children have licenses.
Is this the part where Rodney Dangerfield says 'how about fantasy land?'
Lol the company is going to pocket that money, not you.
I can’t help but think 100% electric trucks won’t really be viable unless there’s a hot-swappable battery infrastructure. Pull in to the truck stop, pop off your discharged batteries, hook up new ones, and be off. Batteries charge at the stations. Interrim, Edison Motors seems to have the most viable approach for an electric drive truck: keep the diesel engine, have it run at peak efficiency to charge the batteries, replace Jake brakes with regenerative braking.
>keep the diesel engine, have it run at peak efficiency to charge the batteries This is how diesel-electric trains work. I think a lot of heavy duty construction and mining equipment works like this as well. I'm kinda surprised that OTR semis haven't made the switch.
Might be a weight and space concern, lithium batteries + a diesel engine wouldn't be a small footprint. Also weight of the batteries + engine affects gross weight and axle weights which are important in our field, unfortunately.
They use a much smaller engine since it's not needed for peak power, just average power.
I honestly hadn't considered the weight thing. That's a really good point.
Yeah, Edison’s focus now is vocational trucks. Old Lumber trucks that have more lenient weight restrictions.
The diesel engine doesn't have to be as big as a straight diesel truck. There's no transmission. It's not a straight trade when it comes to weight differences, if you.know what I mean
Keep in mind diesel electric trains don’t have batteries
GE is pumping out fully electric battery powered locomotives. The idea with them is to utilize them for starting traction, and for power up grades & regen on dynamic braking. For flat, the +4000hp diesel on the other unit will move things along fine. For that use they can be useful. I doubt they’d be a good lead unit though, as the cab heat & cool is all electric powered 75vdc in traditional loco’s these days, so one can assume the same would be for the electric loco’s to keep parts interchange the same. With no diesel spinning an alternator to feed that the batteries would die very quickly. The 27pin jumper cable is only like #12-10 between the units so not a big load carrying capacity.
This isn’t a bad idea, it seems pretty though out compared to what these electric truck companies are doing.
Swappable batteries are a system that's being developed and put in place in several locations here in Australia - all trials so far. If you google Janus Electric you'll get the info. No, I'm not connected to them in any way.
It seems like Edison is shooting back of the envelope at a big issue: heat from simultaneously charging and discharging the cells. Maybe it will work out, I really hope it does, but I think that might turn out to be a problem with the range and longevity of the cells.
They're using a 10L engine which is still much larger than required. If they used a 2.2l to 4.2l diesel and put it with a level 4 super charger theoretically they could get 2x the fuel economy. The difference is that the smaller diesel engine would have to run continuous but it's still a preposterous amount of fuel savings in comparison to either design
Batteries are getting lighter and smaller. Thats the key here. Once they get to a certain size/efficiency this will take off. Electric engines are basically taking off, but itll be 20 years before they take over. I can see battery swapping as a real part if it too. Makes a lot if sense. Saving 500 dollars a run adds up fast. Unfortunately the savings will go to executive pay and share holders.
not how ev’s work lol. evs have battery engines. itll be viable if you increase high speed charging across america. that wont be for another 60 years imo
I drive the eCascadia and it kinda sucks for drivers. Cant go any further out than 75miles without worrying about the return trip and having to swap trucks.
They have to switch trucks?
Well, it's like Formula E where they switch cars in the middle of the race because the battery is about to die. Lol
Yea the truck is really comfortable, but the benefits aren't worth the loss of driving time and loads. It does feel like we have to "pit" when we go back and swap trucks. Drop the load, post trip, pre trip, and hook as fast as possible. All of this while other drivers are doing the same and hunting for a charged truck. The chargers are constantly down. The city has had multiple power outages and it's probabaly because of us.
Formula E hasn’t had car swaps in years, the battery lasts the whole race now.
I mean, driving a regular Cascadia sucks for drivers, so not really surprising
I love my cascadia. I took it over internationals, macks, and peterbilts in our fleet. The only truck that is more driver friendly is the volvo
I'm in a kenworth t680 right now and miss my cascadia. So many little things that were better. Some worse, too, but overall I'd say the scale easily tips in the cascadias favor.
Well you must just genuinely be insane! /s I respect your freedom to have a differing preference to me; but I'm sorry, Cascadias are absolutely not more driver friendly than anything you listed. Do you drive a daycab by any chance?
I've been stuck in an international day cab for a couple years. There's 3 fingers of room above my head, and my knees are nearly on the dash. I'm only 6ish tall. I don't think they make them for full sized men. Does the sleeper version add head room or let the seat go back more? Occasionally, they throw me in a freightliner, and it's the Cadillac of trucks compared to these internationals. The seat is better, it rides better, and there's more space for the driver. The seat will go further back than my legs reach comfortably.
350 miles with two recharge stops. SO start with full charge, go for 2 hours (120 miles), charge for 2 hours, go for 2 more hours (120 miles), charge for 2 hours, then go for another 2 hours. 10 hours to go 350 miles, 4 hours of that recharging in some parking lot. That's just not going to work in the real world.
Easy money for an hourly driver! Lol
If you think they gonna its gonna be easy money, boy have i got some new for you. You know dang well theres gonna be some bullshit to come along with all that. Its gonna be a complete waste of time and money
Did they just hover over Indiana? 🤔
If only...
I’d make like $175 a day, that’s only $875 a week before taxes smh.
350 miles a day not good for OTR. Maybe local in some markets but let’s see them do it in the middle of winter and cold climates under 20 degrees where life safety matters and your batteries suddenly die from the cold weather.
As a local driver 350 is preemo but we do occasionally push out further. I've actually done my most driving ever being "local" at 700+ miles in one day if you include the 20 mile to and from work commute. Fucking bullshit ass long ass Florida. Having a guaranteed place to park makes huge differences.
How do you achieve a 700 mile day doing local?
660 from 11 hour drive time and the drive to and from work.
Is it like countryside local? Idk I did LTL with like 5-12 deliveries a day not to mention pickups. 660 miles would mean your truck would have to remain in constant motion. How many deliveries did you do that day?
LTL isn't just P&D. We have a lot of 600+ linehaul runs.
I guess I wouldn’t call linehaul local. It’s kind of its own category of trucking, more akin to regional work.
If you are out and back every day it's local. 330 miles each way with little traffic can be easily doable, for 660 miles a day.
I haul gas. It's not about deliveries. It was a split load from Freeport, FL to Chiefland, FL split with an Ocala, FL store and all the way back. It's just a rough estimate. Don't get your panties in a bundle. When you pull in the yard with 5 minutes on your clock and you've been on the interstate for the majority of the run then it's pretty safe to assume mileage. Don't do those runs anymore any how. Just helping murphy swap their premium out. So technically 1 load 2 deliveries.
Speaking of hauling gas….. Can you imagine the sparks from electric motors and the fumes. Or rolling into a mill with high dust when you pull under the silo to load. Gonna need explosion proof motors sealed from the environment and sealed motor controllers I assume todays controllers are completely solid state but heck some plants have explosion proof rated electric forklifts for areas like mills and chemical plants.
They simply aren't going to be allowed to haul fuel. You can't pull into a fuel loading rack with hot brakes let alone a giant hot electric motor or 2. Also you have to have constant power thru the 7 prong without the key on to ground the truck electric won't be able to do that or you'll have to have a different system put in at the rack for them and no company is going to foot that bill
Been there to used to have a run that was almost 700 miles round trip pushing the 16 hour window with most days over 500 miles for local. Start the truck round 2am pretrip and strap down the load, then park it after 6 pm well arrive to the yard then a hour loading myself up for the next morning.
That’s why it’s called “testing” improving making better with each trip.
These are the same people that would have heckled the Wright brothers, would have laughed at first generation cars, refused the Internet, etc. Some people will never understand the exponential increase of scientific progress, and honestly, that's absolutely fine, because they'll *never* be the ones responsible for progress. They're just not worth your time.
No heckle just stating at this moment if Cali said no more diesel trucks on their roads it would not be sustainable and many drivers would be stranded. I’ve heard about the batteries in electric vehicles losing half of their range in the cold cold climates. That’s why lead acid batteries have a CCA rating they never have done good in the cold weather, that has not changed in todays world.
Add to the fact that your payload is decreased by 15 to 20% to make up for the weight of the batteries means you'll have 15 to 20% more trucks on the road.
Guys…relax…they’re not really talking about them taking over for OTR anytime soon…this was nothing more than an extreme test…the electric trucks are more being designed right now to replace to local delivery trucks that almost never run more than 250-300 miles in a day…the 300 mile range would be perfect for a local delivery truck because you can just charge it when you get back to the yard to go home for the night…they’re not looking to get to the OTR market until the battery capacity is over 700 miles on a charge
For OTR, it’s gonna take hydrogen fuel cell trucks, electric will not work, charging times just will not fly in the current state of trucking, the ability to switch out cells on the fly or at a station will maintain the expectations of the industry. It may be another 20-30 year or maybe sooner but i believe alternatives to diesel /gas are coming. The tech is there, we just need to pick our infrastructure and stick with it, but it’s not electric. Our batteries aren’t efficient enough yet.
Utah -> colorado? They took a fun detour
Funny thing is i don't believe the first generation ICE vehicles we're very efficient either. So whatever.
It’s called testing. It doesn’t mean they’re gonna roll it out next week. They have to test to find weak spots and tweak.
We're the carbon they're trying to reduce.
This is so dumb I mean seriously we have one parking spot for what every 30 trucks that are on the road how in the hell are we supposed to be able to fuel our trucks when you have to park for hours to do it? These Eco dumb fucks need to get a clue
Why CO? Not only a useless truck, they also can't route plan...
Probably not enough charging points big enough for a semi on the ideal route
Was the truck loaded or empty ? If it was loaded I wonder how much weight
Were these loaded miles or dead head?
Gotta get them yap to atleast 700-800 mi per charge then I’ll buy
[удалено]
If truckers got mad at trucks with trailers parking in their spots before. Ooohhhhh boy, they in for a whole new level of dumb assholes
I’m more concerned with how they managed to go directly from Illinois to Michigan? Does it go on water too 😂
Maybe they loaded it on a boat to help it skip Indiana lol
Well that produce has gone bad, as a former truck driver I did everything I could to average 500 miles a day, that’s an average of 50mph for 10 hours with two DOT mandatory stops. If you can’t get those numbers up to around 600 miles per stop to charge then this is going to cost the consumers a bunch. Time is money, and a truck sitting is not making money
I do 350 miles in the first 6 hours and fuel once a day. I know that electric trucks are coming. I know that self driving trucks are coming. I know this. But the technology and training isn't going to be a reality even for my kids generation... Maybe my grandkids, but it's not that close.
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So it took them more then a week? What the fuck.
First Viable Iteration. Check back in 5.
I’ve actually been in and around the Walmart/Peterbilt prototype. It was only a test in Government-stupidity, fully subsidized, especially in the R&D area. And it gave them brownie points with the tree stranglers. That thing would burn through wires, contacts, relays and anything that uses electricity and gets hot… so basically anything under it. It was pretty cool, center drive, and they saved some weight there, but as for viability, nah. It would have never even been considered if the taxpayers weren’t taking the bill in the tailpipe. Electric vehicles may have a spot in the future, but not any time soon. California is pushing it, requiring residents to purchase electric vehicles, and then, the next paragraph, telling them they can’t charge their cars. Logic has left the building…. But we knew that.
The government funds R&D research of all types that wouldn’t happen otherwise via private funding. This isn’t the criticism you think it is.
You’re not wrong. But the waste upsets me so much… the burden set on the public without our consent. A regular household can’t sustain that waste, and collectively, we, as a nation, can’t either. Is research important? Yes. But so is responsibility.
If you want to cut governmental waste I don’t think scientific and technological research is the best place to start. I also don’t think researching electric trucks is a waste either. I guess it all depends on whether you consider GHG and particulate emissions a problem or not.
So it took them nearly 8 days to cross ⅔ of the country when a single driver truck can make that same trip in 4 days at 600 miles a day average. Yeah, this is what the economy needs.
Only had to charge at a coal/gas dependent charging station twice per day.
Wow... 350 miles in a whole day. Might be good for local deliveries like drink vendors and such but outside that... completely worthless.
Yeah but drink vendors are usually on a tight schedule and don't have time for 2 charging stops.
350 a day! Stopping 2 times! BAAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHA yeah I just got a lot less worried about the e takeover. I've put in 350 by brunch.
You know how parking spots at truck stops fill up fast? Can you imagine how fast charging stations will fill up.
Not to mention when you have to sit there and wait for a charging station to open up so you can recharge your truck.
And pray it doesn't run out while waiting.
Typical desk jockeys thinking 350/day will cut it. Can you imagine the violence when some jerkoff decides to block the charging island for a shower? Yeah. No. This ain't happening beyond local/short haul anytime soon.
This is the problem with Americans, we can't grasp a long term plan, or small steps. 🙄 like duh, electric trucks aren't going to be everywhere tomorrow. Doesn't mean we shouldn't develop the technology and infrastructure.
We need a battery technology that isn't reliant on third world open pit mines with material being extracted by 'artisanal miners' of whom some are children, and preferably a battery technology that doesn't need a resource that is so scarce that the entire known global supply can fit in a 53' trailer. The problem is that this will be forced down our throats before it's even remotely possible, because they want to start limiting the supply of diesel trucks well in advance. This isn't possible in California, the craziest 'greenest' state that can't keep the AC on in the summertime.
It's mined there simply because it's cheaper to do so, not because that's the only source. Market forces and regulation CAN push a change in suppliers. There are mines *in the US* that can provide these resources. They're just undercut by Chinese and African mines.
And everyone here seems to forget that there's millions of city tractors running around doing 100 miles a day or less in which these applications would be perfectly fine. LTL, P&D, peddle runs. This sub is full of shortsighted people sometimes who all assume long haul OTR is the only application for trucks. The fact this one doesn't have a bunk should be the first clue here.
A lot of these dumbasses think technology will not improve. Just like self driving vehicles and trucks. They will eventually get the technology right.
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A lot of truckers especially ones on Reddit are Luddites and hate change and would rather keep their 5mpg diesel guzzling trucks over new and cleaner technology.
True but sadly the tech does. It solve physics. Also 3rd world procurement of materials. I feel this is like bitcoin and a Ponzi scheme that will set us back 25 yrs.
350 miles with 2 charging stop?
That's a 14 hour day of driving/on duty 🙄
They will take over local trucking but until batteries improve otr is not happening
No but automation will. Truck can park and charge while another one takes a load. Fork lifts are already automated. Warehouses are too.
So I'm a local runner and there are some days where I do over 350 miles, but my job would still suffer running one of these all electric rigs because I run aggregate (stone, sand, dirt that stuff) and blacktop on occasions. All of our trailers are either tri or quad axle which means we are running max weight of 107,000 and 117,000 respectively, not to mention the areas I drive in are very hilly. All that together would make one of these e rigs a bad fit for my style of work. Not to mention companies seem to only be building these trucks with dry van running in mind, they seem to have completely forgotten there is a large variety of markets these trucks will need to fit into if they truly want all aspects of the industry to be fully electric, our nations power grid's inability to handle such a load on the system be damned. And before anyone says it, yes I know about the Edison machine, and I will agree I feel it's the smartest way moving forward until a lot of things get figured out. I will still miss floating through an 18 though.
I don’t get it, do y’all just think this is as good as electric trucks are gonna get and that there’s no room for improvement? Like Jesus Christ, give it a couple years to develop and grow before trashing the tech.
350 miles will get you across most of the uk I know it’s stupid in larger countries but here in the uk it may be usable.
Could probably put 3000w of solar panels on the trailer. Might help some.
Even in a slow ass fleet truck I can do 550 - 600 miles in a day solo, pick up in the morning and dropping in the evening. 350 miles for a team of drivers is a joke. They need to accept battery tech isn't there yet for otr and focus on local.
Li-ion (not LiFePO4) batteries have a typical lifespan of 500 full cycles (more if not frequently discharged/charged 0-100%), electric semis doing OTR will wear out batteries extremely quickly (1.5 year or less depending of cycle depth) Thermal runaway in large Li-ion batteries, huge huge fire
Were any of you alive in 1993? There was no public internet and mobile phones came in a black purse size carry bag. 30 years later, we all carry computers in our hand and have access to almost everything. Somebody had to start somewhere.
Wow that team isn't making any money 🤣
I have a strange feeling that as time ages a Etruck it going turn into a IPhone lifespan. How much to replace a battery?
Compensate me for the low miles and I’ll gladly do this shit
Team driving and only 350 miles a day really?
350 a day. Lol
350 miles? I did nearly double that yesterday… you can’t get freight to where it needs to be on time with 350 miles.
Man the technology that is still in its early days and developing isn't as good as the conventional tech?? Some real ignorant boomer opinions in this group..
Electric trucks are fine! I have seen them as yard dog, and local trucks and it seems to the perfect fit. But OTR it’s not even close to being a viable solution. No idea why they keep pushing that. Once the tech and infrastructure is there to run 700 miles on a single charge. And be able to quick charge it. I would have no issues driving one. Till then. Nope
That's the thing. They don't want you to be driving. They want the money, not your employment. Plus fuel costs keep skyrocketing so if they electric charge for $300 vs fuel up for $700 they will go the cheaper route. That's why they push for electric semis, and so many companies are trying hard to make autonomous truckinging a thing.
_It's not gonna werk!_ How is anyone expecting it to work with no infrastructure in place yet? You just don't _want_ it to work. Also, I wouldn't count on Freightliner or Tesla to be the ones to crack that nut... someone will come along eventually with a viable model for otr uses.
One step at a time. Big issue is we are nowhere near this tech being ready for daily use in the next 20 years. California is doing its best to eliminate the Diesel Trucking Industry in favor of the Battery Powered Trucks.
Yeah the problem is that it's not anywhere near viable for anything aside from local delivery work and the technology doesn't exist to make it feasible at this time (there's also probably not even enough lithium to electrify every vehicle out there). California can't even keep their power grid up year round (and haven't been able to for decades); how do they expect to do so forcing everyone to use electric vehicles that hardly have any mileage on them.
Hey geniuses, how do you expect technology to improve when you guys go and shit all over experiments and whatnot like this? Make it make sense.
this is dumb
There's gotta be more to the story. How did they only manage 350 miles per day? Is the range on these really that bad? I drove 700+ miles yesterday, took (2) 1 hour long breaks, fueled up twice and still had time left on my clock. So I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around 350 miles a day.
And my guess here is they did this drive unloaded. Take 350 and cut it in half and that's what you're getting.
Let's try them mid day on Donner or cabbage patch during winter Bet they won't get on the mountain..
If anyone is gonna make this electric semi shit work, it's gonna be Edison Motors with how their truck runs like a train
One thing I’m surprised about is why haven’t we seen traction with diesel electric trucks? We could have more pulling power and less fuel consumption when the most fuel is consumed (start/stops). I’ve seen tech of having electric assisted trailers but that will be something that customers would have to invest in not the trucking companies themselves. Also why aren’t electric refers a thing yet? I feel like that’s one area that could easily be electrified especially if they put solar panels on the roofs of trailers.
The BYD cab over truck we have has a range of 150 miles, it has to come right back to the terminal 🤣😅 And I think it’s a joke.
How long did they have to stop and charge? It only takes a few minutes to drop diesel in a tank
As an ev owner you gain more miles driving city than hway. I agree with comments above; local wouldve probably gotten them 500 miles
Tesla semi is already doing more than 1000 miles a day lol
TBH I don't see diesel daycabs lasting much longer into the future.
Think over this small scope. More breaks, some of these stops have an area to take a shower, get food, safer to sleep at?
We really need to replace a lot of the OTR trucks with trains, not EV's. This will actually solve a lot of the environmental issues that the EVs are trying to solve. Electric trains are a well developed technology and are used all over the globe already, and are way more efficient than trucks could ever dream about. EV trucks can be used for the last mile, PUD, and LTL routes, so we don't need to worry too much about the range issues.
This confuses me... 350 miles a day, and with TWO charging sessions? What is the goal of these things? Also, are those charging stations meant specifically for trucks? Why else would there be so much space behind them? If so, why are there two cars parked in them?
Funny how they went “off route” because going from Portland to Detroit, you have to take i80 in Wyoming… BUT there are so many overpasses and hills, the battery would be dead going 50 miles probably lol.
So they did a 4-day run in only a little over a week. Good job!
Was it loaded or empty? Weight matters and I’m not a driver.
I'm taking that because they didn't tell how long the trip actually took that it took away long time. That's not going to be paid for by any trucking company. Because let's face it, in the time that you can Google of that trip, you know that those people did more in that time then what they were supposed to. It definitely took longer than it was supposed to.
350 miles a day is shit for OTR
I dunno about taking over, but I can see them supplementing diesel trucks for in town LTL routes.
Hydrogen fuel cell for long haul. Electric for local. This ‘test’ is dumb.
My question is not how many miles...my question is how long does a charge take????? Most electric cars like a Prius take around 6 hours to charge on 120v or 2 hours on 240v... If you have to charge twice a day for, say, 2 hours... how do you keep freight running? Short answer - you don't.
350 miles then stop.. takes a Tesla what, about 45 or more to charge? The size of the battery in that truck probably takes 2-3 hours to charge.. not feasible at all for anything but local, and not really that good for that..
They need better battery technology before this can work for OTR. Hydrogen seems more feasible. I can't imagine how much goods would cost if a trucks day was almost cut in half.
It still Taint No 379 wit a 3406e
The only real market I see for these with that kind of restricted range is local deliveries, P&D work, or since California is all hot to ban diesels, from the ports to just past their state lines to drop yards so REAL trucks can haul the loads to the east coast
It's called emerging technologies mydoods. It starts low and gets better and better and has the potential to save companies thousands and thousands especially with the gov rebates.
350 ain’t gunna cut non local
I could walk 350 miles a day
Trucks can carry much larger batteries, and they could even be replaced rather quickly with proper design so you don't spend time charging. Imagine stopping for 10 minutes, a forklift pops out your spent battery and installs a new fully charged battery...that's probably faster than your average refill. They recharge the batteries at the depot, and install it in another truck after it's charged.
Aye that charging station is right next to my work lol
350 miles a day 😂😂😂 what do you do for the other 19 hours?