TESLA Electric Truck?

[aczlan]

Can You Charge A Tesla By Towing It? (With Ford Raptor) - YouTube

Interesting testing towing Tesla model 3 with a F150 Raptor to charge the batteries. They freely admit it's not practical but interesting theory. A truck will have noticably less mileage than a model 3 but the fundamentals of battery & motor efficiency will hold.

It would be interesting to setup one with "Toad mode" to pull behind a RV where it listened to a brake controller in the RV and did regenerative braking when the RV brake controller said to apply the brakes.
Charge your toad for free that way and take some wear and tear off of your RV's brakes.

Aaron Z

 

[JasperFrank]

Show me one charging station, any where, that is set up to charge a vehicle with a trailer. I've been taking mental notes of charging stations when ever I see them, since, I've been considering an EV and have a PV home based system. I have never seem one set up for anything other than the length a standard car. So, for standard sized cars, we are sort of at that tipping point where you can find a charging station. But towing something; then that changes the equation dramatically, since you are going to have to decouple the trailer in order to "fit" the way charging stations are set up. So the new infrastructure of charging stations actually works against the entire concept of an electrically powered towing vehicle. My two cents.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

We Drive a Tesla Model 3 vs Nissan Leaf Up a MOUNTAIN to See Which is More Efficient! Thrifty 3 Ep.4 - YouTube

We Drive a Tesla Model 3 vs Nissan Leaf Up a MOUNTAIN to See Which is More Efficient! Thrifty 3 Ep.4

As a long term Nissan guy I found this interesting in this comparison of the Model 3 and Nissan Leaf Plus. Long term I expect the Tesla will last longer because its extra 90-100 miles of range means less charging cycles if both are charged and depleted to the same % of state of charge. Two motors vs one I guess means less load for the Tesla motors. I do not know the buy in price of each but expect full coverage insurance is less for the Leaf Plus.

Full coverage for our 2016 Leaf SL with $500 deductible is running about $40 per month but we have the house , buildings, tractors, trucks and cars on one mini farm package. There are 4 trucks, 5 cars and 5 tractors plus the home.

 

[ruffdog]

If I were wanting a EV truck, I would be looking for a S10/Ranger/Colorado/Tacoma sized truck. I would not want nor need a Hummer H1 sized dustbuster/delorian off spring.

 

[Jim Nelson]

A week or so ago I saw an ad that said Hyundai was coming out with an EV pickup and the pic looked pretty good compared to the Tesla but I haven't seen anything more on it. I'm sure there will be more players soon.

 

[two_bit_score]

If I were wanting a EV truck, I would be looking for a S10/Ranger/Colorado/Tacoma sized truck. I would not want nor need a Hummer H1 sized dustbuster/delorian off spring.

Yes, but then you would probably be down in that ~$30k price range and Tesla cant make money at that price. They are trying to appeal to the buyers who don’t need a truck to buy these “trucks”.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Musk suggests Tesla has 25, orders for Cybertruck

The number is approaching the 325,000 saw for the Model 3 in the first week it was announced.

 

[jjp8182]

I'd be interested in the comparison of order rate vs. cancellation rate, and the percentage of vehicles that are delivered to the original ordering customer.

..especially after stumbling across this article written last summer: The Tesla magic is gone | The Outline
Which seemed to indicate that at that time the cancellation rate for Model 3's was exceeding the order rate.

I'm sure the vehicles made will be sold, but given the low reservation price I wonder how many of those orders were made to reserve a spot in line while deciding if the truck is something they actually want to buy.

Given some of the other articles that showed up with the one above.... I'm almost tempted to wait until I've seen/driven an EV that's part of a rental fleet as that would be a real test of reliability. Though getting it recharged in a timely manner before dropping it off on the way to catch a flight could be interesting...

Being an engineer that does a fair amount of design review/auditing, I'm well aware of the poor decisions design engineers can/do make - especially when being prodded to go faster by a company leadership that is cost/profit or publicity focused and is less (if at all) concerned about quality, maintainability, or integrity of the product.

 

[California]

Based on a post on another site - If H. C. Escher had been asked to design a pickup ....

 

[Grumpycat]

Show me one charging station, any where, that is set up to charge a vehicle with a trailer. I've been taking mental notes of charging stations when ever I see them, since, I've been considering an EV and have a PV home based system. I have never seem one set up for anything other than the length a standard car. So, for standard sized cars, we are sort of at that tipping point where you can find a charging station. But towing something; then that changes the equation dramatically, since you are going to have to decouple the trailer in order to "fit" the way charging stations are set up. So the new infrastructure of charging stations actually works against the entire concept of an electrically powered towing vehicle. My two cents.

Tesla has been offering factory trailer hitches since the Model X. And since that time has been building Supercharger sites with at least one "drive forward" charging bay where the trailer could be left sticking out (into parking lot traffic) or one could pull beside. 7 of 8 charging bays are "back into".

 

[zing]

I'd be interested in the comparison of order rate vs. cancellation rate, and the percentage of vehicles that are delivered to the original ordering customer.

..especially after stumbling across this article written last summer: The Tesla magic is gone | The Outline
Which seemed to indicate that at that time the cancellation rate for Model 3's was exceeding the order rate.

I'm sure the vehicles made will be sold, but given the low reservation price I wonder how many of those orders were made to reserve a spot in line while deciding if the truck is something they actually want to buy.

Given some of the other articles that showed up with the one above.... I'm almost tempted to wait until I've seen/driven an EV that's part of a rental fleet as that would be a real test of reliability. Though getting it recharged in a timely manner before dropping it off on the way to catch a flight could be interesting...

Being an engineer that does a fair amount of design review/auditing, I'm well aware of the poor decisions design engineers can/do make - especially when being prodded to go faster by a company leadership that is cost/profit or publicity focused and is less (if at all) concerned about quality, maintainability, or integrity of the product.

I was just thinking the same thing. For the people that can afford a Tesla, the deposit is a throwaway, just to keep their spot in line in case they decide they want one. I still expect them to be sold as fast as Tesla can make them for the first couple of years though.

 

[Fuddy1952]

To me there is a lot of smoke and mirrors involved. I just searched "Tesla charging stations near me". There's one downtown, 20+ miles away, in a part of town where there is...nothing. A place you would NOT want to be after dark.
It's a 16kW station, charge time from 10% to 90% would be about 3 hours. Three hours! In downtown slum area!
This is from Tesla...
"A full*recharge*of an 85 kWh Model S will*cost drivers about $22"
$22 of gasoline fills my car with a 400 mile range. I can fill it anywhere in 5 minutes.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

To me there is a lot of smoke and mirrors involved. I just searched "Tesla charging stations near me". There's one downtown, 20+ miles away, in a part of town where there is...nothing. A place you would NOT want to be after dark.
It's a 16kW station, charge time from 10% to 90% would be about 3 hours. Three hours! In downtown slum area!
This is from Tesla...
"A full*recharge*of an 85 kWh Model S will*cost drivers about $22"
$22 of gasoline fills my car with a 400 mile range. I can fill it anywhere in 5 minutes.

Yes the Super Charger rates are about the same price of gas if you are paying for them. If the Tesla recharged at home using 240 volt charger your cost is more like $6-$9 depending on your rates. Speed does cost. Charging while you sleep does not take up any of your time and mile for mile is much cheaper than gas. There are no free lunches we all know.

 

[chriswheeler]

I worked for Georgia Pacific in Fort Bragg when they were still in business there. There were times when operating the co-generating plant produced more income generating electricity from waste products than cutting and milling lumber. The only way the Tesla electric truck would be a viable option would be if it was being charged from the owners solar panels on a roof top system. California law at the time said that the local utility, ( PG&E ) had to buy the electricity we produced at their highest rate. PG&E didn't like that much but sure supported us at that time. Here in Nevada, My home has a solar rating of 95%. But Nevada Energy will only give you a credit to 0. If my math is good, I have enough roof area to generate at least 2X this amount. I am not going to throw my investment away. If you generate more power from a roof top than you use, Nevada energy won't pay for you to support the grid. This makes the ROA ( Return on your investment ) slow. Even with the federal income credit here the Break even point for the installation costs is artificially long due to this policy supporting other commercial providers. If every utility had to buy roof top power back into their system at the utility providers best price you would not see to many new houses built without roof top solar systems. If could become part of the local building codes. CO2 production footprint we all have would go down. For most of my needs, a 300 mile range would work for local trips and most needs. With solar system charging, expenses for fuel might end up cheaper. Generating electricity with natural gas or coal does not improve our carbon footprint, more CO2 produced to charge a electric than gas or diesel would produce for the same usage. So far, I've seen nothing to replace my Dodge diesel towing my trailer or tractor yet. But the future realities will make this happen at some point. ( sure not looking forward to that day !!) I see the missing links to this that need to be worked on first to make this happen first. Someone like Tesla with the large production facility in Sparks Nevada to start large scale domestic quality production of solar panels to go with their battery packs they now produce. A large scale production of quality American built products not only would produce jobs, but reduce the price of the panels them selves lowering the costs of the products. Politically though, got to force the Utility to buy all power produced to get the home owner a quicker Return of their investment. That could end up changing the function of the local grid into a storage function ( acting like large battery and transmission to the grid ) and change the basic nature of their function and business model. One can only look at PG&E in these times to find out what happens to a utility company not returning enough of the profits back into maintaining their infrastructure. very short sighted. Because of their short vision, they might end up like Georgia Pacific Fort Bragg on the northern CA coast, A used to be Col after ripping off the local resources. There has to be a profit to be made for Tesla in this as well. But regardless of the current design, something will be done by one group VS another with leadership changes that, sooner or later will happen. Better cheaper and better solar panels could also add to local jobs and complement their battery back up's they are making there now and economy and place the Co that eventually does do this in a position to profit from a early investment. I think Elon Musk's team let him down on that one, great concept through, and I do believe sooner or later it will end up working.
Chris

 

[Industrial Toys]

You could always throw a nice quiet Diesel Generator in the bed and charge the truck yourself.

 

[Fuddy1952]

You could always throw a nice quiet Diesel Generator in the bed and charge the truck yourself.

I know you're joking.
Law of diminishing returns.

 

[4570Man]

I know you're joking.
Law of diminishing returns.

Perpetual motion machine it’s not. Essentially a diesel/electric it is. I’m betting the MPG would be pretty good if it’s a pretty efficient generator.

 

[Industrial Toys]

And you won't have to wait in the bad part of town as passers by, size up your watch and sneakers.

 

[4570Man]

If you’re using a diesel generator to charge your Tesla can you burn dyed diesel in it?

 

[Industrial Toys]

That would have to be the subject of another thread.

Funny, not since I drove two propane cars, have I had as much anxiety of running out of Diesel or finding an open station as with my Sierra. Crummy little tank and lousy fuel mileage.