TESLA Electric Truck?

[Grumpycat]

If it cost $10-15 a day to charge one there’s no way the apartment is going to give that much away in electric.

It does not. An old inefficient Model S such as mine consumes 380 Watt-hours from the power grid for every mile driven. So if I drive 25 miles the car will draw 9.5 kW that night. Is $0.10/kWh at home, $0.95 to charge. Newer Model 3s use 240 to 260 Watts/mile.

A large problem is law. In most states it is illegal to resell electricity. The utility company has a protected monopoly. And has no interest or motivation to install EVSEs with a credit card reader.

Independent “networks” such as Blink have tried. Blink is an aptly named joke, most sites seem to be broken. They (and Tesla) get around the billing problem by charging by the minute for use of the parking space.

Tesla doesn’t use an ID card, Tesla knows your VIN when you connect to a Supercharger. Billing is displayed in the car and on the Tesla app on your phone.

 

[Jstpssng]

A college friend of my daughter was on a team that built an experimental 'car' for a solar-only competition. It looked like a manta ray or experimental aircraft, large, and very thin. Very lightweight. The operator was reclined nearly flat to cut wind resistance. It could barely move in direct sunlight.

Rooftop (on the car) solar isn't going to work given present solar panel capability.

Engineers at the University of Maine once converted an older S-10 to solar power. The panels took up the entire pickup bed- it looked like they had put on a Tonneau (sp?)cover. That was at least 15 years ago.

 

[Jstpssng]

So why would someone have to have a 壮pare vehicle with a 100k Tesla in the driveway?

That's the second time that you've mentioned this; ignoring that there are already EVs going for less. One reason I find an EVe interesting is that I could fuel at home, rather than driving 40 miles every time that I need gas... and planning around the station owner's hours.

I'm also still waiting to see that dependable $1500 tow vehicle; send me a link and I will be on the road to buy it in an hour.

 

[lilranch2001]

Some of you need to just understand that some of the rest of us will NEVER be converted to your EV God!

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Some of you need to just understand that some of the rest of us will NEVER be converted to your EV God!

Why do you think others care to convert and save you from your ICE god?

This is not some kind of religion.

In my case I just never liked to idle a car just for heat or AC. After my wife got back to work after breaking her hip in the horse lot the first day of summer I decided because long walk from the parking lot lugging a big bag or two that I was going to drive her to work. I make that 13 mile trip to town several times a week without her as it was plus I now work from home since we do not have customers that came to the office ever and the staff is spread out. That saves gas and lets us offer better support as well. Technology is forcing this old crippled up guy to rethink a lot of things so I am not just focused on doing things the same old way waiting for death to come.

I knew the old Subaru was taking a beating in the heat. I was at a gas station more than once a week and after the Fast Lane quick lube placed screwed up an oil change and then said they did not I was wanting freedom from that abusive place. The cost of gas was a small factor but the cost for a new like 2016 Nissan Leaf SL with 21.5K miles was a MAJOR negative. Her daily driver is a 2003 Escalade and after setting out all these years and collecting bruises over its lifetime plus the electrical issues kept popping up with a lot of warning lights that burned all of the time. One day I espected to get a Tesla but with helping the kids then age 21 with school and things it just was not right to spend $20K or $30K for a older used Tesla for a daily driver.

I can tell from your posts your are thinking more about EV's then ever in your lifetime. That is the way it started for me. Hope you do not have a barnyard accident that is a game changer at your house.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Grumpycat thanks for all the tidbits on EV's and charging systems. There just is not much factual info on the web today.

 

[Grumpycat]

So why would someone have to have a 'spare' vehicle with a 100k Tesla in the driveway?

Lets say you own a $100k vehicle. One who owns such a vehicle doesn't own any other? What planet do you live on?

Meanwhile Tesla is selling Model 3s in the $40k to $60k range.

Local ads list several Nissan LEAFs, 2012, about 60,000 miles, $5,000.

 

[Grumpycat]

Some of you need to just understand that some of the rest of us will NEVER be converted to your EV God!

Some of you need to understand that while there are worshipers of EV gods, there are none posting on this forum. However there are plenty here worshiping The Almighty Internal Combustion Engine.

As for myself, I simply marvel at machinery. Something that can mow hundreds of acres, dig holes, drag trees out of the woods. That I have a pickup truck that can haul stuff such as my motorcycles. That I have motorcycles that can effortlessly thread between trees and others with top speeds in excess of 100 MPH. And several cars, each with advantages over the others, and over the truck. I do not worship the ICE. I do not bestow jewelry upon my engines. I do not modify exhaust to bask in the blessings of a loud ICE.

It amuses me at the prospect of erecting PV solar panels to create my own "fuel". Years ago I looked into what was involved to make biodiesel. Yuck! Expensive. Required a lot of consumable supplies. Created a lot of waste. But for similar cost I can buy PV solar and just flip a switch on/off for the next 20 years or more.

 

[Grumpycat]

On our Leaf regen can go up to 30,000 watts rate of charging power when taking the foot off of the pedal stopping or going down a hill. Not needing to use the brakes until at very low speeds is awesome.

I've seen 80kW regen rate on the Model S. But it can also source over 320kW for acceleration. 70 MPH is somewhere around 20kW.

Many BMW i3 owners falsely worship the god of regeneration. The i3 has aggressive "one pedal" driving in that the i3 will come to a complete stop without touching the brake. Problem is few owners read the owner's manual closely to find BMW states to the effect, "energy recovery only functions above 12 MPH". BMW never says "regeneration".

Electric motors can produce 100% torque at 0 RPM, but with wires shorted can not provide much counter torque at low RPM. Can not "regenerate" significant power at low RPM, therefore can not provide much braking force. To bring an i3 to a one-pedal stop BMW reverses current to the motor. Below 12 MPH it isn't generating power but consuming power to bring the vehicle to a stop. Few realize.

Toyota Prius 2004-2009 lightly used regeneration for the first portion of brake pedal travel. Very German-like to make things complicated. For light braking regeneration was used above 7 MPH, heavier braking added friction brakes. Below 7 MPH only friction was used. Simply amazing how smoothly Toyota pulled this off, but for wet roads. For some reason one could not feel the transition from regen to friction on dry roads, but could when wet, if paying attention.

Tesla has kept the friction brake system pure and simple. Doesn't try to fake friction braking with regeneration. The accelerator pedal controls the motor, the brake pedal controls the brakes. Recent over-the-air firmware update to the Model 3 offered BMW i3-style one-pedal driving. Reverse current to the motor at low speeds allowing one pedal complete stop without friction brakes.

 

[5030]

Some of you need to just understand that some of the rest of us will NEVER be converted to your EV God!

So long as it toasts my pip tarts, I'm all good.:laughing:

 

[Jstpssng]

Some of you need to just understand that some of the rest of us will NEVER be converted to your EV God!

The real irony is that nobody here is trying to convert anybody. Yet every time a discussion opens up there are a chosen few who chime in with comments about why EVs wont work, despite the fact that they apparently are.

 

[5030]

Back when the Prius came put, I considered one. Not for the electric motor drive part but as a portable welding source. Set of Tweco QD connectors, welding cables and I'd be good to go as a power source.

 

[ededic]

The real irony is that nobody here is trying to convert anybody. Yet every time a discussion opens up there are a chosen few who chime in with comments about why EVs wont work, despite the fact that they apparently are.

If I believed every conversation here was trying to convert me, I would no longer be here. Thanks to all of you for sharing your facts and thoughts about the subject from your perspective.

 

[California]

Some of you need to just understand that some of the rest of us will NEVER be converted to your EV God!

Why in the world would you interpret an impartial discussion of interesting and evolving technology as an assault on your personal religion? 'NEVER!' implies you feel personally attacked.

Calm down, this whole topic is something you can ignore. Don't take it personally, nobody intends that. It's all in your head. Get help.

 

[aczlan]

Back when the Prius came put, I considered one. Not for the electric motor drive part but as a portable welding source. Set of Tweco QD connectors, welding cables and I'd be good to go as a power source.

Someone did something similar with a Prius after Sandy hit, but they used it to power an inverter to run their house.
Someone also makes an inverter specifically to run off of the Prius main battery, then you leave the car in "on" and it runs the engine as needed to keep it charged.

Aaron Z

 

[5030]

Why in the world would you interpret an impartial discussion of interesting and evolving technology as an assault on your personal religion? 'NEVER!' implies you feel personally attacked.

Calm down, this whole topic is something you can ignore. Don't take it personally, nobody intends that. It's all in your head. Get help.

All I can say is WOW.

 

[crazyal]

My wife is the same way. It's either gas or not worth even looking at. It was that way with things like heated seats. Now I couldn't get her to buy a car without them. To her a hybrid is an evil thing but once she gets use to the idea of having to fill it up less in the dead of winter then she will change her tune. Getting her to think about an EV will be much more of a challenge. Her vehicle is our trip vehicle and it's nothing to decide spur of the moment to drive 600 miles for us. There's not much chance of me saying "no, we can't go that way because there's only slow charges". So an EV for us would just be for commuting. Since we have her car and my truck (I will never own something as ugly as that Tesla truck) and towing hundreds of miles is something I do so I can't see an EV truck or car fitting with our lifestyle.

I see EV's as just a stepping stone for hydrogen. Hydrogen has too many advantages over batteries. The speed at which it can be transferred to a car's tank is the same as gasoline. It can be made where power is made and transported by pipeline or truck. It can be turned into ammonia to be safer. All these "by 2050" predictions have no clue what the future will bring.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Fact is, if the new EV stuff works for most of the population, they don't care if it doesn't work for you.

Look at what people in China and other places carry on a motorcycle. A whole family and more cargo than you can carry on your half ton. Where there's a will . . .

 

[California]

Here's what apparently inspired the Cybertruck design. The truck isn't quite as unique as we thought.

1976 Lotus Esprit sports car used in the filming of the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.

Couple paid $100 for abandoned car they found in a storage unit, Elon Musk bought it from them for nearly $1 million

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^^
I don't care what inspired it, it's still a butt ugly prototype.