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woodwardsh3

Well-Known Member
Messages
501
Location
Oakland Co. Mi.
I don't see how this is going to do anything for the environment. You still need to charge them with electricity. Coming from coal or nuclear or L//P water Dams And where is all the lithium going to come from. More mining and mining equipment. Im sure making batteries has its own hazards. Maybe i'm just old and fighting progress. And who the H-LL wants a self driving car really. I believe we have spoiled our kids to much and now we need to make every thing automated for them. sorry for the rant.
 

Bowser-II

Well-Known Member
Messages
268
Location
Hagerstown, Maryland
I don't see how this is going to do anything for the environment. You still need to charge them with electricity. Coming from coal or nuclear or L//P water Dams And where is all the lithium going to come from. More mining and mining equipment. Im sure making batteries has its own hazards. Maybe i'm just old and fighting progress. And who the H-LL wants a self driving car really. I believe we have spoiled our kids to much and now we need to make every thing automated for them. sorry for the rant.

From an energy generation and transmission/transport at the system level electric vehicles are more efficient and getting better.

Where they do not work so well is the local energy storage (ie a tank of gasoline vs battery), the energy density of gasoline is still significantly better.

Old, used Lithium batteries that are no longer useful in a car are being used very successfully to augment regional power line fluctuations, most famously in Western Australia courtesy Tesla.

BUUUUTTTTT

I am excited about the smoothness and simplicity that an electric drivetrain can offer, alongside all that delicious low speed torque!!

That being said, these trucks are all seem to be short on range and very long on price. I’m hoping this changes soon. And no, I do NOT want an autonomously driven off-road truck. I mean, what then is the point? [emoji848]


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RamRod

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,914
Location
AB, Canada
Short on range!

How many days a year do you drive more then 500miles in one day?

500 miles would be plenty enough range for me.... 3-6 days a year I take long trips... that means 99% of the year I would be just fine!

Electric vehicles are very different the the ICE cars in the sense that your car would/could be 100% charged every morning when you get up... no need for trips to a gas station.

Not to mention the power that these trucks are putting out (700hp) and water fording specs of over a meter.... these things are going to be a blast and I cannot wait!

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Bowser-II

Well-Known Member
Messages
268
Location
Hagerstown, Maryland
Well, being in sales and applications engineering for the North East and the mid Atlantic, I actually have quite a few days where I break five hundred miles.

But I think your correct that most of the time that is plenty for people driving and commuting. Heck that is a lot of miles for one weeks worth of commuting.

What I am wondering about is the heavy load capacity when your off the grid. Local trips to a park on the east coast is one thing, but a long weekend away from the highways with AC, a fridge, winch, etc becomes another thing. On the other hand, I drop into single digit mpg in 4lo, and maybe the electrics will end up being very efficient for miles covered under what would normally be 4lo.

Either way, the times are changing and I am increasingly excited over what I think electric can potentially bring to the table in any of the off road activities.


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Acer4LO

Well-Known Member
Messages
750
Location
Illinois
From the specs we are seeing, these all seem to be really promising, but I seriously would not preorder one or be the first person to buy it. Not hating on these electric vehicles, but this all seems a little bit to good to be true as of right now. All of these new vehicles are coming from newer companies that you haven’t heard of before and I think they are biting off way more than they can chew. The most concerning vehicle to me is the Atlis XT Electric Pickup. In order to make this truck into a reality, they have been using a crowdfunding website (https://www.startengine.com/atlis-motor-vehicles) which is fine; but in the past there has been numerous product failures on items that are far less complex. The basic crowdfunding startup failure usually goes like this:

1.) A new company is formed that sets out to disrupt an industry with a new product
2.) This product is ground breaking, that offers so many features that no one else is offering
3.) The crowdfunding campaign gets tons media attention, and receives many investors
4.) Funding goal is met or exceeded
5.) Company starts shipping out orders, but too slowly
6.) First people get them, and the products turn out to less than promised
7.) Negative media attention and late orders.
8.) Company goes bankrupt because they are in so much debt and stops production

Not saying this will happen here, but this is still a real possibility. A good example of a disastrous crowdfunding project was Ouya, a video game console that set out to make a cheap $100 gaming system which would disrupt the Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo strong hold that usually costs $300-$400. They raised 8.5 million, even though they were only asking for 950K. The product failed miserably; watch here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0M5LzoBquw . I know this is a bit of a stretch to compare a new electric vehicle to a video game console, but it gives the idea.



That being said I do have a lot more faith in the Bollinger B1 since the design is so simple. I think this is more realistic for a new company to begin building because there isn’t too many things to go wrong with the vehicle from a mechanical and electrical standpoint. I really love how everything is bare bones, it reminds me of an old jeep CJ and looks like actually made for a harsh offroad setting unlike the other electric vehicles that have every new electronic/power operated gizmo on it. However, it might be too basic for most people. It does suffer from a lack of features we have come to expect on modern day cars and that could be a major turn off for people who plan to mostly use it on the road. I mean the thing doesn’t even have airbags. Here is a FAQ quote directly from their website “Will the trucks have airbags?
No, air bags will not be in the final produced trucks. We are engineering the B1 and B2 to safety standards that exceed federal regulation using seat belts.” Realistically, I only see this vehicle appealing to off-road enthusiasts who can appreciate that there vehicle being sold on the market today can that is a simple as vehicles in the 1970s but with a modern twist; an Electric motor. Because of that reason, I can see vehicle sales suffer.

Sorry this is kind of a unorganized rant, but it is hard to articulate my thoughts without ending up writing a whole Doctoral thesis on the subject! :)
 

4speedfunk

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,212
Location
Tardville
One thing for sure...we can forget any sort of groundbreaking E-truck from the major manufacturers. They simply cannot think outside the box. These three trucks are truly innovative and it’s clear that this type of design must come from a startup company.

Range numbers? Obviously optimistic. Power numbers? Probably accurate for short bursts. Payload numbers? Total fiction. Water crossings? Oh hell no! I think the numbers given are design goals, and NOT actual real world operating values. These E-trucks look promising now, but the production models will probably be rolling on pizza cutters with a 100-mile range for $60k.

But. We must start somewhere. Remember the IROC Camaro? Remember the fax machine? Remember the dialup modem? Remember White Out?
While they may seem laughable now...they were equally innovative in their day. Twenty years from now, who knows?
 

amrg

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,317
Location
Qatar
I don't see how this is going to do anything for the environment. You still need to charge them with electricity. Coming from coal or nuclear or L//P water Dams And where is all the lithium going to come from. More mining and mining equipment. Im sure making batteries has its own hazards. Maybe i'm just old and fighting progress. And who the H-LL wants a self driving car really. I believe we have spoiled our kids to much and now we need to make every thing automated for them. sorry for the rant.
Dont forget you can use solar/wind and hydroelectric to charge an electric car making it very friendly to the environment as opposed to a gas driven vehicle.
Once electric cars become the norm, more research will go into some sort of better batteries that last longer and have higher range!

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RamRod

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,914
Location
AB, Canada
LoL the SUV was announced at the same time as the trucks, it just didn't get the same amount of attention in the media

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