The electric Transit is coming...

[Bob Denman]

. It sounds as if you want to, "Run with the foxes... and howl with the hounds!"

[JamieGeek]

Hmm apparently there are already electric E-350's and F-53's out there:
https://www.freep.com/story/money/ca...it/2880748001/

Seems like electric commercial vehicles will be the next market segment that is tackled...

(Yeah no mention of range, just mention of mostly local delivery vans which can make do with short range.)

[Chance]

Urban delivery, shuttle buses, etc. that operate at lower speeds with significant stop-and-go traffic is ideal for electric vehicles. That type of service should be most competitive.

Long distance travel on interstate at steady high speeds remain the Achilles’ heel of EVs, particularly when towing a “typical” trailer with poor aerodynamics at highway speeds.

Electric pickups should do OK as long as they don’t try pulling large trailers long distances. It’ll be interesting to see how this segment unfolds given all the new players and established manufacturers. Urban use should do well but I don’t expect to see many pulling a 5er down the Turnpike.

[Bob Denman]

Electric pickups have the advantage of lots of space for larger batteries.

[carlgorski]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/03...starting-2022/

Of course the article doesn't mention any specs other than "its coming"! LOL

Im sure it's carrying capacity will be even less than gas model. Transit needs to be beefed up, it is severely limited now for RV use. Towing capacity is usually 2K max. They are letting Mercedes dominate. Trusty old E Series is doing good.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by carlgorski

Im sure it's carrying capacity will be even less than gas model. Transit needs to be beefed up, it is severely limited now for RV use. Towing capacity is usually 2K max. They are letting Mercedes dominate. Trusty old E Series is doing good.

Not directly related to electric Transit, but the regular Transit was upgraded to 11,000-pound GVWR, which matches previous Sprinter, and also higher GCWR now that EcoBoost engine is an option. We should start seeing some larger and or heavier Transit-based Class C motorhomes in near future in same size range as Sprinters. Or maybe same size as previous Transit motorhomes with greater cargo carrying capacity.

For what it’s worth, Sprinters are now even higher by about 500 kg GVWR.

Anyway, higher Transit GVWR gives it a bit more capacity for heavy batteries.

[Greasy Pete]

Walmart and Budweiser ordered several of the Tesla Freight trucks some months ago for delivery this year. As soon as I saw them I wanted one. they would be a Super c type chassis and they get 500 mile range. who doesn't plug in there rv at the end of the day when they get to a campsite?. Alberta is testing a couple of hydrogen electric highway rigs for freight that can go 500 miles on a tank and refills in 3 minutes.

There are also a couple of 1/2 ton units coming out this year by Riven,Nikola and Atlis motors that all have possibilities for c class units with great range.
I would much rather see hydrogen electric units and I think battery only units are just a stepping stone for the future, But use your fuel rigs while you can they are going the way of the dodo. IMHOP

[Chance]

Originally Posted by Greasy Pete

Walmart and Budweiser ordered several of the Tesla Freight trucks some months ago for delivery this year. As soon as I saw them I wanted one. they would be a Super c type chassis and they get 500 mile range. who doesn't plug in there rv at the end of the day when they get to a campsite? ......cut......

Unfortunately, a campground 50A electrical service (even at 100% usage) wouldn’t make a large dent towards charging one of those Tesla semis overnight. You’d need to stay there for many days at a time to get back the 500-mile range.

And if campground electrical systems don’t get overloaded already ....

[petefoss]

That's been my thought about a pure EV as a toad. Would most campsites support my RV AC and a car charger. That an weight vs a conventional vehicle.

On that subject, does anyone have any hard data on the effect of toad weight on gas mileage of the RV? There is lots of data from automotive that a 10% change in vehicle weight is worth 3 to 6 percent in gas mileage. But I have never seen data for trailers or toads.

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by Greasy Pete

.
I would much rather see hydrogen electric units and I think battery only units are just a stepping stone for the future, But use your fuel rigs while you can they are going the way of the dodo. IMHOP

I agree!

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by petefoss

That's been my thought about a pure EV as a toad. Would most campsites support my RV AC and a car charger. That an weight vs a conventional vehicle.

On that subject, does anyone have any hard data on the effect of toad weight on gas mileage of the RV? There is lots of data from automotive that a 10% change in vehicle weight is worth 3 to 6 percent in gas mileage. But I have never seen data for trailers or toads.

We pulled our Bolt all over the place last summer. It was the perfect toad: 200+ miles available from the campground, charge up right from the 50A service. I have an adapter for my portable 240V charger that I can plug into a campground's 50A service--just have to make sure you get a 50A site (if you don't you can still charge on the 120V but its sloooooow--a couple of days to charge up the Bolt @ 120V)

As far as weight: The Bolt is 3500 lbs, around the same weight as an Escape, or our old Focus Electric. We've also towed our C-Max Energi (my lease before the Bolt). The C-Max was the heaviest car we've pulled--it was close to 4000 lbs.

Here it is in Michigan:

Here it is in Ontario, Canada:

Here it is at an Ohio Turnpike service plaza on our way to NJ:


I really don't notice any mpg difference with the Axis pulling a car or not. I think the difference is lost in the noise.

Frankly, I've been waffling on the Mach-E because I fear it won't be towable (its either RWD or AWD) and thus we won't be able to take it camping with us.

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Greasy Pete

Walmart and Budweiser ordered several of the Tesla Freight trucks some months ago for delivery this year. As soon as I saw them I wanted one. they would be a Super c type chassis and they get 500 mile range. who doesn't plug in there rv at the end of the day when they get to a campsite?. Alberta is testing a couple of hydrogen electric highway rigs for freight that can go 500 miles on a tank and refills in 3 minutes.

There are also a couple of 1/2 ton units coming out this year by Riven,Nikola and Atlis motors that all have possibilities for c class units with great range.
I would much rather see hydrogen electric units and I think battery only units are just a stepping stone for the future, But use your fuel rigs while you can they are going the way of the dodo. IMHOP

Yeah agree with Chance: You'd have to stay at a campground for a while to charge up a Tesla semi. The Tesla semi's charge with two superchargers; something like 500kW--good luck finding that at a campground.

Honestly: I think hydrogen is dead as a vehicle fuel. EV battery tech is advancing much faster than hydrogen storage and transfer which is such a difficult problem to tackle. At this point EVs are about a decade ahead of hydrogen and companies have been researching hydrogen for as long if not longer than EV tech.

[petefoss]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

Honestly: I think hydrogen is dead as a vehicle fuel. EV battery tech is advancing much faster than hydrogen storage and transfer which is such a difficult problem to tackle. At this point EVs are about a decade ahead of hydrogen and companies have been researching hydrogen for as long if not longer than EV tech.

I've thought that from day one. Especially after interacting with the H2 storage and fuels cell folks at GM. A big ass H2 tank and a fuel cell stack is essentially a really expensive, heavy and complex battery!

The only fuel cell system I thought MIGHT make sense was one running on gasoline via a H2 reformer. But that has a lot of issues too.

[Chance]

Seems Ford is serious about the electric Transit, disclosing more information including size variations, availability as Cutaway, etc...

Will be interesting to see what range they can provide for B-Vans. Probably better than Tesla towing a trailer.

.

[JamieGeek]

If wonder if, by "Can go anywhere" they mean they will offer up an AWD version.

Not that means anything for RV'ers but you could get an all electric class B AWD version (of course the range may suffer a little).

[Chance]

AWD option would not surprise me at all. Or FWD for that matter on smaller vans.

[Bob Denman]

If they go all-out "on the juice": AWD is as easy as putting electric drive motors at each corner.

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

If they go all-out "on the juice": AWD is as easy as putting electric drive motors at each corner.

In theory but to date no electric vehicle uses in wheel motors. They all use the traditional axle/differential/motor as a single unit.

So AWD would be two motors, not four.

Except for the Rivian vehicles.

[Chance]

Yes, since front drive suspension is already in production, it shouldn’t be difficult.

It’ll be interesting to see how much space will remain under the van for holding tanks after Ford loads it up with batteries. On plus side, if Ford makes it possible to tap into batteries for electric power, there may not be a need for generator or propane tank underneath.

I’m looking forward to camper vans built on this platform to see if the OEM dash and rear air conditioners are used in lieu of RV rooftop units. It should be quieter and reduce overall height.

[Bob Denman]

That's why I mentioned putting the motors on the hubs: more space for batteries!