Tesla Makes an Announcement...

[Long & Winding road]

I have not seen that one yet. Thanks for the info.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by FrankMor

I like the looks of the WorkHorse truck better, and it will have a BMW engine running a generator to extend range.
https://workhorse.com/pickup/

Frank

I like the available 7.2 kW electrical power from the batteries. When this technology eventually becomes more common for RVs, it will be great to run air conditioners, microwaves, refrigerators, etc. without running a generator. And if battery bank gets low, the range extender generator would only have to run for an hour a day at most if running A/C all day.

A smaller version of this should be coming out soon in the form of the Ford F-150 Hybrid with its power unit for contractor tools. I think it would be easy for Ford to offer that same “hybrid” technology in RV chassis. As I’ve mentioned before, I’d love to run an air conditioner overnight without a generator. This technology (albeit expensive) makes it practical.

[The Gritz Carlton]

I'm a slow learner and have fought Chance on this "electric crap" since I joined the Forum. I looked at the new Jaguar I Pace HSE. Perfect car for retirement once we reach the beach and will not be traveling much in the car anymore! I'm slowly coming around!! Imagine never having to buy gasoline anymore!!

[Bob Denman]

That's true... but what will your electric bill be?

[The Gritz Carlton]

I'll run an extension cord and bury it from the girl next door.

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

That's true... but what will your electric bill be?

A lot less than your gas bill would have been.

I used to drive the F-250/F-350 to work every day: $350+ a month in gas bills
Then I started driving a gas Focus to work every day (30 mpg): $120 a month in gas
Then I started driving an electric Focus to work every day: $50 a month in electricity (we got a 2nd meter just for the car)
The Bolt's electric bill is about the same as the Focus was (for a similar commute of about 1000 miles a month).

To be fair: The 2nd meter is on an EV charging rate with our supplier--overnight they charge a lot less than daytime (overnight is something like $0.038/kWh and daytime is $0.15/Kwh)

[Bob Denman]

How about when the current electric plants can no longer meet demand, and they've got to start building new ones?

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

How about when the current electric plants can no longer meet demand, and they've got to start building new ones?

Well:
A. That is why the rate overnight is cheaper: There is far less demand on the grid overnight and thus charging an EV helps balance that. More EV's overnight won't increase the max demand during the day
B. They are already building new ones (new natural gas plants and wind/solar everywhere)

[Bob Denman]

And the solar plants work really well at night; don't they?

Our power grid isn't up to the task... Yet!
Give it ten years of upgrades and expansion: I'm sure that it'll be fine!

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

And the solar plants work really well at night; don't they?

Our power grid isn't up to the task... Yet!
Give it ten years of upgrades and expansion: I'm sure that it'll be fine!

Actually many power companies have said that the grid is up to the task today.

[Bob Denman]

"Up to the task today..."
That's a play on words...

What about if the demand for power increases by say... 20%?

What'll happen?

[Chance]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

I'm a slow learner and have fought Chance on this "electric crap" since I joined the Forum. I looked at the new Jaguar I Pace HSE. Perfect car for retirement once we reach the beach and will not be traveling much in the car anymore! I'm slowly coming around!! Imagine never having to buy gasoline anymore!!

It’s good to question new ideas and things.

Funny thing is that I selfishly don’t care about the gas savings all that much because most of my RV driven miles are long distance, so a hybrid powertrain won’t save me that much anyway. Granted, if I remain in a van-size RV that I can use as a second car, I would certainly use it as much as possible — to airport, shopping trips, visit family in Texas, etc. The Workhorse W-15 pickup posted by Frank has an estimated electric range of only 80 miles, so not very useful when I drive 500+ miles in a day when used as a camper.

Having said that, for me the beauty is that the battery bank must be fairly large — probably in range of +/- 40 kWh, so it could power an entire small camper all day without using the range extender generator. And since the range extender probably puts out well above 40 kW, it should recharge battery in an hour or so. So whether you’re at racetrack or I’m tailgating at football games, we could leave A/C running all day and all night with minimal noise, emissions, or fuel consumption.

Adapting a hybrid system for camping electrical needs makes even more sense to me than using it to just improve vehicle MPG — because it should improve a camper’s fuel economy on the highway very little.

[The Gritz Carlton]

Dig up more coal and start over!!

[FrankMor]

Winnebago bought an electric powered vehicle company that builds RV sized vehicles. They are for mobile medical/dental type uses now.


Frank

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

Dig up more coal and start over!!

Even if it wrecks all of the fun that the surfing community enjoys: I'm all for putting wave energy to work along the coastlines... Get those turbines spinning, and powering them should be about as close to "free" as possible!

[The Gritz Carlton]

Then, the surfing community would welcome it with open arms...FREE...bring it on!!!

[Bob Denman]

...As long as they don't get caught in a turbine, and get chopped into shark bait!

[Lt Keefer]

When we run out of fossil fuels I bet someone will come up with a viable solution. Until then, I'll leave the electric cars and hybrid motor homes on the show room floor.

[Bob Denman]

I like the idea of hydrogen fuel cells: the Universe of just full of the stuff!

[petefoss]

The issue with hydrogen is storage and transportation. Right now it takes about 100 kg of carbon fiber tank to hold 10 kg of hydrogen at 10000 psi. And lots of cubic feet of space. I'd rather lug around a battery vs a fuel cell AND a storage tank (which is essentially a battery since we use electricity to split water to make the hydrogen).