NFR Electric Truck

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Capt Insano Emeritis said:
My 95 toyota pickup has a 7’ bed. I am not selling it but i have had 7 or 8 hispanic landscaping guys driving their company flatbed rigs stop and come up to the door and ask if its for sale. Okay it is not for sale, there is no for sale sign up and its covid season so it is annoying. ;) i love my old truck. The point is unless you buy a big arse truck( all trucks are big arse comparitively) i don’t need something that throws a shadow on everything near it. ;)
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I agree I wish the truck could shrink when I'm not using the full bed. I'm driving an '01 and pushing 300,000 miles and I'm starting to look. The new trucks are beasts. There were many new NHTSA and EPA regulations that have impacted all vehicles since '01, particularly class 1 trucks and diesel. I absolutely love diesel and after having one I cannot for the life of me understand why it took so long for jeeps to use diesel. If you want to crawl up steep slopes without overheating diesel is the way to go.
 
I have never driven an EV more than around the block, but the one thing I have learned is that the range is dependent on many things.

A co-worker has a Tesla (I can't recall the model) and he can't go 120 miles in the winter without a stop for a quick charge. He lives on the east coast and has no troubles finding fast chargers, he prefers Sheetz. In the summer he can go well over 200 miles. This has something to do with the mode he drives in that requires heating to keep the batteries warm to maximize responsiveness.

It's the same with all vehicles, my dad used frequently used my diesel truck and would get 23 mpg....I've never broken 20 mpg! He'd drive my 34 gallon truck over 600 miles and not bat an eye, I get to 450 and I start looking for fuel. This is why I have auxiliary tank in the bed for some of my trips.
 
longputt said:
I have never driven an EV more than around the block, but the one thing I have learned is that the range is dependent on many things.

A co-worker has a Tesla (I can't recall the model) and he can't go 120 miles in the winter without a stop for a quick charge. He lives on the east coast and has no troubles finding fast chargers, he prefers Sheetz. In the summer he can go well over 200 miles. This has something to do with the mode he drives in that requires heating to keep the batteries warm to maximize responsiveness.

It's the same with all vehicles, my dad used frequently used my diesel truck and would get 23 mpg....I've never broken 20 mpg! He'd drive my 34 gallon truck over 600 miles and not bat an eye, I get to 450 and I start looking for fuel. This is why I have auxiliary tank in the bed for some of my trips.
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My boss has two Teslas. With both (his Model 3 and Model X) he's able to drive from Vancouver WA to his place in Sisters, OR without a charge and plenty of charge to spare, even during the winter. That's over the Cascades, too.
 
My former employer had Nissan Leafs. As I understand it they are rated very poorly for range. The amusing thing is that upper management, who heavily lobbied for the purchase, wouldn't drive them because of several strandings during cold weather because running the heater, wipers, and defroster drastically reduced the already minimal battery life.

For awhile my employer was in love with Prius. Spent quite a bit of time driving the things. Very noisy on the road, though they do handle well in snow if it's not deep (typical of most FWD). Got stuck twice, once far out in the sticks. Damn things just suddenly shutdown (which could happen to any vehicle of course). Our fleet people hated them, and the flatbed tow driver they sent out said he had hauled plenty of Priusi.
 
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krusty said:
My former employer had Nissan Leafs. As I understand it they are rated very poorly for range. The amusing thing is that upper management, who heavily lobbied for the purchase, wouldn't drive them because of several strandings during cold weather because running the heater, wipers, and defroster drastically reduced the already minimal battery life.
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Yeah, the Leaf is hot garbage unless you are staying within about 10-15mi. They charge slow, have next to no range, and are just an all around weak addition in the segment. They were really the only game in town for a long time though, so good on them for holding down the fort while everyone else figured it out. But I don't understand how they didn't make progress for something better during that time.
 
Evan B said:
Yeah, the Leaf is hot garbage unless you are staying within about 10-15mi. They charge slow, have next to no range, and are just an all around weak addition in the segment. They were really the only game in town for a long time though, so good on them for holding down the fort while everyone else figured it out. But I don't understand how they didn't make progress for something better during that time.
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I've read that the Leaf difference is the air cooling of the batteries...they also have a short life. Tesla, BMW and GM have very sophisticated water cooling/warming systems. The technology of the battery has actually changed very little in 20 years but battery management has made incredible strides.
 
Evan B said:
My boss has two Teslas. With both (his Model 3 and Model X) he's able to drive from Vancouver WA to his place in Sisters, OR without a charge and plenty of charge to spare, even during the winter. That's over the Cascades, too.
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I used to have a 65 Datsun pickup. 60hp noisy as hell . I had a vw gas tank put in the bed behind the cab with a switchover right by the base of my seat i could switch when i heard a sputter. Of course this truck had no eco anything so it got 30 mpg( manual trans) loved that little truck. My first real fishing truck. Saw a lot of forest roads… this was around 1975. The wife took it to the store she told me and when she came out of the store the fire dept was there in the parking lot. The darn thing had an electrical fire. My brother in law who i bought it from rewired it years ago when he switched out the generator for an alternator.
 
I should add that nothing is more entertaining to fleet crews than rescuing a management suit, standing in the snow with their little dingle-ball slippers (ala Steve Martin in Plains, Trains, and Automobiles) when their EV runs outta juice.
 
krusty said:
I should add that nothing is more entertaining to fleet crews than rescuing a management suit, standing in the snow with their little dingle-ball slippers (ala Steve Martin in Plains, Trains, and Automobiles) when their EV runs outta juice.
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That's more of a referendum on the dingus who let his car run out of juice than it is to EVs. Just like people who run out of gas.
 
Evan B said:
That's more of a referendum on the dingus who let his car run out of juice than it is to EVs. Just like people who run out of gas.
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In most cases it occurred within a few miles after sitting plugged in at the charging station all night. After a few such episodes I don't think those vehicles ever left the charging station. Even dingus suits eventually learn.
 
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It takes skill to drive any vehicle efficiently, and a lot of people lack those driving skills (and, based on what I see on the road, driving skills in general :ROFLMAO:). If you get into an EV and drive like my grandma - a lead footed maniac - you might only get half the range that you expected. That’s not the fault of the vehicle, it‘s operator error.
 
Chucker said:
It takes skill to drive any vehicle efficiently, and a lot of people lack those driving skills (and, based on what I see on the road, driving skills in general :ROFLMAO:). If you get into an EV and drive like my grandma - a lead footed maniac - you might only get half the range that you expected. That’s not the fault of the vehicle, it‘s operator error.
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Believe me, with the Nissan Leafs it wasn't lead-footed operator error.😄
 
Krusty is right regarding the Leaf. Aa mentioned elsewhere, they weren't noted for range . Even the new ones lack the distance. Guess that's what happens when you merge with Renault and then try to play in the American markets.

On the other hand, you can pick up Gen 1's for dirt cheap.
 
wanderingrichard said:
Krusty is right regarding the Leaf. Aa mentioned elsewhere, they weren't noted for range . Even the new ones lack the distance. Guess that's what happens when you merge with Renault and then try to play in the American markets.

On the other hand, you can pick up Gen 1's for dirt cheap.
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My oldest daughter lived in Brentwood Ca she had a leaf . She was not enjoying her marriage with the first husband when I visited and said “ I can run away, the Leaf has a 60 mile range” this was c. 2008ish
 
Why does it have to be strictly electric and batteries, more and bigger and more! Its been touched on a few times already. Where are we going to get all the rare earth's and raw materials? Y'all constantly bitch about conservation, yet I swear I read a few pages back we should strip mine central Oregon for lithium, because electric cars are the sacred golden goose, might as well go ahead and peel the "no pebble mine" stickers off the rod vaults.
Electric vehicles will be virtue toys unless they get to 500+ mile range with load, and recharging takes 10 min tops with significant infrastructure to accommodate lines at the 'pump.' And again wheres the electricity coming from? Solar and wind? With their own faults regarding lifespan, rare earths, etc. How do we store it during low production times. Coal or Nat gas plants and we just look the other way and feel good about our earth saving vehicle? Carbon dioxide is not bad, its a byproduct of nature, we breath it out, trees take it in.. blah blah. Its not an evil pollutant. Becoming more efficient and environmentally friendly is great and a worthy goal but it seems like we got tunnel vision here, it has to be this way, there has to be zero carbon.

There is another way. What if you got 100mpg in your truck? No complete infrastructure overhaul, no dependency on elecric grids. Trains have been using this tech for years. A turbine generator charging electric batteries powering and electric motor. Scaled down to non commercial level. Instant acceleration and torque, programed to charge while stopped or coasting or cruising at highway speed with the help of an alternator and generator. Generators could be configured to run on nat gas, gas, diesel, biodiesel, alcohol, whatever we can dream up in the future.
 
Long_Rod_Silvers said:
Can't wait to take this thing out on the local "no internal combustion motors allowed" lake and just absolutely tear shit up.

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Coldwater, here I come!!!
 
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