Simple to answer - a truck propelled by an electric motor instead of a diesel engine.
Thats it! Is it?
At least this is what the existing truck manufacturers want us to believe,
and what these day's electric trucks are lock alike.
As a rule all other parts are still used:
Gearbox, differential, shafts, prop-shaft,
Are the trailers involved? No!
The drive concept today's trucks are following are based on the usage
of one central diesel engine distributing the power mechanically to the wheel.
Using a combustion engine as a power source it makes a lot of sense.
But we are discussing the usage of an electric motor as kinetic power source.
Is the best we can do changing the one with the other?
Does a city train having a locomotive? Why not?
Because it makes absolutely no sense to have one huge electric motor
pulling a city train, but to have lots of small electric motors all over
the train. What makes no sense for a diesel train makes incredible sense for an
electric train. Not only the technology is different, but all the way long
how it can, and should be used to get the best out of it.
Imagine: There is no combustion engine monster which is connected to the wheels.
And because of that there is no Gearbox, no differential, no shafts, and no prop-shaft!
And all those liters of oil these things are lubricated with!
All you have are some cabels instead, and in each truck wheel an electric motor.
Yes - today there is a planetary gear integrated with each e-motor containing some lubrication liquid, but all very little - compared ...
New e-motor designs will eliminate those mechanical devices (planetary gear) within the next decade.
Rule number one: moving parts as little as possible!
Our dream would be the "magnet" road train using a linear motor with only one moving part > the truck itself!
But to see this happen one - most probable - has to be the Timelord!
Back to more "down to earth" technology ...
Our e-truck has now the motors in the wheels.
And in a further step: it's trailer(s) have motors in the wheels ...
A whole new world opens of what such an electric truck, electric road train is capable of doing, and how it can be operated.
In my next posts I will try to paint a picture and present an exciting road transport universe.
You are still with me - reading? Then you have surely asked: Where comes the electricity from?
My next post will tackle that matter as it is a complex one and has not only to do with today's technological possibilities, but is very much relaying on the existing an infrastructure.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Electric Trucks - starter
The source is unknown, but it states that the total cost to payback the electric truck is approximately five years.
For me not only this source is unknown, but also if this figure is based on an electric driven truck produced in quantities similar to today's standard trucks.
"I am not interested in what quantities this truck is produced, but what it costs me today!" the transporter would say, and he is right.
At least without further thoughts!
The theme itself is a multi-level/ multi-task one.
It includes the environment - not only the natura, but also the political one.
Whilst the result in regards to the nature (this includes every human being) is throughout the same, the political environment changes from country to country influenced by governmental tax breaks and/or subsidies as well as energy cost.
If environmental issues are still considered not relevant, the lower operating costs might.
By know we are in the middle of a discussion about the "electric truck"!
Do we know what we are discussiong? Really? Do you? Who does?
I am wondering if particular "decision makers" would have a glimpse. Or any interest at all?
Talking about electric trucks is talking about new ways of transport carried out by a new generation of transport vehicles within a society having different ground values.
What is an electric truck? A technical question, a philosophical one?
I like to believe what Karen Rutherford (USA) is stating: "... our society becomes smarter about our environment and taking more time to pursue intelligent ways to live with nature, the market for electric vehicles will grow rapidly in our future."
But should we believe her, continuing: "... manufacturers are realizing the demands are out growing the supply for electric work trucks and personal vehicles."
It sounds that these days manufacturers are cleverer, but the truth is that they know these facts since Ford won the battle electric./.combustion powered cars.
To the benefit of fast to make profits all other issues have been not only ignored, but the public was feed with lies a whole century, and did not stop yet. It was a lot easier and for their walled more sufficient to burn cheap oil in an explosion device then to further develop intelligent methods of less environmental straining methods. And in the last decades it was the oil and car lobby hindering the electric road vehicle from evolving! The reason was not a technological one, but a "profit" one, and the media helped to feed the masses with false facts.
We carried out a 2 year research (Central Europe) at the begin of the 1990ies which proofed that all necessary technology existed and environmental needs were known and understood by our leaders back then, but ignored by the public miss-led by false media presentation orchestrated by the named lobby.
This lobby is still very alive trying to dictate what an electric driven vehicle or an "hybrid" has to look like, still selling their 12 Cylinder monster engines connected to the wheels of our today's vehicles - only watch daily TV adverts!
Either one is confronted with a completely mad looking design of an electric vehicle or with figures stating that the electricity we would charge those vehicles with is worse for the environment than the output of a car's combustion engine!
Do you still believe it?
Yes? - They brainwashed you well!
No? - Excellent - till when?
But back to our trucks!
The first question always will be the money one: "Is it visible to run an electric truck?"
Another question is (which should not be a question at all): "Does it make environmental sense to run an electric truck?"
Questions! And the answers are in general not easy and a multi-level issue!
What time frame are we talking about? - today, 5 years, 20 years?
What is the truck doing? Long distance, suburbs, city?
How big is the truck? 7 tonnes, 25 tonnes, road train?
Where is this truck working? Europe, Africa, America, Asia, Australia?
In my next posts I will tackle these questions and try to present possible answers!
Thanks for reading! I would appreciate your input!
For me not only this source is unknown, but also if this figure is based on an electric driven truck produced in quantities similar to today's standard trucks.
"I am not interested in what quantities this truck is produced, but what it costs me today!" the transporter would say, and he is right.
At least without further thoughts!
The theme itself is a multi-level/ multi-task one.
It includes the environment - not only the natura, but also the political one.
Whilst the result in regards to the nature (this includes every human being) is throughout the same, the political environment changes from country to country influenced by governmental tax breaks and/or subsidies as well as energy cost.
If environmental issues are still considered not relevant, the lower operating costs might.
By know we are in the middle of a discussion about the "electric truck"!
Do we know what we are discussiong? Really? Do you? Who does?
I am wondering if particular "decision makers" would have a glimpse. Or any interest at all?
Talking about electric trucks is talking about new ways of transport carried out by a new generation of transport vehicles within a society having different ground values.
What is an electric truck? A technical question, a philosophical one?
I like to believe what Karen Rutherford (USA) is stating: "... our society becomes smarter about our environment and taking more time to pursue intelligent ways to live with nature, the market for electric vehicles will grow rapidly in our future."
But should we believe her, continuing: "... manufacturers are realizing the demands are out growing the supply for electric work trucks and personal vehicles."
It sounds that these days manufacturers are cleverer, but the truth is that they know these facts since Ford won the battle electric./.combustion powered cars.
To the benefit of fast to make profits all other issues have been not only ignored, but the public was feed with lies a whole century, and did not stop yet. It was a lot easier and for their walled more sufficient to burn cheap oil in an explosion device then to further develop intelligent methods of less environmental straining methods. And in the last decades it was the oil and car lobby hindering the electric road vehicle from evolving! The reason was not a technological one, but a "profit" one, and the media helped to feed the masses with false facts.
We carried out a 2 year research (Central Europe) at the begin of the 1990ies which proofed that all necessary technology existed and environmental needs were known and understood by our leaders back then, but ignored by the public miss-led by false media presentation orchestrated by the named lobby.
This lobby is still very alive trying to dictate what an electric driven vehicle or an "hybrid" has to look like, still selling their 12 Cylinder monster engines connected to the wheels of our today's vehicles - only watch daily TV adverts!
Either one is confronted with a completely mad looking design of an electric vehicle or with figures stating that the electricity we would charge those vehicles with is worse for the environment than the output of a car's combustion engine!
Do you still believe it?
Yes? - They brainwashed you well!
No? - Excellent - till when?
But back to our trucks!
The first question always will be the money one: "Is it visible to run an electric truck?"
Another question is (which should not be a question at all): "Does it make environmental sense to run an electric truck?"
Questions! And the answers are in general not easy and a multi-level issue!
What time frame are we talking about? - today, 5 years, 20 years?
What is the truck doing? Long distance, suburbs, city?
How big is the truck? 7 tonnes, 25 tonnes, road train?
Where is this truck working? Europe, Africa, America, Asia, Australia?
In my next posts I will tackle these questions and try to present possible answers!
Thanks for reading! I would appreciate your input!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Why a 4 wheel drive?
There is a "stinker" car, and I would like to replace the combustion engine with an e-motor in order to get rid of the stink.
To convert existing cars into an electric car is an excellent idea, as this video from Gavin Shoebridge proofs: Home converted Electric Car
For AUD12.000,- he drives around with a "clean" vehicle!
Whilst this is OK for converting an existing car it makes little sense to mass produce a new car based on this concept!
But that is exactly what most of the car manufacturers are doing.
Why should an newly constructed electric vehicle be engineered differently?
Important issues are ...
- security
- efficiency
- price
- comfort
- flexibility
My next posts I will dedicate to the above mentioned issues - one by one.
Watch this one - a pure 4 wheel electric car concept: Audi R8 e-Tron
To convert existing cars into an electric car is an excellent idea, as this video from Gavin Shoebridge proofs: Home converted Electric Car
For AUD12.000,- he drives around with a "clean" vehicle!
Whilst this is OK for converting an existing car it makes little sense to mass produce a new car based on this concept!
But that is exactly what most of the car manufacturers are doing.
Why should an newly constructed electric vehicle be engineered differently?
Important issues are ...
- security
- efficiency
- price
- comfort
- flexibility
My next posts I will dedicate to the above mentioned issues - one by one.
Watch this one - a pure 4 wheel electric car concept: Audi R8 e-Tron
Again a "Hybrid"
Across the range of "electric" news we can read posts like this one:
"The Fusion Hybrid is powered by a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder that mates to an electric motor. The powertrain matches up to a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) and the car can be powered by either motor or both, depending on driving needs. The total system output is 156 horsepower."
Rising the question: how much from the 156 horsepower or more adequate 108.87 kW is powered by the 2 energy suppliers?
Anyway - this is another misled hybrid-concept, another trial to sell as many standard combustion engines as possible.
It can't be a solution to create an electric vehicle on passed century's technolog, on "mechanics" and explosions with a rather stinking and little efficient output.
Any "Hybrid" which is mechanically connecting a combustion engine to the wheels is outdated and kept alive only by the crashed car industry to recover some of the loss their arrogance caused.
All vehicles which have been mass produced in the last 100 years have been optimized around a combustion engine, and to think replacing the combustion engine with a single e-motor (or to simply ad one like in this Ford hybrid) creates an electric vehicle is misled.
If the combustion engine would be replaced with a same weigh new generation compound enforced e-motor (like the one which soon will be used to power helicopter rotors) would rip the gearbox and all other mechanical power connections simply apart.
We are talking of 1500, 2000 Nm or more torque available at any time of operation.
This fact also makes clear why the e-motors in our fig-leaf-hybrids are so tiny, they are plugged on standard car components like gearbox, clutches and axles.
To demonstrate my thought you may watch this youtube video, Worlds fastest street legal ELECTRIC CAR
which not only provides us an idea how powerful and fast a standard car chassis becomes when equipped with an e-motor, but also where the bottleneck appears - getting the power onto the road.
I therefore like you to see the following video about the Eliica Electric Vehicle which is built what I name an e-driven car. Space frame, e-motors in the 8 wheels. It works with 4 wheels fine too, especially if you do NOT want to go 370km/h and you don not need to rich 100km/h in 4 sec.
Still, this car has old-generation electric motors and at present available batteries.
Batteries are getting half size (doubling their capacity) every 5 years independent from newly introduced innovative e-storage technologies. Prices, as we learned from Ford at the begin of the last century will fall with quantity. Considering that a 4 wheel driven e-vehicle has only 4 moving parts to accelerate the car compared to hundreds of moving parts in a last-century-car (I name them "stinkers") one has not to be a professor for commerce to understand that an e-car will be a lot cheaper if produced in the same quantity as a today's mass produced vehicle.
No gearbox (which also is filled with lubricating oil), no shafts, no motors (they are in the wheels).
The saved weight can be filled with I.E. batteries, fuel cells or generators powered by any kind of liquid or gassy stuff.
But thats not all - why it will change our society, and how - read in the posts to follow!
"The Fusion Hybrid is powered by a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder that mates to an electric motor. The powertrain matches up to a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) and the car can be powered by either motor or both, depending on driving needs. The total system output is 156 horsepower."
Rising the question: how much from the 156 horsepower or more adequate 108.87 kW is powered by the 2 energy suppliers?
Anyway - this is another misled hybrid-concept, another trial to sell as many standard combustion engines as possible.
It can't be a solution to create an electric vehicle on passed century's technolog, on "mechanics" and explosions with a rather stinking and little efficient output.
Any "Hybrid" which is mechanically connecting a combustion engine to the wheels is outdated and kept alive only by the crashed car industry to recover some of the loss their arrogance caused.
All vehicles which have been mass produced in the last 100 years have been optimized around a combustion engine, and to think replacing the combustion engine with a single e-motor (or to simply ad one like in this Ford hybrid) creates an electric vehicle is misled.
If the combustion engine would be replaced with a same weigh new generation compound enforced e-motor (like the one which soon will be used to power helicopter rotors) would rip the gearbox and all other mechanical power connections simply apart.
We are talking of 1500, 2000 Nm or more torque available at any time of operation.
This fact also makes clear why the e-motors in our fig-leaf-hybrids are so tiny, they are plugged on standard car components like gearbox, clutches and axles.
To demonstrate my thought you may watch this youtube video, Worlds fastest street legal ELECTRIC CAR
which not only provides us an idea how powerful and fast a standard car chassis becomes when equipped with an e-motor, but also where the bottleneck appears - getting the power onto the road.
I therefore like you to see the following video about the Eliica Electric Vehicle which is built what I name an e-driven car. Space frame, e-motors in the 8 wheels. It works with 4 wheels fine too, especially if you do NOT want to go 370km/h and you don not need to rich 100km/h in 4 sec.
Still, this car has old-generation electric motors and at present available batteries.
Batteries are getting half size (doubling their capacity) every 5 years independent from newly introduced innovative e-storage technologies. Prices, as we learned from Ford at the begin of the last century will fall with quantity. Considering that a 4 wheel driven e-vehicle has only 4 moving parts to accelerate the car compared to hundreds of moving parts in a last-century-car (I name them "stinkers") one has not to be a professor for commerce to understand that an e-car will be a lot cheaper if produced in the same quantity as a today's mass produced vehicle.
No gearbox (which also is filled with lubricating oil), no shafts, no motors (they are in the wheels).
The saved weight can be filled with I.E. batteries, fuel cells or generators powered by any kind of liquid or gassy stuff.
But thats not all - why it will change our society, and how - read in the posts to follow!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Fig-Leaf!
Hybrid vehicles where the powerful part of the car is the combustion engine using the e-motor for the "weak" tasks of slow motion driving is what I name the "Fig-Leaf Concept".
The "Fig-Leaf Concept" is the way how the car manufacturer lobby is proofing to the public how weak the electric part of the drive is compared to the powerful combustion engine. But it gives them a "green" and environmental responsible face.
Benefits gained in using an electric motor for slow motion driving are eaten up by loss in charging/ discharging a battery usually based on lead in these cars.
Often one will find that the combustion engine is thoroughly featured, whilst details of the electrical part of the drive like energy flow or efficiency is hardly mentioned. These concepts are usually based on the standard petrol car chassis and the electric parts are additional weight, and the battery is placed taking parts of the trunk away therefore providing less comfort and cost more!
As crude oil based fuel comes closer to be used up and the preasure on CO2 regulations petrol prices will rise and the reason petrol cars won the market early last century is disappearing.
Given a production quantity comparable to a standard car prices of batteries will not keep electric driven cars from being less expensive than vehicles driven by a mechanical device needing over 200 moving parts, explosions producing incredible heat in it's motor for getting it going.
Therefore the only future save vehicle concept can be the one which is not using a combustion facility or any organic fuel at all. In the long run even hydrogen driven cars make little sense - why first using electricity to produce hydrogen, distribute it by trucks to then burn it in a combustion engine driven car? Even bio-fuel produced based on growing plants or waste-gas will have to be burned up producing CO2 gases.
Any combustion is producing extreme heat adding to global warming surely more than the moderate working temperature of an electric motor!
Proper hybrid vehicles with 4 wheels exclusively powered by electric motors is able to use all these possibilities to be fed with energy - even petrol using an on-board generator, whilst the "false" hybrid concept never can run without the fed of petrol. Documented by the fact that most of these hybrid cars would not even provide an electrical plug for being re-charged at the mains.
"The Swiss Model" is one of the ideas to create direct electrical energy capturing sun light by solar panels installed on a house roof and feeding it into the mains - using the mains as buffer storage - to re-charge the electric vehicle back from the mains later.
Cars fitting into the category of "fig-leaf" hybrid concepts are
(to list some of them) the Toyota Prius, Lexus Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid, Nissan Altima Hybrid,
Here some "proper" future oriented electric hybrids whereby the wheels are exclusively electric powered:
Mitsubishi CT Hybrid Concept, with four electric motors, one for every wheel...
GM Volt - range of about 56 km given by a lithium ion battery pack.
Tesla - 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds, 200 km/h top speed, over 350km range
There is again a fundamental difference withing pure electric driven cars.
The related information soon will appear on this blog together with more detailed Information in regards to existing or future concepts of electric-hybrid or pure electric driven vehicles.
Any input which could help to increase the density of information is very welcome.
Please contact me: the-e-man
The "Fig-Leaf Concept" is the way how the car manufacturer lobby is proofing to the public how weak the electric part of the drive is compared to the powerful combustion engine. But it gives them a "green" and environmental responsible face.Benefits gained in using an electric motor for slow motion driving are eaten up by loss in charging/ discharging a battery usually based on lead in these cars.
Often one will find that the combustion engine is thoroughly featured, whilst details of the electrical part of the drive like energy flow or efficiency is hardly mentioned. These concepts are usually based on the standard petrol car chassis and the electric parts are additional weight, and the battery is placed taking parts of the trunk away therefore providing less comfort and cost more!
As crude oil based fuel comes closer to be used up and the preasure on CO2 regulations petrol prices will rise and the reason petrol cars won the market early last century is disappearing.
Given a production quantity comparable to a standard car prices of batteries will not keep electric driven cars from being less expensive than vehicles driven by a mechanical device needing over 200 moving parts, explosions producing incredible heat in it's motor for getting it going.
Therefore the only future save vehicle concept can be the one which is not using a combustion facility or any organic fuel at all. In the long run even hydrogen driven cars make little sense - why first using electricity to produce hydrogen, distribute it by trucks to then burn it in a combustion engine driven car? Even bio-fuel produced based on growing plants or waste-gas will have to be burned up producing CO2 gases.
Any combustion is producing extreme heat adding to global warming surely more than the moderate working temperature of an electric motor!
Proper hybrid vehicles with 4 wheels exclusively powered by electric motors is able to use all these possibilities to be fed with energy - even petrol using an on-board generator, whilst the "false" hybrid concept never can run without the fed of petrol. Documented by the fact that most of these hybrid cars would not even provide an electrical plug for being re-charged at the mains.
"The Swiss Model" is one of the ideas to create direct electrical energy capturing sun light by solar panels installed on a house roof and feeding it into the mains - using the mains as buffer storage - to re-charge the electric vehicle back from the mains later.
Cars fitting into the category of "fig-leaf" hybrid concepts are
(to list some of them) the Toyota Prius, Lexus Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid, Nissan Altima Hybrid,
Here some "proper" future oriented electric hybrids whereby the wheels are exclusively electric powered:
Mitsubishi CT Hybrid Concept, with four electric motors, one for every wheel...
GM Volt - range of about 56 km given by a lithium ion battery pack.
Tesla - 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds, 200 km/h top speed, over 350km range
There is again a fundamental difference withing pure electric driven cars.
The related information soon will appear on this blog together with more detailed Information in regards to existing or future concepts of electric-hybrid or pure electric driven vehicles.
Any input which could help to increase the density of information is very welcome.
Please contact me: the-e-man
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Did you know?
... that electric Cars go back as far as to the early 1830s, a the time when electric car creations started to appear - Scottish, Dutch, Americans and French. During the late 1800s France and Great Britain were the first to support the further development of electric vehicles. "La Jamais Contente" a Belgian built electric racing car set a world record for land speed nearly a 110km/h - in 1899. Yes right! 1899!
Even before the 20th century began the first commercial fleet of electric driven taxis in New York City was built having a range of around 28km/h and 18km/h fast.
The first hybrid car with built in combustion engine and an e-motor occured as early as 1916.
Arround 1900 electric cars in America were out-selling all other types of vehicles in not having the vibration, noise and smell created by petrol driven cars. What was the most difficult piece of technology in petrol cars - the gearbox - was not needed in electric vehicles at all.
The discovery of crude oil in Texas and the resulting availability of cheap petrol in combination with Ransom Olds' and some years later Henry Ford's mass production of cheap petrol cars killed the e-vehicle and triggered the environmental disaster the combustion engine would cause in the century to come.
Any input which could help to increase the density of information is very welcome.
Please contact me: the-e-man
Even before the 20th century began the first commercial fleet of electric driven taxis in New York City was built having a range of around 28km/h and 18km/h fast.
The first hybrid car with built in combustion engine and an e-motor occured as early as 1916.
Arround 1900 electric cars in America were out-selling all other types of vehicles in not having the vibration, noise and smell created by petrol driven cars. What was the most difficult piece of technology in petrol cars - the gearbox - was not needed in electric vehicles at all.
The discovery of crude oil in Texas and the resulting availability of cheap petrol in combination with Ransom Olds' and some years later Henry Ford's mass production of cheap petrol cars killed the e-vehicle and triggered the environmental disaster the combustion engine would cause in the century to come.
Any input which could help to increase the density of information is very welcome.
Please contact me: the-e-man
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