That’s probably more a ‘specific use case’ scenario than an EV tech issue. There are plenty of companies rolling out long haul class 6 tractors. We have a couple of companies here doing retrofits of commercial chassis trucks for medium distances (400-500km), there are electric rubbish trucks cruising around now that do couple hundred km a day at ~25-30t GVM.
Might not be a cost effective option yet, but that’s more about configuration than actual tech itself…
Glad you’re back and in fine form! We have two vehicles - the Transporter Camper van which is almost only used on long road trips, and a Subaru Crosstrek, six years old and fewer than 60,000 k. Most of the miles on that one are highway trips too of more than 100km.
Yet it’s so tempting to look at a V2G option - the cheapest new from China is not much more than a Tesla Powerwall. I could probably trade a little driver satisfaction for a small electrical storage box on wheels.
From most of what I’ve seen and tried to calculate for my own use, I’d be far better off with a hybrid inverter and a 48V home storage LFP setup than a V2X. That way I’d also get the option of time-shifting energy to charge the EV as well, in addition to not having my home storage battery f’ing off half the time
They’re about $500/kWh here on the cheaper end from local suppliers and cheaper still on direct import. $5k for 10kWh would be enough to do almost a full time-shift of our overnight usage and $10k for 20kWh would be enough to time shift enough to charge the EV
Same here but What I need the truck for is not very often. Most of the time a little ev might really help out the wallet. I have solar so that will help a little, but I also have a little pergola that could fit some extra panels if I found a good used set. Can of worms of all sorts of interesting projects. Easy to justify if I think about filling up my truck’s 35 gallon tank…They do have the lightning, that is my truck just with batteries. I bet I could find one of those pretty “cheap” since they announced they are discontinuing them!
edit…just looked. dealerships have a “new” one for $73k, used with 30k miles $43k one year older. Same extended battery. Still too much but that is some serious depreciation.
I’ve driven from Fort wayne Indiana up to Mount Bohemia in Copper Harbor a few times to ski. Takes an extra 3 hours to charge but I can do it in my 2018 model 3 which only has resistive heating. Give me the octovalve with heat pump in a modern tesla and it’d be very doable. Sleep in the parking lot for free with the heat on low take the edge off of the -5°F nights which saves a lot for accommodations
I have no problems with my 40 mile round trip to work + shopping/library stops and charging up every other night. Being a traveling salesman and travelling 200’s of miles per day could get tiresome in the winter though. Also hard if you don’t have a 240V spot to charge at home.
I didn’t know I went anywhere I did just get back home from work a few hours ago so if that’s what you mean then thank you sir!
Tech was probably the wrong term to use. For me I drive 290 miles one way to work, then my truck sits at the office parking lot for 2+ weeks, then I drive 290 miles back home. Chargers in the south are not near as available as they are in other areas. I can stop and fill up my tank in a few min and can do the round trip on about 3/4 of a tank in my truck. The time it would take for me to stop and charge an EV up in this scenario is time I am not willing to give up. Not to mention we get hurricanes, so the thought of having to drive a few hours through areas with no power doesn’t sit well with EV usage either. I know my use case is very far from “normal” use case. So for me its a no go, and I think that will be the case for a while longer.
I drove back from work today after the car sat outside in less than 12F weather for nine hours (i.e. cold). 12F outside, heat set to 75, and at 65 mph; my 2018 model 3 was averaging about 350 wh/mile. Assuming a 75 kwh battery pack =75 kwh/ 0.35 kwh/mile for 214 miles of range. Maybe take another 10 miles off for range loss as it sits to be generous. 120 miles should be doable as long as you can charge every night.
Electricity in Indiana is 13 cents per kwh so I’m paying 4.5 cents per mile in the winter. 30 MPG car with gas at $2.85/gallon yields 9.5 cents per mile.
Shoot I just looked average electricity around here is 0.44/kwh(according to AI), I pay about 0.30/mile in gas. The actual rates are so hard to figure out, three different times of day, and two power companies on the bill. It is so confusing, they have both made videos “helping” to read your bill and I still don’t understand it. I have no idea what I actual pay per kwh.
After seeing your rates, I want to unplug from the grid. I need more solar and lots of batteries. Anyone have a friend at Duracell??
I have a Lightning at the Flash trim level. I love it. Awesome for my driving and cost per mile (varies by season) is very reasonable. Even with AC maxed out in Arizona, I can get 250 miles range which is enough for me. Frunk in a truck is life changing. Being able to easily lock up stuff that I don’t want to leave in the bed is awesome.
The next generation of Lightning will be built on technology similar to diesel electric locomotives. I’m bummed it will omit the frunk, so I’ll have to see when that time comes. Supposedly all the benefits of electric with 750 mile range.
The truck is quick, responsive and fun to drive. I have solar so I like to think I’m mostly driving on the sun and not giving money to Exon, but that’s just me.
You know its bad when the guy designing cnc controllers and building a successful business out of DIY CNC machine building can’t figure out the electric bill!
I did just get back home from work a few hours ago so if that’s what you mean then thank you sir!
