Hmm I can see why the tyres might have a problem a quick rough calculation (couldn’t find the exact size) tells me at full speed they would be rotating 90-100 times a second.
That is pretty impressive for a bit of rubber
Croatian electric car maker Rimac says it has set a new EV speed record, and it's nothing to balk at. The Nevera, its second production vehicle, was just clocked in Germany going a blistering 412 kilometers per hour (258mph). That pace – a third of the speed of sound, says test driver Miro Zrnčević – was a target Rimac set …
Have a look on youtube, and type "garage 54 supersonic tyre". They calculated they got a standard tyre to 1332 kph. The guys at Garage 54 do all kinds of things to cars (mostly Ladas), things the Top Gear lot wouldn't dare try. I used to own a Lada and it was pretty bullet proof. The Garage 54 guys regularly confirm just how tenacious Ladas are.
Thanks for that one - the joys of an unregulated country are apparent.
That said, let's just say that I have seen better welding - if I had made that sort of welds when I tried to certify they would not have just failed me, I think they would have made me start from scratch :).
Very entertaining.
"It produces a total of 1,914 horsepower from its four motors, and can reportedly get 330km (about 205 miles) to the charge."
Shirley that "and" should be an "or".
One wonders what the cool-down time is after a quarter mile of 1.9K HP ... or if a two-mile airport run will risk melting anything.
Lets see how that one minute travel time works out in practice:
I can see how that one minute travel totally will change your experience!
Out of curiosity, I grabbed my Wife's pedometer this morning as I set out to do my chores, and wore it all day. Just got in after the late-night barn check with a couple of the dogs, and finally took a look at it.
7.2 miles. Without trying, just a normal day. Means I walk a tick over 50 miles in an average week.
Surprised the hell out of me.
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You really, really don't want to tow with an ICE. Cuts down on the fuel efficiency more than most people think.
There is no inherent issue with towing - indeed an EV has several towing advantages which aren't available to ICE vehicles (low speed torque, regenerative braking)
"There is no inherent issue with towing"
Yes, there is. You even included it in the bit of mine you quoted.
The fact is that when towing, an EVs range is severely limited. I can tow a backhoe on a flatbed from Sonoma to the Nevada property on a single fillup of diesel, no stopping[0]. Trying the same mission with one of those new-fangled Ford Etrucks would require at least 6, maybe 7 stops for an 80% "fill up". I don't know about you, but for me there aren't enough hours in the day ... No, make that there aren't enough hours in my life to put up with that kind of nonsense.
You can keep your EVs for getting groceries and SJW posing. I have work to do, and time is money.
[0] Ford F-350 dually, 30 gallon main tank, and two 25 gallon saddle tanks.
"Sod off and admit that you drive a lorry"
Yes, I own and operate a Peterbilt ... but we were talking about one of the pickup trucks. Do try to keep up.
"then get a Tesla semi when they come out."
No, thank you. Too much money, not enough range, can't make a business case for it.
Methinks you already have a Tesla semi ...
No, a pickup is a pickup. It is not a lorry.
I take a rest when I am tired. Driving from Sonoma to the Nevada property doesn't make me tired. It's only a couple hundred miles.
My insurance company is quite happy with my driving record. You trying to paint all Americans with one brush, based on a few sensationalist news reports that make it across to your jurisdiction is just plain silly. Did it ever occur to you that they are on the news because they are highly unusual, and not the norm at all?
No - a US pickup *is* a lorry.
Just look at the sheer size and some of the things you tow, It's a lorry.
A couple of hundred - i'm sure it was 600 that you drove every weekend last time this conversation happened.
200 miles is easy mode for an EV
US road safety is not good. But then you seem to have a series of governments that refuse basic safety standards on all sorts of products.
Most diesel trains are actually diesel-electric. The diesel engine runs a generator, which in turn powers the electric engines that move the train. Cuts out the middle-man, and attendant transmission losses.
Overhead wires (of any kind!) are a blight on the landscape.
The diesel engine runs at a steady state, and is tuned to be most efficient at that RPM/power output. Just like your power station, and almost as efficient. Most modern diesels in this line of work are actually more efficient than some older power plants that are still online.
Transmission losses are greater than you are making them out to be. Look it up for yourself. Here's a paper to get you started: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2010/ph240/harting1/
Transmission losses in civilised countries are published regularly - I don't need to go back to a 2010 paper to know that.
Your efficiency calculation no doubt excludes any refining and transport costs associated with the diesel, and of course ignores the localised pollution associated as well.
Diesel Electric is OK, but when busy OHLE is more efficient, much greener and a lot more power can be used.
Look at say 1960 stuff
Diesel loco 3300 bhp about 3000 at rail on a good day (unless it was the played with one at 4000 - supposedly The Black Watch).
Similar age electric, same power, but that is continuous rating with short term a lot more.
Go to 70s
Diesel train 4500bhp with two power cars.
Electric 5000bhp with short term around 7000bhp, yes the Diesel is quicker but 8 carriages compared to 10 behind the 87.
as to efficiency the best figures I can find is 50% from fuel to rail for the last British designed and built frieght locos, ALL others are worse.
However, the diesel in a diesel-electric is tuned to run most efficiently at exactly the same speed as required to run the generators. It is actually just as efficient as a full-scale power plant (ignoring scale issues). However, it has virtually NONE of the power transmission losses. That's why almost all long-haul freight, world-wide, is powered by diesel-electric. Including shipping. It is quite simply the most cost efficient method of moving massive quantities of stuff from point A to point B.
Power line losses in any National Grid are a very, very large part of total operating expenses ... and the more electric cars you plug into said grid, the higher these losses become. Hybrid is the only logical answer.
Our problem is that most of our freight Diesels are now not the ultra efficient ones but less efficient imports, but even with sky high fuel prices these locos are kept on more for their ability than cost to run.
Our electric freights though can pull a LOT.
And also use a mixed source of power not just tractor juice.
with 80 gallons of fuel, I would expect you can do over 1,000 miles between fill ups, especially diesel so no big surprise there. Sonoma to West Endover Nevada (you didnt say where in Nevada) is only 594 miles. the average for your vehicle appears to be 13.8mpg.
https://www.fuelly.com/car/ford/f-350_super_duty
I probably manage under 5 MPG (maybe under 4) in places when towing that backhoe.
Lots of uphill between here (175ish ft) and the Nevada property (over 6,000 ft). See the portion of Hwy 80 between Sacramento and Tahoe, with the high point being Donner Summit, at 7240 ft. From Sac to DS is an elevation change of about 7200 ft ... in about 90 miles. Takes about an hour and a half, it's all super-slab.
I used to tow with a Mitsubishi Outlander when they first came out in a plug-in hybrid form.
We were camping one Easter just north of London, when it rained and turned the field into a shallow lake.
The faux 4x4's were getting stuck even trying to hitch up to the caravan and were making an awful mess.
The site wardens watched me drive very slowly from the car park onto the grass, hitch up in the lake and drive away both silently and without a single wheel spinning, and reported it in a magazine. The immediate torque of the electric drive was brilliant for such things and driving in the snow (and pulling away from lights much faster than most ICE cars ;-) )
Above 20mph the petrol engine was engaged, because as Jake said, the wind resistance really saps the battery.
Yes, the low-end torque is GREAT, if you're only going a few hundred yards. But once you're towing a few hundred miles, other factors come into play.
They are testing electric plug-in tractors. I was allowed to borrow one for a few weeks. I really like the low end torque and the relative quiet. I really hate that I can't use it non-stop for 72+ hours a couple of times during harvest season. This last is a complete deal-breaker. When crops need to come in, I can't have my tractor sitting on the charger for hours on end. This directly translates to towing over-the-road.
"Don't drive stuff for 72 hours straight - it's not safe, or clever."
Don't be disingenuous, it's not flattering.
Typically I'll drive a semi taking harvest to storage for four hours, then eat and rest or an hour, then drive a tractor for four hours, then 8 hours off. With four drivers rotating, it is fairly easy to keep up the pace for a week or so without getting tired enough to start making mistakes. My operation has more than four drivers available. It also has more than one tractor and more than one semi.
"You could of course have a swappable pack to allow pretty much continuous operation, but that doesn't fit your "I refuse to consider change" attitude."
A spare battery pack would cost nearly the same as a spare tractor. And in reality, I would need six battery packs (+ charging infrastructure) per tractor (semi, etc.) to maintain a nearly non-stop harvest. Plus the transportable equipment to do the battery swap in the field. Them thangs is heavy, they is. All in all, quite spendy.
I have considered it. Electric power for farm equipment looks good on paper, until you look at real world TCO. Then it's shit.
One exception: In so-called "third world countries", where bleeding-heart yuppies install a free (to the locals) PV system, a free (to the locals) electric tractor that needs no expensive diesel to run can be a godsend. Hopefully that same god will send help when (not if) something breaks ... especially considering that none of the parts will have been manufactured locally, nor be available locally. And good luck finding, and then transporting, a new or spare battery pack ...
Also, please note that it's not just my land I'm working ... I rent my equipment/personnel out to other locals who can't/won't afford their own gear.
Yes - I am well aware that commercial operations use multiple drivers... But since you insist that very other weekend you need to tow four horses, a n eccavatlr and half a building several hundred miles you clearly have no consideration for the rest of humanity.
And your general approach is "I do this now, and think it would be slightly less convenient (but I've never actually tried) so new technology is all bad"
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