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This is really impressive, I've been very skeptical of heavy payload capability and range for electric vehicles until now. Will be interesting to see how well t

This is really impressive, I've been very skeptical of heavy payload capability and range for electric vehicles until now. Will be interesting to see how well they perform, how the charging infrastructure works and battery life

trhway 9y ago
> very skeptical of heavy payload capability and range for electric vehicles heavy usually means "not that fast" - so less of the speed-squared drug (at 25miles/hour i remember some guys did double the range, like 400miles+, on a Tesla S) and also the weight of the battery becomes less of a factor on the background of the whole vehicle and cargo weight.
- Gibbon1 9y ago
  Two things to note about heavy vehicles. Often the power plant size is less than you would expect. Partly because drag is proportional to frontal area and goes up with the square of the vehicle size. While load is proportional to volume, goes up with the cube. That points to passenger cars being the worst case scenario, not trucks and buses. Second, batteries are a tech that just scales lineally. Double the capacity of a battery pack? Double the weight, volume, and cost. Consider with a bus the metric isn't battery size per bus, it's battery size per passenger. Add for electrified heavy equipment like tractors, etc. The extra weight of the battery is a bonus not a negative. You need weight to get traction not HP.
  - woodandsteel 9y ago
    Buses don't need huge batteries for their size. A typical city bus goes only about 100 miles a day, they do a ton of regenerative breaking, and they can charge at stops and also they tend to sit in the terminal several times a day while the driver takes a break after each circuit. Electric trash collection trucks are even better. That's because they do so much regenerative breaking.
    - goldenkey 9y ago
      Regenerative braking doesn't do much for someone who already throttles properly. Garbage trucks dont have to drive in traffic. They dont get free energy for regen breaking..its just a recoup for bad driving conditions.
      - adrianN 9y ago
        Were I live buses do drive in traffic.
        goldenkey 9y ago
        Yes, buses do. But not garbage trucks...Please read my post again - I never referred to buses, only garbage trucks.
      - eric-hu 9y ago
        Garbage trucks still need to make frequent stops compared to most vehicles. I suppose it's possible to make some kind of pickup system that doesn't require stopping, like the mail systems trains used to use. I don't know of any place that does that though. It'd probably get messy pretty easily.
        goldenkey 9y ago
        Garbage trucks cruise at a certain pace. They hardly ever stop and go, for good reason: fuel efficiency, wear and tear, and just general work efficiency. The drivers jump on and off and back onto the truck. Have you ever watched a garbage truck squad in action?
        woodandsteel 9y ago
        Where I live, the trash collection trucks have a hydralic mechanism on the side that grabs a trash can, pulls it up, and dumps it over the top. And to to do that, it comes to a full stop. The system you are describing sounds dangerous and uses far too much labor. Maybe your city has a trash collectors union with too much power.

trhway 9y ago

> very skeptical of heavy payload capability and range for electric vehicles heavy usually means "not that fast" - so less of the speed-squared drug (at 25miles/hour i remember some guys did double the range, like 400miles+, on a Tesla S) and also the weight of the battery becomes less of a factor on the background of the whole vehicle and cargo weight.

Gibbon1 9y ago
Two things to note about heavy vehicles. Often the power plant size is less than you would expect. Partly because drag is proportional to frontal area and goes up with the square of the vehicle size. While load is proportional to volume, goes up with the cube. That points to passenger cars being the worst case scenario, not trucks and buses. Second, batteries are a tech that just scales lineally. Double the capacity of a battery pack? Double the weight, volume, and cost. Consider with a bus the metric isn't battery size per bus, it's battery size per passenger. Add for electrified heavy equipment like tractors, etc. The extra weight of the battery is a bonus not a negative. You need weight to get traction not HP.
- woodandsteel 9y ago
  Buses don't need huge batteries for their size. A typical city bus goes only about 100 miles a day, they do a ton of regenerative breaking, and they can charge at stops and also they tend to sit in the terminal several times a day while the driver takes a break after each circuit. Electric trash collection trucks are even better. That's because they do so much regenerative breaking.
  - goldenkey 9y ago
    Regenerative braking doesn't do much for someone who already throttles properly. Garbage trucks dont have to drive in traffic. They dont get free energy for regen breaking..its just a recoup for bad driving conditions.
    - adrianN 9y ago
      Were I live buses do drive in traffic.
      - goldenkey 9y ago
        Yes, buses do. But not garbage trucks...Please read my post again - I never referred to buses, only garbage trucks.
    - eric-hu 9y ago
      Garbage trucks still need to make frequent stops compared to most vehicles. I suppose it's possible to make some kind of pickup system that doesn't require stopping, like the mail systems trains used to use. I don't know of any place that does that though. It'd probably get messy pretty easily.
      - goldenkey 9y ago
        Garbage trucks cruise at a certain pace. They hardly ever stop and go, for good reason: fuel efficiency, wear and tear, and just general work efficiency. The drivers jump on and off and back onto the truck. Have you ever watched a garbage truck squad in action?
        woodandsteel 9y ago
        Where I live, the trash collection trucks have a hydralic mechanism on the side that grabs a trash can, pulls it up, and dumps it over the top. And to to do that, it comes to a full stop. The system you are describing sounds dangerous and uses far too much labor. Maybe your city has a trash collectors union with too much power.