3 ms·

the main problem here is that a battery big enough to power a skid-steer would be too big to lift by hand. and you couldn't use your skid-steer to lift it, so

the main problem here is that a battery big enough to power a skid-steer would be too big to lift by hand. and you couldn't use your skid-steer to lift it, so you'd need a hoist or something. but once you've got a hoist and are moving a big heavy pack between vehicles, i wonder how much else could be in that transferrable pack. is a skid-steer loader similar enough to a light-duty tractor or mini-hoe that you could transfer the motor, hydraulic pump, and battery between different vehicles?

lifeisstillgood 6y ago
One that hits me as a caravan owner - I would love to take the drove chain of my main car and just "plug" it into a motor home shell - in fact have the shell be a two parter - a small runabout car and the extra. the price of a motor home is basically the cost of a car and the cost of a caravan - an electric motors home in this case would be basically half price
- myself248 6y ago
  How is this meaningfully different from an SUV towing a travel trailer?
  - fyfy18 6y ago
    This is different to the US, but in Europe a lot of people have smaller cars that aren't suitable for towing caravans. My family's only car can comfortable fit four people, but I don't have a tow bar (and the manufacturer doesn't recommend fitting one). And of course for most people it's much easier to drive a motorhome or campervan, than to drive a car with a caravan.
    - m463 6y ago
      I think a cool invention would be a (not-very) autonomous electric trailer. Think of a full trailer - "a freight trailer supported by front and rear axles and pulled by a drawbar" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_(vehicle)#Full_trailer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_(vehicle)#Full_trailer With something like this it could be "towed" by basically any kind of vehicle. It doesn't really have to be pulled or pushed, it could take hints from the vehicle in front. It might not even have to be attached, except maybe for legal or historical reasons. Another important point about rv-type travel is that you frequently need to be self-contained. A large battery could do double duty as propulsion and living. It would also be ideal for rooftop and/or awning solar panels. This setup would allow all the comforts of civilization without being hooked up to the grid, or even be near the grid. It could even pay for itself. Drive, then park for a few days and you get free power to go another hop.
      - URSpider94 6y ago
        People have definitely been tossing this idea around - basically your micro-car could "tow" a 10-ton self-powered autonomous trailer that locks in on guide signals from the rear and drafts your car. Much, much simpler than true autonomous driving - you don't have to read road signs, watch out for cyclists crossing against the light, figure out how to handle a 6-way uncontrolled intersection, etc. You'd probably want some feedback to the lead vehicle to modulate acceleration and braking to match the capabilities of the trailer.
  - lifeisstillgood 6y ago
    This is (becoming) a good question. If Automous vehicles do become a real thing on the roads (#) then the whole caravanning concept becomes ... curious - An electric battery / chassis that can transfer between "shells" implies I could swap the every day shell for a larger "sleep in shell". Kept at home or borrowed or stored or rented? - As below comment says - an automous car could simply just drive the whole "sleeping caravan" around (not any money saver but suddenly the market opens up - people who don't want to have the hassle of towing a two ton trailer can just go and wait for the caravan to arrive (from the rental store perhaps) It's really just hitting me but unbundling is going to change an awful lot of the real world (#) It's still a bit dubious - we seem to be like 60% there, 80% is looking challenging.
snypher 6y ago
You could easily have the skid-steer disembowel itsself and then unplug the battery. As long as it didn't topple over from being unweighted.

lifeisstillgood 6y ago

One that hits me as a caravan owner - I would love to take the drove chain of my main car and just "plug" it into a motor home shell - in fact have the shell be a two parter - a small runabout car and the extra. the price of a motor home is basically the cost of a car and the cost of a caravan - an electric motors home in this case would be basically half price

myself248 6y ago
How is this meaningfully different from an SUV towing a travel trailer?
- fyfy18 6y ago
  This is different to the US, but in Europe a lot of people have smaller cars that aren't suitable for towing caravans. My family's only car can comfortable fit four people, but I don't have a tow bar (and the manufacturer doesn't recommend fitting one). And of course for most people it's much easier to drive a motorhome or campervan, than to drive a car with a caravan.
  - m463 6y ago
    I think a cool invention would be a (not-very) autonomous electric trailer. Think of a full trailer - "a freight trailer supported by front and rear axles and pulled by a drawbar" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_(vehicle)#Full_trailer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_(vehicle)#Full_trailer With something like this it could be "towed" by basically any kind of vehicle. It doesn't really have to be pulled or pushed, it could take hints from the vehicle in front. It might not even have to be attached, except maybe for legal or historical reasons. Another important point about rv-type travel is that you frequently need to be self-contained. A large battery could do double duty as propulsion and living. It would also be ideal for rooftop and/or awning solar panels. This setup would allow all the comforts of civilization without being hooked up to the grid, or even be near the grid. It could even pay for itself. Drive, then park for a few days and you get free power to go another hop.
    - URSpider94 6y ago
      People have definitely been tossing this idea around - basically your micro-car could "tow" a 10-ton self-powered autonomous trailer that locks in on guide signals from the rear and drafts your car. Much, much simpler than true autonomous driving - you don't have to read road signs, watch out for cyclists crossing against the light, figure out how to handle a 6-way uncontrolled intersection, etc. You'd probably want some feedback to the lead vehicle to modulate acceleration and braking to match the capabilities of the trailer.
- lifeisstillgood 6y ago
  This is (becoming) a good question. If Automous vehicles do become a real thing on the roads (#) then the whole caravanning concept becomes ... curious - An electric battery / chassis that can transfer between "shells" implies I could swap the every day shell for a larger "sleep in shell". Kept at home or borrowed or stored or rented? - As below comment says - an automous car could simply just drive the whole "sleeping caravan" around (not any money saver but suddenly the market opens up - people who don't want to have the hassle of towing a two ton trailer can just go and wait for the caravan to arrive (from the rental store perhaps) It's really just hitting me but unbundling is going to change an awful lot of the real world (#) It's still a bit dubious - we seem to be like 60% there, 80% is looking challenging.

snypher 6y ago

You could easily have the skid-steer disembowel itsself and then unplug the battery. As long as it didn't topple over from being unweighted.