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You want a really crazy idea? How about a fleet of vehicles that charge EV semi trucks WHILE THEY ARE MOVING. That could reduce the needed size of the tractor
by AtlasBarfed 2y ago
You want a really crazy idea?
How about a fleet of vehicles that charge EV semi trucks WHILE THEY ARE MOVING. That could reduce the needed size of the tractor battery and the cost of the whole system.
Downside is it would probably be gasoline-powered.
Less radically, you simply tow an additional trailer that is a power generator/range extender. It can be a trailer of batteries that you simply swap at a swap station rather than wait to recharge, and you don't need some whacko battery swap scheme.
Honestly I think that should work for any EV, a range extending trailer. That way you can buy a 150-200 mile max range car for your daily stuff, and just rent/borrow a range extending trailer for longer trips.
- ambichook 2y agoi believe that's just a plug in hybrid
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> that's just a plug in hybrid To the extent an aircraft carrier is just an airstrip.
- euroderf 2y agoJust run regular shuttles between points A and B. Each participating truck has a connector on the front and one on the back, so that together they only occupy a single traffic lane. Any visual resemblances to a train are strickly coincidental.
- Gare 2y agoMaybe we could even put a cheap wire overhead to supply electricity, that way we don't need heavy and expensive batteries.
- op00to 2y agoImagine if instead of roads we have some sort of low friction surface that also controls the direction of the vehicle. Some sort of metal rail. Then the vehicles could be larger, open to the public, and follow a set schedule!
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- dpkirchner 2y agoAnd they could have additional rails that branch off the road every few miles and run directly to a set of various businesses. The system would just need a way to allow individual trucks to leave and return as deliveries are made.
- Cthulhu_ 2y agoI'll do you one better, use magnetic levitation so there's no friction at all. And build it in a vacuum pipe, so there's no air resistance either. I wonder why nobody else has thought of that yet? Such a mystery.
- euroderf 2y agoTrolley buses work this way. Sort of a halfway house between buses and trams.
- rainbowzootsuit 2y agoEdison Motors has built diesel-electric truck that operates essentially like a diesel-electric locomotive. Last I read it got whatever certifications are needed and is now 100% street legal. They intend to also build retrofits for existing semi trucks. https://www.edisonmotors.ca/ https://www.edisonmotors.ca/
- seanmcdirmid 2y agoJust out overhead wires over the interstate and the trucks can charge/draw juice from the grid that way. Bus routes in many countries still use that (Seattle and SF for the states, probably some others, and of course trains in Europe and Asia. Trains in the USA mostly use diesel turbines to generate electricity that is then used to move the train. You could do the same with a truck, although I don’t think it would pay off the same as it does in trains.