Edison Motors Electric Semi Truck w/Tesla Bashing

[TV and credit cards]

Runs on not too many batteries that are charged by an onboard diesel motor. Commercial off the shelf (COTS) parts so it's easy to maintain. Practical as it is designed with input from truckers. Built to last a long time.
Think the powers that be will make sure these guys never make it to manufacturing?

Edison Motors | Diesel-Electric Trucks Redefined

Edison Motors combines diesel and electric power to create innovative, efficient, and sustainable hybrid trucks built for performance and reliability.

www.edisonmotors.ca

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I very much question how the battery life is going to fare.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Sounds like these are hybrids, not electrics. *ponders the power from regenerative braking that could be available*

It does sound rather limited, and just a battery pack thing, not something that is a larger system like a Prius.

 

[bilby]

Diesel electric power has been used by railway locomotives since 1925; It's not particularly new technology, nor particularly green - but it is a good opportunity to jump on the "electric stuff is good for the environment" propaganda train.

A 100% electric truck, charged from a grid with 100% ultra low carbon generators, would be green. This thing? It burns diesel oil. It could potentially be green if fuelled with biodiesel made from used cooking oils.

 

[TV and credit cards]

They do not call it a hybrid as the diesel motor never powers the truck. It only charges the batteries. The savings in fuel are anywhere from 10% for over the road trucking to 75% for city stop and go traffic. The diesel motor runs at a steady state never having to be used to get the vehicle up to speed, the big energy consumer with semis. It basically makes every semi operate as it does at highway speeds.
The video is really quite interesting.

 

[bilby]

They do not call it a hybrid as the diesel motor never powers the truck. It only charges the batteries. The savings in fuel are anywhere from 10% for over the road trucking to 75% for city stop and go traffic. The diesel motor runs at a steady state never having to be used to get the vehicle up to speed, the big energy consumer with semis. It basically makes every semi operate as it does at highway speeds.
The video is really quite interesting.

Yeah, that's exactly how a diesel electric railroad locomotive works. It saves some fuel; It's a good idea.

But it's not revolutionary or novel; And it's not "green" - it is just a more efficient way to use fossil fuels for motive power.

 

[TV and credit cards]

They do not call it a hybrid as the diesel motor never powers the truck. It only charges the batteries. The savings in fuel are anywhere from 10% for over the road trucking to 75% for city stop and go traffic. The diesel motor runs at a steady state never having to be used to get the vehicle up to speed, the big energy consumer with semis. It basically makes every semi operate as it does at highway speeds.
The video is really quite interesting.

Yeah, that's exactly how a diesel electric railroad locomotive works. It saves some fuel; It's a good idea.

But it's not revolutionary or novel; And it's not "green" - it is just a more efficient way to use fossil fuels for motive power.

It's not perfect but it is better. If it's as robust and easy to maintain as they make it out to be, investors and purchase orders should come easy.
Frankly with four state routes converging in my little town and a semi always in front of me, I'll be happy if they can just move out from a traffic light at a decent clip.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Diesel electric power has been used by railway locomotives since 1925; It's not particularly new technology, nor particularly green - but it is a good opportunity to jump on the "electric stuff is good for the environment" propaganda train.

A 100% electric truck, charged from a grid with 100% ultra low carbon generators, would be green. This thing? It burns diesel oil. It could potentially be green if fuelled with biodiesel made from used cooking oils.

Diesel-electric is better than straight diesel because it lets them optimize the engine without having to deal with making it perform over a wide RPM range.

 

[bilby]

Diesel electric power has been used by railway locomotives since 1925; It's not particularly new technology, nor particularly green - but it is a good opportunity to jump on the "electric stuff is good for the environment" propaganda train.

A 100% electric truck, charged from a grid with 100% ultra low carbon generators, would be green. This thing? It burns diesel oil. It could potentially be green if fuelled with biodiesel made from used cooking oils.

Diesel-electric is better than straight diesel because it lets them optimize the engine without having to deal with making it perform over a wide RPM range.

Not to be used for transportation of manure:

 

[ZiprHead]

If the truck is running on electric, why does it use dirty diesel to charge the battery? Wouldn't plain gasoline work just as well and be far more clean?

 

[bilby]

If the truck is running on electric, why does it use dirty diesel to charge the battery? Wouldn't plain gasoline work just as well and be far more clean?

That depends what you mean by "clean".

Diesels produce more particulates, gasoline more NO_x and more CO.

Both pollutants can be mitigated through catalysis and/or filtration.

Diesels are able to run on pretty much any vegetable oil (Diesel's original engine ran on peanut oil), so they need not use mineral (ie, fossil) fuels. Diesels are also more efficient, and burn less fuel for a given amount of rotational energy produced.

Gasoline engines are much more picky about their fuel, though they can use blends containing ethanol or methanol, and thereby somewhat reduce their fossil fuel consumption.

The dichotomy you present is, at best, a massive oversimplification of the relative merits of the two classes of internal combustion engines.

 

[ZiprHead]

Thanks for that explanation. You did it quite well.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Gasoline engines are much more picky about their fuel, though they can use blends containing ethanol or methanol, and thereby somewhat reduce their fossil fuel consumption.

In most of the world that should read "and thereby somewhat increase". It typically uses more fossil fuel to make alcohol than the energy value of the alcohol.

 

[bilby]

Gasoline engines are much more picky about their fuel, though they can use blends containing ethanol or methanol, and thereby somewhat reduce their fossil fuel consumption.

In most of the world that should read "and thereby somewhat increase". It typically uses more fossil fuel to make alcohol than the energy value of the alcohol.

That's certainly not the case here; Our fuel ethanol is made from sugar cane, and the sugar mills burn the cane waste as fuel to run the mill.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Gasoline engines are much more picky about their fuel, though they can use blends containing ethanol or methanol, and thereby somewhat reduce their fossil fuel consumption.

In most of the world that should read "and thereby somewhat increase". It typically uses more fossil fuel to make alcohol than the energy value of the alcohol.

That's certainly not the case here; Our fuel ethanol is made from sugar cane, and the sugar mills burn the cane waste as fuel to run the mill.

Yeah, it's got a positive energy balance in sugar cane country. (And note that it's not just the mills, but the planting, harvesting etc.)

 

[ZiprHead]

Gasoline engines are much more picky about their fuel, though they can use blends containing ethanol or methanol, and thereby somewhat reduce their fossil fuel consumption.

In most of the world that should read "and thereby somewhat increase". It typically uses more fossil fuel to make alcohol than the energy value of the alcohol.

That's certainly not the case here; Our fuel ethanol is made from sugar cane, and the sugar mills burn the cane waste as fuel to run the mill.

Yeah, it's got a positive energy balance in sugar cane country. (And note that it's not just the mills, but the planting, harvesting etc.)

I believe most of the ethanol in the US is made from corn even though sugar beets are better at producing it. I guess the sugar beet lobby needs to step up their game.

 

[TV and credit cards]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/07/business/stellantis-ramcharger/index.html

To have a smaller engine running at a steady RPM spinning a generator, no transmission, no transfer case, drive shafts or differentials and a smaller, lighter, cheaper battery really seems to be the way to go.
The batteries needed in the completely EV pickup trucks today are giving them massive weight and cost. People aren't buying them. I doubt they'll see a second year of production. What an abortion.

The series hybrid model also alleviates the infrastructure problem for now, has great range and power for trucks. It looks like it's the best setup for all vehicles. There must be some reason this wasn't embraced by Toyota with the Prius early on. Why they went with a parallel hybrid setup.

 

[bilby]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/07/business/stellantis-ramcharger/index.html

To have a smaller engine running at a steady RPM spinning a generator, no transmission, no transfer case, drive shafts or differentials and a smaller, lighter, cheaper battery really seems to be the way to go.

Sure, if you want to burn fossil fuels, but want to burn slightly less of them per km.

The batteries needed in the completely EV pickup trucks today are giving them massive weight and cost. People aren't buying them. I doubt they'll see a second year of production. What an abortion.

The series hybrid model also alleviates the infrastructure problem for now, has great range and power for trucks. It looks like it's the best setup for all vehicles. There must be some reason this wasn't embraced by Toyota with the Prius early on. Why they went with a parallel hybrid setup.

If you want to avoid burning fossil fuels altogether, you're probably going to need to burn synthetic hydrocarbons made from carbon emissions free electricity, though.

Which is obviously still something it's better to do more efficiently; But which can be done without efficiency changes, or indeed any change at all - you can run existing vehicles on synthetic fuels.

Pumping gasoline using a standard forecourt pump transfers energy to a vehicle at around 40-50MW. The super fast "flash charger" units for Brisbane's new "Metro" electric bus are amongst the fastest electric vehicle chargers in existence; They each require ancillary equipment that fills a twenty foot shipping container. They can charge at up to 600kW, or about 1% of the rate that a high-flow diesel pump can fill existing buses at the depots.

For sure, internal combustion is here to stay. We can make small improvements to it by going to electric hybrids; But if we're serious about cutting emissions, we need to go to synthetic hydrocarbon fuels, or to accept that vehicles will have restricted range, and very long recharging times once that limit has been reached.