# Electric truck questions



## madderscience (Jun 28, 2008)

There will always be a legitimate need for larger trucks and such, so it is certainly a relevant consideration to make these as efficient as possible.

It is very feasible, especially with lithium batteries, to keep all the function of a pickup truck in an EV conversion. There is typically plenty of room under the bed for batteries. Look at all the S-10s, Rangers, and other midsize pickup conversions on this forum and at austinev.org/evalbum. With lithium, there will still be plenty of GVW capacity left over though with lead you can get heavy pretty fast. 

If you want to investigate the diesel-electric route for your silverado, Your best bet might be to find something like a wrecked cadillac escalade (or whatever the chevy/GM equivalent badge is) hybrid and move the guts into your pickup. You might also then see about finding the SMALLEST displacement engine that you can mate with that transmission (which houses the hybrid motors) like maybe an inline six diesel or something such that it is still a truck but with maximum feasible fuel economy. 

You might be able to extend the electric assist by adding a larger battery pack and the ability to charge from the grid similar to early plug-in prius conversions, but you would need to do considerable engineering to achieve this. 

The other possibility (which is the approach I have taken with my basically-stock 1962 land rover) is to leave your truck as is, and do an electric conversion to a small, light car like a Geo, MR2  or something else that is much more suited to EV operation. I'm presuming you don't always have 2000lbs of lumber in the back to haul around, so you could leave the truck parked except for when you really needed it. at $4/gallon, 30 miles in my EV saves $8 worth of gas and god knows how much amortized maintenance costs vs. 30 miles in my rover.

Good Luck.


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## ElectriCar (Jun 15, 2008)

I have an F250 Crew Cab that I haul a 15,000lb 5th wheel behind. I am at the beach in it now. Hauling it I averaged 11mpg and it will cost about $210 round trip. It would be interesting to convert this truck some day. It's an '05 with 125,000 on it now. When the engine goes one day maybe battery or cap technology will be much more affordable. Right now it's impractical. These type vehicles are yet to be converted in any numbers. In fact I've not read of any large vehicle conversions.


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## hans j (Mar 31, 2008)

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/electric-truck-54997.html

That thread is in the Production EV's. It would be interesting to get a hold of the driveline out of one to swap in. Or possibly something electric from the military or even UPS (if they have much yet).

Granted my truck is very small but even maxed out on my gross weight (3350 lbs with the batteries), I put a several hundred pound sod cutter in the bed. The trip to my house was only a couple miles but the truck didn't even feel the extra weight in the bed.


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## SHtruck (Jun 24, 2012)

I've been looking for new and more ecological ways to fuel my truck, '95 Dodge Ram 2500 with Cummins diesel. I might step to a dual fuel world first (CNG/CBG and diesel), that way I can get some 20-25% savings on fuel bill. Next step is to switch dino diesel to bio, produced mainly from WVO. That way I could save as much as 55% compared to straight dino diesel. These aren't too expensive to accomplish, dual fuel needs tank and pressure reducer along with all the small parts. With bio there's mainly some chemicals and basically all the equipment can be built from scrap metal. Some might say that why not just do the bio, savings would be in a same ballpark. It's the availability of a WVO in a long run that's not happening.

Then there's the EV. Specially the series hybrid. And plug-in, of course. So far I only know that I'd like to use CBG to power ICE. At the moment biggest obstacle is that I have no idea how to determine proper size of the motor, or the generator, not the mention battery pack. I'd like to have enough capacity to be able to drive below 60km/h without ICE, maybe some 20-30 kilometers. When driving at higher speeds, generator should have more output that what it takes to move the vehicle, so the excess is used to charge battery pack, right? Or more precisely should it be calculated so that when accelerating fully loaded vehicle the whole output is used to propel the vehicle, and while keeping steady speed the excess is used for charging? But I guess that after I've read all the FAQ's and sticky's here I know more 

A year or two ago I found a website that had a compact jet-engine that was supposed to be used on cars. And IIRC it had a built in generator (or preferably built on, I think that generator might have a quite a short lifespan inside a jet-engine )

Building a compact car to EV isn't really a feasible option for me, after 6 years I've found out that my current Dodge is best all-around multipurpose vehicle there could be.

I've read a little about transmission, whether you should have one or not. I've always thought that it's not necessity if there's a ring & pinion on the axle. Mine is also 4wd, which creates more resistance and weight. But I rarely use 4wd constantly, only when conditions require. 
I did read somewhere here that transmission should be used to help reduce load on electrical system when vehicle starts to move. So I thought about instead of complete transmission, there would be only one planetary gear set between the motor and t-case, which would lock to a 1:1 ratio on a certain speed.

I'm going to study this more, this is really interesting subject


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## dragonsgate (May 19, 2012)

Here you go. Diesel Electric truck. I think you might want something a little smaller that you can fit in a standard garage but it is a good idea and I hope you get it done.


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## Caps18 (Jun 8, 2008)

It is a question of money and how the trucks are built. They have no regard to using lightweight, but just as strong components, and almost no aerodynamic attributes.

How far do you want to go? If you are looking to use electric and then switch to diesel 30 miles down the road, I don't think it is practical. If your trips are 40 miles, you could get a diesel generator/micro-turbine to generate some power as you are driving that would reduce the depletion of your batteries.

I would look into an S10 or Ranger sized truck personally. But, it would be an interesting experiment if you have the money. (You can look at EVTV.me as they are converting an Escalade, which would be similar weight I bet.)


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## dragonsgate (May 19, 2012)

You mentioned making your truck like a train. I would sometimes hear the diesel electric trains winding up their generators when the pulled a steep grade called Cajon Pass that was about ten miles from where I used to live. They would make a fairly straight clime pulling a full complement of boxcars from about 2,000 foot elevation to 5,500 in just a few miles. I have often wondered how one would go about miniaturizing a similar setup and putting it in a vehicle. I have never even imagined the amount of money to do it so my sketchy knowledge of Diesel Electric Trains has remained just that. I just did a quick search and found this sight. There are more but one was enough for me. 
*science.howstuffworks.com*/.../*diesel*-​locomotive.htm


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## PStechPaul (May 1, 2012)

Trains have some big advantages that would not apply to a truck. The grades are much less than highways, and the rolling friction on steel rails is much less than rubber tires on the road. But some concepts may apply to trucks. A train can add extra engines to match the load. So if you can add sections to a truck you could get some of this advantage. Maybe you can make a miniature version of an articulated semi-truck and trailer, so the tractor portion would be just a heavy-duty front section of a pickup truck. It could have provision for towing multiple trailers as needed for hauling capacity, and each of these trailers could have a motor-generator set that could provide some traction power as well as dynamic regenerative braking, so as to present much less load on the tractor section. There are probably legal issues for such a vehicle on public highways, so that must be considered.

There is also the consideration of having two vehicles instead of just one. You can purchase a nice used small ICE car which gets 35-50 MPG for under $5000, and consider any additional maintenance costs as a boost for local businesses. And a small car may be able to tow a fair size trailer, especially if it included some self-powered capability. And either one, or both, vehicles could be converted to electric, and have some "hybrid" capability built into a trailer to give extended range when needed.


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## SHtruck (Jun 24, 2012)

dragonsgate said:


> Here you go. Diesel Electric truck. I think you might want something a little smaller that you can fit in a standard garage but it is a good idea and I hope you get it done.


Yeah, that might be a little overkill for daily commuting. But actually, those mining trucks originally gave me the idea of series hybrid pick-up truck. Other one that inspired me is the Fisker Karma. Quite the opposite to a Cat


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## SHtruck (Jun 24, 2012)

Caps18 said:


> It is a question of money and how the trucks are built. They have no regard to using lightweight, but just as strong components, and almost no aerodynamic attributes.
> 
> How far do you want to go? If you are looking to use electric and then switch to diesel 30 miles down the road, I don't think it is practical. If your trips are 40 miles, you could get a diesel generator/micro-turbine to generate some power as you are driving that would reduce the depletion of your batteries.
> 
> I would look into an S10 or Ranger sized truck personally. But, it would be an interesting experiment if you have the money. (You can look at EVTV.me as they are converting an Escalade, which would be similar weight I bet.)


At the moment I haven't thought about the budget. Maybe go with AC motor, AGM battery pack... Also instead of conventional ICE to turn generator, either micro-turbine like Bladonjets, or rotary engine, and fueled by CNG/CBG.

My daily round trip is about 50 miles. Minimum. I can charge battery pack overnight and at work. But I tend to take that truck into off-roading and drive around countryside so getting it plugged is impossible at times, therefore ruling BEV out. Also I thought about the voltage, and 230V would be appropriate as I could use power tools on work sites without carrying separate genset. 

I like to think this as a experimental vehicle to commercial use, too, as the fact is that dinofuels are getting scarce and spendier every year. So there has to be alternatives.

Ok, I just googled around a bit to find out what the cost of a micro-turbine would be, and man that's expensive!! About $900/kW!! Back to drawing board...


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## SHtruck (Jun 24, 2012)

PStechPaul said:


> There is also the consideration of having two vehicles instead of just one. You can purchase a nice used small ICE car which gets 35-50 MPG for under $5000, and consider any additional maintenance costs as a boost for local businesses. And a small car may be able to tow a fair size trailer, especially if it included some self-powered capability. And either one, or both, vehicles could be converted to electric, and have some "hybrid" capability built into a trailer to give extended range when needed.


My wife could easily use EV, as her daily driving is about 10 miles. I just told her yesterday that what if we convert your Jeep to EV, she didn't bash the idea but said that when she goes to town she'll run out juice and would have to be towed back home 

But I don't see having a small car as third in our household, because just to keeping it road legal (insurance, tax, yearly safety inspection, maintenance) would be about $1200-1400/year. Neither any local business would gain much as I am a mechanic by profession so I do all the maintenance by myself, and I buy parts where ever I get them at the best price, whether it being local parts dealer or getting them overseas from States.

And me driving a small car, no, not going to happen  I've tried numerous cars, and mostly all of them have same problem; I can't sit comfortably in them. Either my knees are against dashboard, or my head hits the roof. I can adjust seat to cure pre-mentioned problems, but then I can't reach the steering wheel comfortably. But what really pisses me off is the gymnastic moves I have to take to get in or out of the car.


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