Tesla truck to revolutionize RV towing?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Catchlight

Enter . . . the Neuron truck.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/neur...5dl1HXmCWbOhRY

That's much closer to a finished and functional design than the idiotic thing from Tesla, but it's still ugly and has the silly sloped front. In this case it makes a little more sense, since it is accommodating the central driver seat (with no passenger seat) that some of these designers seem to think that someone wants.

NewAtlas content is usually just re-posted from other sites, and is often just nonsense, but this appears to actually be commentary by NewAtlas. Still, follow the link to Neuron itself for renderings of the rest of their fantasy EV line.

[Barb Hunt]

BCAA is planning on having chargers for EVs that run out of power. I just bought a Leaf at Motorize in Victoria - local dealer that sells only used EVs and the sales staff are great, very knowledgeable. I've only had my car for a few days and already I have a feel for how much range I can expect to have per charge.

[Mike Lewis]

My cousin, a former car dealer in Orlando, and I were discussing the Nissan Leaf yesterday. He speculated that a used Leaf would be a good deal as a daily driver. In Orlando the new Leafs (Leaves?) were all leased, not sold. Hmm.

[Mike Lewis]

I'm concerned that electric utilities are going to learn how to take advantage of this new demand for electricity in order to screw over the EV users. The reason for this suspicion is the behavior of Maryland's utility Baltimore, Gas, and Electric when it introduced tiered pricing in the 1990s. A customer could have a meter installed that would determine when the customer used power, and would be charged accordingly. There were three pricing tiers, not two, and the most expensive was five times the cost of the cheapest. There was a $10 monthly charge for the fancy meter.

What a deal, I thought, and signed up. Then over the next decade or so BGE slowly raised the rate of the lowest pricing tier from 20% of the highest tier to 80% of the highest, so I wasn't really saving that much. And they were still raking in the $10 monthly charge for the smart meters.

I complained to the state's public service commission. Ha. A women wrote me back with a copy of the letter she sent to BGE. It read like a love letter-- it was obvious this gal was best friends with the BGE rep and nothing would happen. The commission suffered from "regulatory capture", where the regulator ends up doing the bidding of the utility instead of the other way around.

I can see this happening time and again as off-peak demand increases due to EV charging at night. This will be interesting.

[cpaharley2008]

Yes, I tried the time of use meter with BG&E when living there and was waiting until 8 pm to cook and run my dishes. But, as you said, after awhile the differential decreased. I imagine daytime use will be the highest and we already have those brownouts due to high use times, imagine when the charging stations go on line? Anyone remember the energy crisis in 70's with long gas station lines, odd/even days, and every other street and office light were turned off? Perhaps a peek in the past will show a peek into the future?

[Mike Lewis]

I'm assuming that people will charge their EVs overnight for use during the day. That would actually help even out electricity consumption, as the power infrastructure is already in place for peak daytime use. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I for one will enjoy camping more when the guilt about the big carbon footprint of my gas-guzzling truck is gone. Is anyone else looking forward to this revolution?
How do you think that electric is created to recharge these vehicles? Crossing Wyoming I witnessed a huge strip mine on the left side of the highway with conveyors of coal under the highway to a large coal burning electric generating plant on the opposite side of the highway.....you may not see it, but the carbon footprints are there for electric vehicles. Solar and wind provides something less than 20% of our energy use currently.

Not the complete story. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists the average new U.S. car that gets 29 miles per gallon has total emissions of about 400 grams of carbon dioxide per mile. Whereas an electric vehicle using an average mix of U.S. power generation sources — coal, natural gas, nuclear, and renewables — emits roughly 300 grams per mile, or 25 percent less. The independent variable is of course the generation source. Coal is losing out. It's no longer economically feasible at least in the east of the Mississippi to mine coal. Wyoming is an exception but apparently mines are closing there too.

The good news is that when the numbers are crunched nuclear, solar and/or other forms of renewable carbon free electricity, will reduce net emissions to 100 grams per mile or less for EV vehicles. It looks more and more like EV vehicles aren't simply a pipe dream.

Something else to consider, nearly all electric vehicles produce zero emissions.

About the trip from hell back from Osoyoos. We found a place to park in Wyoming and had lunch. We had just driven passed a huge coal fired generation plant. Across this field from horizon to horizon were 3 rows of trains. All the cars were loaded with coal. The images are soft for some unknown reason. I only had an 18-55 zoom lens to work with. But the middle image shows 3 rows of box cars. Is that what they are called when they carry coal?

[Telescopist]

Here are 9 shots stitched together. The coal carrying trains extend nearly horizon to horizon.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Telescopist

But the middle image shows 3 rows of box cars. Is that what they are called when they carry coal?

Hopper cars, I think. Box cars are enclosed with doors on the side, to carry cargo within.

I was somewhere out west somewhere a couple of years ago and noticed that I would see a long train of coal cars go by every ten minutes or so, headed east. Each train was a mile long or more. I think I was in eastern New Mexico when I noticed this, west of Clovis.

[cpaharley2008]

Coal up north, grains in midwest, and borax in the southwest....yes hopper cars. Had one with my Lionel set, push the button to unload.... life has simpler then.

[cpaharley2008]

Telescopist, those pictures appear to be perhaps south dakota, perhaps or did you have location services on the camera? reminds me of beginnings of the Black Hills

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

... A customer could have a meter installed that would determine when the customer used power, and would be charged accordingly. There were three pricing tiers, not two, and the most expensive was five times the cost of the cheapest...

... Then over the next decade or so BGE slowly raised the rate of the lowest pricing tier from 20% of the highest tier to 80% of the highest, so I wasn't really saving that much.

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Yes, I tried the time of use meter with BG&E when living there and was waiting until 8 pm to cook and run my dishes. But, as you said, after awhile the differential decreased.

The point of a time-of-use price differential is to encourage people to do as Jim did, and change their behaviour to smooth out the power demand. If that works, then there is less of a problem and less reason for a differential. Maybe the system just worked?

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I imagine daytime use will be the highest and we already have those brownouts due to high use times, imagine when the charging stations go on line?

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

I'm assuming that people will charge their EVs overnight for use during the day.

Home charging stations are more likely to be running at night than in daytime, but the average user will come home and immediately plug in, adding the EV charging load to the evening peak (when everyone is cooking, air conditioners are still on because it's still hot, lighting is starting to be turned on, etc). In a well-managed system the time-of-use pricing would be active and EV chargers wouldn't turn on - even though they're plugged in - until the off-peak period. Ideally, EV chargers would get power at a special low rate, in exchange for charging only when the electrical system utility tells those chargers that they are allowed to run; this is a well-established practice for some industrial facilities (for industrial uses, not EV charging).

Public EV chargers will typically be used during the day, and fast chargers (typically at least ten times the power of a home charging system) will be used whenever people are driving and need energy - likely in peak periods. That does seem like a possible issue. Except where introductory deals give away energy, public charging stations tend to be much more expensive (per unit of energy supplied) than residential rates, so on an economic basis EV owners are encouraged to charge at home rather than at public stations.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Telescopist, those pictures appear to be perhaps south dakota, perhaps or did you have location services on the camera? reminds me of beginnings of the Black Hills

Very few cameras oddly enough have geotag functionality built into them. It's not like the technology hasn't been around for over 20 years. A survey in Digital Photography Review of 366 cameras listed only 15 which had built in GPS. There are several workarounds. One involves downloading an app to the phone which links to the camera - in my situation a Fuji XT3 via Bluetooth. It works great as long as you have the phone on you body when you are taking images. I just checked out the images in Adobe Lightroom. There was zero zip location information in the Map module. . You are probably right and that these shots were taken in SD. It looks more like SD terrain.

The map module in Lightroom is pretty cool.

[Barb Hunt]

Some people are waiting until the technology gives them more range. There's a name for this "range anxiety" and as a new EV owner I experience this. But I'm told by other EV owners that goes away after a while. Same thing as when the gas gauge gets low and you start looking for a gas station...

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

I'm assuming that people will charge their EVs overnight for use during the day.

I have to wonder with this and using an EV as a tow vehicle. Are campgrounds going to up their rates for additional electricity consumption?

Also, we tend to mostly camp off grid, and having an EV is going to limit this to a large degree.

Time will tell.

[Greg A]

Range anxiety has probably come about because of the naysayers who tend to always use the range in being critical. We’ve known quite a few EV owners now, and range hasn’t been an issue for them. I think you’ll have a good experience Barb, as you get further in.

[Vermilye]

I use a Someta G Max GD Geotagger as an add on GPS for my Nikon Cameras. A "Remoter" app lets the GPS focus & trigger the camera over bluetooth from an iPhone.

Long life battery, and fast lock up even after a long move between locations.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Greg A

Range anxiety has probably come about because of the naysayers who tend to always use the range in being critical. We’ve known quite a few EV owners now, and range hasn’t been an issue for them. I think you’ll have a good experience Barb, as you get further in.

The issue with range for me is a larger factor for towing RV trailers than commuter cars, as you are often a ways away from any place for fuel or electricity, especially for topping up vehicles. I know a few EV owners too, and they love their cars, but primarily use them for work and day trips within the range limits so they can charge overnight at home.

No doubt in the future charging will become less and less of an issue as the technology and resources grow. For a bunch of reasons, I personally see myself waiting quite some time before buying in, though certainly would if my needs are met.

[Greg A]

Same concerns with gas vehicles when one camps very remote, Jim. I agree it’s too early to know the range figures for the EV trucks especially when towing, but they will continue to improve range as they get to market.
Fun to watch the evolution of this option for vehicles and bicycles as well. Who would have bought an electric assist bike 5 years ago, but many have them now and recharge them at the campgrounds.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

I use a Someta G Max GD Geotagger as an add on GPS for my Nikon Cameras. A "Remoter" app lets the GPS focus & trigger the camera over bluetooth from an iPhone.

Long life battery, and fast lock up even after a long move between locations.

That's a nice device. However I have problems shelling out $229 when I can download a free [Android] app: Fujifilm Camera Remote. My backup app takes but a second to use as well. It's call GPS Map Camera. Often to insure that I have the location tagged, I'll take a snapshot with this app while I'm shooting with the Fuji. As you know since you use Lightroom, I can import that image into a folder I created in LR along of course with the collection from that particular photo shoot. There is a nifty little way of assigning the same GPS coordinates to the batch based on the cell phone shot in LR. Obviously these things only work if you have your cell phone on you