Cummins Semi Truck: 100% electric

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September 1st, 2017 at 9:44:41 AM permalink
reno
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 58
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Cummins has debuted its all electric Urban Hauler Tractor, a Class 7 semi truck with a 44,000-pound payload. It weighs 18,000 pounds, and its 140-kilowatt-hour battery pack weighs roughly the same as a traditional 12-liter diesel engine. With just 100 miles of range on a fully charged battery, it's obviously intended for local deliveries. In smoggy Los Angeles, I could see the usefulness of a truck like this taking cargo from the busiest port on the West Coast (Port of Long Beach) to the warehouses 70 miles away in Fontana.

Will this truck be a success?

September 1st, 2017 at 10:02:43 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
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Quote: reno
Cummins has debuted its all electric Urban Hauler Tractor, a Class 7 semi truck with a 44,000-pound payload. It weighs 18,000 pounds, and its 140-kilowatt-hour battery pack weighs roughly the same as a traditional 12-liter diesel engine. With just 100 miles of range on a fully charged battery, it's obviously intended for local deliveries. In smoggy Los Angeles, I could see the usefulness of a truck like this taking cargo from the busiest port on the West Coast (Port of Long Beach) to the warehouses 70 miles away in Fontana.

Will this truck be a success?


Not with this short range, even just being "local" that is very short for a truck, 100 miles goes faster than people think.

I would say 600-700 miles of range is needed to be viable. That way a trucker could do his normal day of driving and charge during his mandatory rest period, plugging in at the truck stop.
The President is a fink.
September 1st, 2017 at 12:34:23 PM permalink
kenarman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 14
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Quote: reno
Cummins has debuted its all electric Urban Hauler Tractor, a Class 7 semi truck with a 44,000-pound payload. It weighs 18,000 pounds, and its 140-kilowatt-hour battery pack weighs roughly the same as a traditional 12-liter diesel engine. With just 100 miles of range on a fully charged battery, it's obviously intended for local deliveries. In smoggy Los Angeles, I could see the usefulness of a truck like this taking cargo from the busiest port on the West Coast (Port of Long Beach) to the warehouses 70 miles away in Fontana.

Will this truck be a success?



Not sure if you Long Beach example works. I imagine that even with traffic and load/unload a trucker needs two trips to be profitable. That is 280 miles in a day. Even 1 return trip is 140 miles a day.
"but if you make yourselves sheep, the wolves will eat you." Benjamin Franklin
September 1st, 2017 at 3:34:20 PM permalink
Ayecarumba
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 89
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I wonder if a system that provided a supplemental charge to taller vehicles on the road via a mast; like bumper cars at the amusement park; would be viable for trucks like this.

September 2nd, 2017 at 5:29:50 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
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Quote: Ayecarumba
I wonder if a system that provided a supplemental charge to taller vehicles on the road via a mast; like bumper cars at the amusement park; would be viable for trucks like this.


It is done for busses in SF, they have a pick-up like a trolley. For a straight-shot it might work.
The President is a fink.
September 2nd, 2017 at 7:39:45 AM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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I find it odd they would even attempt an OTR with a 100mi range. I'd struggle to get from Buffalo and back with that range, and I'm "from Buffalo".

I suppose I could see it for a hyper hub like down there. If you're doing 500 trips a day every day and will for the foreseeable ever, then I suppose you could have a process to keep swapping 'round and 'round. Do your 70mi stint, right on the charger, grab the new one off the charger for the return. This of course depends on juice time, but perhaps that time coincides with the turn around and would work. Of course, I'd reckon you'd need 2 juicers for a down and back whereas one diesel could do it all day long, but...

I dunno. Either I'm missing something or this doesn't seem an answer, unless your one and only goal is less smog. I'd still like a "true cost" study along the lines of what we spoke of here. Not just the end game of fuel burned vs coal burned, but total cost starting with the dude with the shovel getting the oil / coal / lithium / nickel all the way through manufacture to when it gets to you. I still can't see the wild improvement electric gives, despite my high interest in electric for this very task. I do imagine seeing a time where electric is a viable option, up to the same standards of fuel based travel. But in no way do I think any vast improvements will be made, aside from perhaps helping areas who have a direct air quality problem (like the docks of LA).
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
September 2nd, 2017 at 8:11:09 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
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Quote: Face

I suppose I could see it for a hyper hub like down there. If you're doing 500 trips a day every day and will for the foreseeable ever, then I suppose you could have a process to keep swapping 'round and 'round. Do your 70mi stint, right on the charger, grab the new one off the charger for the return. This of course depends on juice time, but perhaps that time coincides with the turn around and would work. Of course, I'd reckon you'd need 2 juicers for a down and back whereas one diesel could do it all day long, but...


What you are suggesting sounds like the "Turnpike Double" system on the Thruway, where drivers pick up a second 53' trailer from Buffalo to Albany or Westchester?
The President is a fink.
September 22nd, 2017 at 2:32:53 PM permalink
reno
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 58
Posts: 1384


How about a giant truck which runs entirely on electricity (no diesel, no gasoline) but never needs to be plugged in? The regenerative brakes on this all-electric 50 ton Komatsu quarry truck allow it to produce more electricity than it consumes:

Quote: Ars Technica
each round trip actually generates electricity. Because the e-Dumper goes up the mountain empty and descends carrying 71 tons (65 tonnes) of rock, it captures 40kWh on the way to the cement works via regenerative braking. But climbing back up to the quarry only requires 30kWh, so every trip will feed an extra 10kWh into the local electricity grid. Not bad when you then consider that the e-Dumper will be doing that trip 20 times a day.
September 22nd, 2017 at 3:41:47 PM permalink
kenarman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 14
Posts: 4470
Quote: reno


The regenerative brakes on this all-electric 50 ton Komatsu quarry truck allow it to produce more electricity than it consumes:

Quote: Ars Technica
each round trip actually generates electricity. Because the e-Dumper goes up the mountain empty and descends carrying 71 tons (65 tonnes) of rock, it captures 40kWh on the way to the cement works via regenerative braking. But climbing back up to the quarry only requires 30kWh, so every trip will feed an extra 10kWh into the local electricity grid. Not bad when you then consider that the e-Dumper will be doing that trip 20 times a day.


Not much good for the much more common use for these off road vehicles in open pit mines. In that case they go down into the pit empty and climb back out loaded.
"but if you make yourselves sheep, the wolves will eat you." Benjamin Franklin
September 22nd, 2017 at 4:14:40 PM permalink
reno
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 58
Posts: 1384
Quote: kenarman
Not much good for the much more common use for these off road vehicles in open pit mines. In that case they go down into the pit empty and climb back out loaded.


Yes, it's true that this particular scenario (with the mine at a higher elevation) is not nearly as common as an open pit mine. Nevertheless, mountaintop removal mining still exists in West Virginia, Kentucky, & Tennessee, much to the outrage of environmentalists.

And even in an open pit mine where the truck is empty going downhill, surely there must be some benefit to using regenerative braking.

If we assume Tesla's battery cost of $190 per kWh, the battery on this thing is upwards of $133,000. Obviously, that's a lot of diesel to offset before you'd recoup that in fuel savings.

On the other hand, these machines aren't very cheap to begin with: a single tire is over $40,000.
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