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Bollinger B1: An electric truck with 360HP and up to 200 mile range

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Re: Bollinger B1: An electric truck with 360HP and up to 200 mile range

#71

I've been wanting something like this for years. It doesn't seem like any car company is building an all-electric truck.

An electric drivetrain is incongruent with traditional truck marketing, apparently. A great deal of this is in the visceral sensation of proximity to a powerful engine - the loud noises, the excessive exhaust, the overbearing atmospheric vibrations, etc. Frustrating in that the most realistic option is retrofitting an existing electric car drivetrain to a small truck frame.

> An electric drivetrain is incongruent with traditional truck marketing, apparently.

That doesn't make any sense. Trucking is a business market, not consumer. They care about bottom line.

If electric trucks would increase profits there would be a demand for them. Right now they're just not practical for most uses. The upfront cost is too high and the significant weight from batteries reduces load capacity.

Re: Bollinger B1: An electric truck with 360HP and up to 200 mile range

#74

Can you recharge these on a normal gas generator? Something like a Miller engine driven generator[1] could probably do it but those are $$$ for the average joe. I only ask because a lot of people trailer their rock crawlers/mudders to more remote areas to go play and have fun, but when the electricity runs dry you'll need a way to power it back up. This thing looks like it'd be a lot of fun not only for daily use but…

I think the future really will be a hybrid - at least have a small generator to get out of emergency or stuck situations. I'd much rather drive at 10mph somewhere than need a flatbed pickup.

Re: Bollinger B1: An electric truck with 360HP and up to 200 mile range

#75
post #41

Can you recharge these on a normal gas generator? Something like a Miller engine driven generator[1] could probably do it but those are $$$ for the average joe. I only ask because a lot of people trailer their rock crawlers/mudders to more remote areas to go play and have fun, but when the electricity runs dry you'll need a way to power it back up. This thing looks like it'd be a lot of fun not only for daily use but…

Here's a thread on doing this with a Nissan Leaf. http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=5792 From that and similar threads on Teslas, the caveats seem to be: - Need a sine wave generator vs the cheaper square wave ones. - Some cars allow you to adjust the current draw to match lower output generators, some don't. Cheap generators probably don't output enough current. - You have to tie neutral to ground and…

> - Need a sine wave generator vs the cheaper square wave ones.

That seems really weird; I'd expect that the big charging station you install in your garage would convert from home AC into some high-current DC. Batteries don't actually charge on AC, do they?

Re: Bollinger B1: An electric truck with 360HP and up to 200 mile range

#76
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a pretty pointless car, and unlikely to ever be available to buy.

Every 2-door, V8, 4wd, long-box work truck ever made is a pretty pointless car . Towing power, ground clearance, an open bed, weight capacity, and most of the other things that distinguish these vehicles are utterly wasted and often counterproductive on a San Francisco street. But these utility vehicles are instrumental in getting real shit done at countless farms, industries, and construction sites across the globe.…

I'm pretty sure the 200 mile range goes out the window pretty quickly if you start using to tow stuff.

Re: Bollinger B1: An electric truck with 360HP and up to 200 mile range

#77

I've been wanting something like this for years. It doesn't seem like any car company is building an all-electric truck.

An electric drivetrain is incongruent with traditional truck marketing, apparently. A great deal of this is in the visceral sensation of proximity to a powerful engine - the loud noises, the excessive exhaust, the overbearing atmospheric vibrations, etc. Frustrating in that the most realistic option is retrofitting an existing electric car drivetrain to a small truck frame.

None of that is what any truck marketing is about. Have you seen truck commercials or ridden in a brand new, unmodified truck? There is no loud noise, no vibrations (overbearing or not), virtually no noticeable exhaust. Modern consumer trucks are luxury vehicles, properly isolated from the outside world. Smooth, quiet rides and cushy feeling interiors. Car-like handling. That's what truck marketing is, and that's how modern trucks are built. In the commercials you see them driving over rough terrain, then they cut to a quiet and serene interior shot where the driver might as well be parked with the engine off.

Even for work trucks, they advertise that it has enough power to get your work done, but always emphasize that it's refined and comfortable. People who drive work trucks don't specifically want to drive work trucks, that's just the only vehicle that will get the job done.

What you're thinking of is children who think that the louder exhuast, the more soot, and the bigger engine makes them more of a man. No truck manufacturer wants to be associated with that and no trucks roll out of the factory with a configuration like that. All of that makes a truck less useful.

The highest selling vehicle in America is a full-size pickup truck made of aluminum and has a 6-cylinder engine. It's a very small market of truck buyers who want loud noses, excessive exhaust, or overbearing vibrations, that is not traditional truck marketing.

Re: Bollinger B1: An electric truck with 360HP and up to 200 mile range

#78
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're carrying around a generator, you may as well carry around an internal combustion engine though?

Is that always true though? I could see doing that for longer trips (rare) and leaving it at home for the remainder of the 90% of trips.

I'd bring it while towing something heavy as a safety net. Towing will affect the range in ways which aren't easy to calculate with hilly terrain even if you know the weight of the trailer + cargo.

Re: Bollinger B1: An electric truck with 360HP and up to 200 mile range

#80
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you talking about people buying a truck to get to their desk job, or people buying a truck to haul a load? Those are two different groups with different requirements. The first group like the tough image, but so long as it goes 100 miles round trip and you can put something in it they have their needs met and the rest is about image. This group just needs an electric car drive train. The second group actually nee…

Does the second require more than 200 miles of range between charging (honest question)?

There is absolutely no way a truck that gets "200 miles of range" in the marketing will get 200 miles while hauling 2000lbs through a field.

My truck can get 22mpg on the highway but when I load on my 8000lb trailer I'm lucky to get half of that.

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