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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

#101

Post by jessaustin »

davrosthedalek wrote: post #76
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Many "farms, industries, and construction sites" would not require a 50 mile daily range. Many such situations would have access to electricity, and a truck like this might reduce required fuel deliveries.

Even though they seem sometimes to be the majority of pickup truck owners, those who use pickup trucks for commuting or driving the kids on vacation are doing it wrong.

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

#102

Post by nunobrito »

criddell wrote: post #48
ClassyJacket wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excuse me? What claims are you making exactly regarding electric vehicles that mean they shouldn't be allowed on public roads?

Not the OP, but one justification is that they aren't consuming gasoline and taxes on gasoline are primarily how roads are paid for. I wouldn't go as far as the OP, but instead I would hope the government finds some way to tax electric vehicles equitably or change how road funding works.

In a few European countries (e.g. Germany, Austria, Switzerland) you pay a yearly tax for each car that you own that is meant to fund road maintenance/development. This is about 350 USD in Germany.

At some other countries (e.g. Portugal, Italy, France), they have tolls for the highways so only the cars crossing that road pay for the cost.

And a new option is automatic tolls, where you don't even stop. They just take a picture of the car with license plate and send you the accumulated bill to your home (e.g. Portugal). Personally my preferred option is the German approach where you know that this is a fixed price. Paying by usage ends up being abused, in Portugal they leased the highways to privates that now hiked up the prices like crazy since it is basically a monopoly (no other road to reach your destination).

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

#103

Post by maxerickson »

mywittyname wrote: post #65
interfixus wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minority view: I dislike airbags. If it were legal - which it is not where I live - I would have them out of my car today. The rest of you are welcome to the damned things and the undoubtedly enhanced security they provide. Me, I shall never be thoroughly comfortable with a giant armed boxing glove pointed at my head. [Edit: typo]

Really? Seat belts without airbags are dangerous. At best you risk smashing your face on something hard, at worst, you're looking at orthopedic decapitation in relatively minor accidents.

Seatbelt with no airbag is still better than no seatbelt.

Also, I think the shoulder belt brake tends to work better than you imply (I had a big scratch when I collided with someone that crossed the centerline, I didn't hit my face on anything, despite the lack of airbags).

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

#104

Post by maxerickson »

542458 wrote: post #91
bbarn wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. They also are the reason most cars now involved in an collision where one goes off are totaled. We're a lot safer, with respect to potential fatality level crashes, but minor collisions that used to be a few hundred bucks at the body shop are now vehicle ending affairs.

> minor collisions that used to be a few hundred bucks at the body shop are now vehicle ending affairs. It's worth noting that a lot of this is due to massively improved crumple zone technology - older cars have smaller and sturdier crumple zones, meaning the cars drive away from accidents more intact (although the human being inside might be pretty messed up). New cars take much more damage in relatively small accid…

It's not really the amount of energy dispersed, it's the time it takes it to happen.

It's usually the kinetic energy of the body that needs to be dissipated, modestly increasing the time it takes that to happen dramatically decreases the forces involved.

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

#105

Post by allannienhuis »

justadeveloper2 wrote: post #97
mywittyname wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Seat belts without airbags are dangerous. At best you risk smashing your face on something hard, at worst, you're looking at orthopedic decapitation in relatively minor accidents.

I drove cars without airbags for most of my life. I even still have a car without airbags. Whether it's a good idea or not is debatable, but your statement that it's dangerous doesn't resonate with me. Airbags are a false sense of security and may or may not help you and were originally devised as a way to help drivers who don't use their seat belts. Airbags certainly do run the cost and complexity of cars way up, ho…

survivorship bias. Yes, airbags can have faults that can cause injury. But having them is still safer than not having them. Just because you survived in a car without airbags and some other individual (even many) got injured or killed by an airbag is not evidence that people in general are safer without airbags. You need to assess risk/benefit based on a statistically valid sample size.

The statistics are pretty easily google-able so I'll only bother linking one article here: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5410761/ns/us_news/t/around-saved-...

That's not to say we shouldn't work on safer airbags, especially for children, or hold manufacturers accountable for faults/failures; of course we should. But saying cars are somehow safer without airbags flies in the face of the available evidence.

[edit] I realize you didn't explicitly say that airbags are not safe ('good idea or not is debatable', 'may or may not'), but you strongly imply that with 'Airbags are a false sense of security'.

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

#107

Post by throwaway91111 »

jakobegger wrote: post #24
hyperbole wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the utilitarian aspect, but I'm fairly certain if you put my samsung frige in a wind tunnel next to that truck my fridge would exhibit less drag. If you're going to use batteries your range is going to be limited if you're driving a brick -- more attention to aerodynamics would pay dividends in mpe and overall cost -- fewer batteries required to go the same distance...

This car obviously wasn't built for driving on highways.

And yet, that's how you get from point a to point b in many places! The lack of safety is a HUGE concern, and drag causes safety problems in high wind areas (think: the midwest).

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

#108

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

aliston wrote: post #100

I've been looking at buying an electric car recently and was surprised that the list of electic SUVs is really small. There's basically the Model X and not all that much more. The Rav4 got discontinued. It seems to me that this is a huge market opportunity. The technology is right on the cusp of being very practical in terms of range. Soccer moms who commute to the grocery store and occasionally go on a trip to the m…

> Not quite sure why the car manufacturers aren't building these things.

Because consumers aren't buying these things.

The only people who seem to be buying full electric vehicles are electric vehicle enthusiasts, meaning it is a niche. Most enthusiasts will just buy a Tesla if there is a Tesla at the price bracket they're looking at, since Tesla is the most exciting brand in electric by far.

For everyone else, full electric vehicles don't make cost effective sense. Oil is too cheap and electricity too expensive. Many vehicle subsidies have also vanished. So people who are cost sensitive are looking at hybrids, or even plug in hybrids, since it is completely future proof to oil or electric price fluctuations.

People aren't buying electric for completely normal rational reasons you can quantify using an Excel spreadsheet. For that to change, either oil has to go up, electricity has to come down, subsidies have to return, or electric vehicles need to offer some other quantifiable value not found on a hybrid.

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

#109

Post by manigandham »

yellowapple wrote: post #45
interfixus wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minority view: I dislike airbags. If it were legal - which it is not where I live - I would have them out of my car today. The rest of you are welcome to the damned things and the undoubtedly enhanced security they provide. Me, I shall never be thoroughly comfortable with a giant armed boxing glove pointed at my head. [Edit: typo]

I agree, to an extent. In some crash scenarios, an airbag is useful. In others, it's actually more harmful than good. I reckon what's more useful than an airbag in all situations, though, is a good restraint system.

> I reckon...

Good thing we have solid engineering and scientific studies proving the safety then.

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

#110

Post by kylehotchkiss »

Wonder if they need a torque converter still to give it a little more oomph off road.

Also: "It also bucks the high-tech trend of new cars in general. There will be a radio with an AM/FM receiver, Bluetooth connectivity, and an AUX input, but there’s no touchscreen." I hope this becomes a trend. Touchscreens in cars are horrible ux.

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