Electric cars and air conditioning (Page 2/2)
Rickady88GT JUL 15, 01:16 PM
I have a Ford Fusion Hybrid. I got this car because GM dealers were unwilling to work with me to get a white 6 speed echo Cruze. They forced me to shop elsewhere. That being said, I was replacing my Oldsmobile Intrigue that 300k. The Olds got about 25mpg and the Fusion gets just under 40. I can get in the 50s if I hypermill. But that is not all that fun to drive on a regular. The Ford is a large car like like the Olds and seems to be powerful enough to do anything the Olds could do. To say the least, I am very impressed with this hybrid. It has electric everything , If I remember correctly there isn't even a belt or grooves in the harmonic balancer. I don't remember seeing an alternator? The transmission has 2 motors in it, one works as the generator and one drives the wheels. The Toyota is a little different but the current generation Toyota has adopted Fords basic design over the original Prius design.
williegoat JUL 15, 01:37 PM

quote
Originally posted by Fats:

The AC in the sleeper on my semi runs off of batteries. I can run for over 8 hours at my "Hanging beef in here" temperature, and it's fine. That's running off of 4 deep cycle 12V batteries. That's with my fridge, computer, and various other devices using the juice as well. Some trucks have solar panels to help boost the charge and allow the AC to run even longer.
The heater is a little less "environmentally friendly." It's diesel powered.


Man, trucks sure have changed in the last 20+ years. Have you seen any electric trucks out there? Are there any in regular service or still primarily testing?

Back in the '70s, they were testing a couple of GTE trucks around here. You could tell them because of the giant sized exhaust stack. Obviously, that didn't pan out.
Jake_Dragon JUL 15, 02:11 PM

quote
Originally posted by Rickady88GT:

The size of the battery system matters as well. The battery is HUGE. But compared to lead acid "old school" " golf cart" batteries, the new batteries are MUCH better, but still huge in the car.



It's not the size of your battery, its the motion of your generator
Heat also will effect battery life, so if its hot enough to use the AC you are probably already seeing a decrease in miles per charge. MPC?
Fats JUL 15, 02:14 PM

quote
Originally posted by williegoat:

Man, trucks sure have changed in the last 20+ years. Have you seen any electric trucks out there? Are there any in regular service or still primarily testing?

Back in the '70s, they were testing a couple of GTE trucks around here. You could tell them because of the giant sized exhaust stack. Obviously, that didn't pan out.



I saw one, it was being hauled on a dropdeck trailer to somewhere. I thought it was pretty good that a test mule needed to be hauled places.

I could see a hybrid system working, where the electric side helps with hills and acceleration, and the diesel charges the battery pack back up. But a full time electric seems insane to me. The amount of power needed on a constant basis, and the lack of ability to charge reliably seems to be a sticking point. Not to mention the amount of heat generated as the power is used. Has anyone pulled 80,000 Lbs through West Virginia just to see what would happen?
For a car, you can go 200-300 miles and then charge for an hour. You also weight 5-6,000 lbs. I could only imagine that a semi would need more juice and take longer to charge. I imagine we are talking about several hours to a full charge, and this is not only taking up a spot in a truckstop, it stops one from being "ready to go" whenever possible, and would really test our electric grid.
Then there is the idiot factor. I'm not saying all truck drivers are stupid, just that 99% make the other 1% look bad. Imagine Billy Big Rig wiring up an inverter to run his big screen TV off of 300+ Volts. Or "hacking" the truck so it would charge faster lol.

Fats JUL 15, 02:23 PM

quote
Originally posted by Jake_Dragon:


It's not the size of your battery, its the motion of your generator
Heat also will effect battery life, so if its hot enough to use the AC you are probably already seeing a decrease in miles per charge. MPC?



Another thing. When I changed the batteries out in my Prius, I went from 48 cells to 24. The new batteries take up less room and have more capacity. It's awesome. It's a Prius, not a full battery car, I know they are different, but it's the way things are going.

2007 Prius Gen 2. Original batteries replaced with new style batteries.
Rickady88GT JUL 15, 08:49 PM

quote
Originally posted by Fats:


Another thing. When I changed the batteries out in my Prius, I went from 48 cells to 24. The new batteries take up less room and have more capacity. It's awesome. It's a Prius, not a full battery car, I know they are different, but it's the way things are going.

2007 Prius Gen 2. Original batteries replaced with new style batteries.



I have seen some videos of the batteries and how they work and disassemble (to a small degree). And that has got me thinking if the shape of the battery assembly can be changed to fit for engine swaps in different cars?
Hudini JUL 16, 11:15 AM

quote
Originally posted by Fats:


I saw one, it was being hauled on a dropdeck trailer to somewhere. I thought it was pretty good that a test mule needed to be hauled places.

I could see a hybrid system working, where the electric side helps with hills and acceleration, and the diesel charges the battery pack back up. But a full time electric seems insane to me. The amount of power needed on a constant basis, and the lack of ability to charge reliably seems to be a sticking point. Not to mention the amount of heat generated as the power is used. Has anyone pulled 80,000 Lbs through West Virginia just to see what would happen?
For a car, you can go 200-300 miles and then charge for an hour. You also weight 5-6,000 lbs. I could only imagine that a semi would need more juice and take longer to charge. I imagine we are talking about several hours to a full charge, and this is not only taking up a spot in a truckstop, it stops one from being "ready to go" whenever possible, and would really test our electric grid.
Then there is the idiot factor. I'm not saying all truck drivers are stupid, just that 99% make the other 1% look bad. Imagine Billy Big Rig wiring up an inverter to run his big screen TV off of 300+ Volts. Or "hacking" the truck so it would charge faster lol.



Imagine this as a semi:

[This message has been edited by Hudini (edited 07-16-2021).]

Wichita JUL 16, 01:11 PM
For laughs!
Jake_Dragon JUL 16, 01:29 PM

quote
Originally posted by Rickady88GT:

I have seen some videos of the batteries and how they work and disassemble (to a small degree). And that has got me thinking if the shape of the battery assembly can be changed to fit for engine swaps in different cars?



https://www.evwest.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=40
Custom battery configurations for EV conversions.
I expect to see this expand if the Right to Repair gets expanded to EVs