My experience with the Tesla Model 3

[Caper11]

Electric changes everything about the vehicle, the current generation of trucks are shaped and laid out the way they are to accommodate the power source they use and the most cost effective way to implement it.

Tesla is starting with a clean slate design as they should when almost every component in the vehicle changes. Peterbuilt's engineers are thinking outside the box while trying to get back in the box at the same time. For christ sake they hooked a 5 speed manual transmission to the electric motors and automated the clutch and shifting, they put the batteries in the same spots the fuel tanks were, used the same body and frame. Real creative thinking. That may appeal to members of "the old boys club" that are dead set on what a truck should look or operate like but could be done much more effectively. Tesla will make mistakes, they will make changes, but at least they have the balls to be the first.

Its not a old boys club, its the fact that Paccar has a way better history in building trucks than tesla, and tesla is the company is playing catch-up in that, and yes that tesla truck is horribly ugly.

But still, I would prefer to have the transmission and rear ends, it gives better braking performance, and options for hauling different loads. If the power is transmitted to the drive line like tesla is mentioning in the performance, those rear ends should be 60000lb capable.

A normal truck with a 600hp 2050tq usually comes with a super 40 rear or 46000 rear depending on what the truck is purchased for, and is totally customizable from the factory. As I mentioned tesla has alot of catching up to do.

If the dynamic or regenerative braking can maintain the BHP throughout the motors rpm than it may be a bit safer than what Im thinking, than I may change my mind.

 

[jhurkot]

Dynamic braking is not a thing. No EV will ever have it. It sucks.

Drove home from Edmonton today. 540km and used 99kwh. Was driving into a headwind the entire way. Stopped in Calgary to charge for about 25 minutes. Did 120-125km/h the whole way. Total trip time was about 5 and a half hours.

 

[jhurkot]

Its not a old boys club, its the fact that Paccar has a way better history in building trucks than tesla, and tesla is the company is playing catch-up in that, and yes that tesla truck is horribly ugly.

But still, I would prefer to have the transmission and rear ends, it gives better braking performance, and options for hauling different loads. If the power is transmitted to the drive line like tesla is mentioning in the performance, those rear ends should be 60000lb capable.

A normal truck with a 600hp 2050tq usually comes with a super 40 rear or 46000 rear depending on what the truck is purchased for, and is totally customizable from the factory. As I mentioned tesla has alot of catching up to do.

If the dynamic or regenerative braking can maintain the BHP throughout the motors rpm than it may be a bit safer than what Im thinking, than I may change my mind.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that “ugly” design is slightly more aerodynamic.

Have you ever carried a sheet of plywood on a windy day? That’s what the front of legacy highway tractors is. And they can never change it because of all the useless garbage that has to go inside there.

 

[Cdnfireman]

Dynamic braking is not a thing. No EV will ever have it. It sucks.

Drove home from Edmonton today. 540km and used 99kwh. Was driving into a headwind the entire way. Stopped in Calgary to charge for about 25 minutes. Did 120-125km/h the whole way. Total trip time was about 5 and a half hours.

Dynamic braking and regenerative braking are electrically identical as far as the motor is concerned, it provides xx# of amps output from the motor. The difference is that dynamic braking puts this current into a resistor bank where the energy is dissipated as heat and regenerative puts the current back into the battery. One doesn’t suck any more than the other.

 

[Caper11]

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that “ugly” design is slightly more aerodynamic.

Have you ever carried a sheet of plywood on a windy day? That’s what the front of legacy highway tractors is. And they can never change it because of all the useless garbage that has to go inside there.

Stick a few hundred holes in that plywood tho.
With 60000lbs in the box, my pre emission freightliner classic would get 5-5.5 mpg, it did quite well for a 430hp with a 3.90 rear end ratio.

Aerodynamics have come along ways, its not the tractor thats the main problem its the trailer. Look at the skirting on the underside of reefer and van trailers, some even have extensions on the back, those made big improvements.
Id love to see how far a tesla would go with a trailer and a load that drags heavy.


Teslas technology in cars is nice, I’m nowhere convinced they are in the same league as the Peterbilt even with the lower advertised range.

 

[ABMax24]

Its not a old boys club, its the fact that Paccar has a way better history in building trucks than tesla, and tesla is the company is playing catch-up in that, and yes that tesla truck is horribly ugly.

But still, I would prefer to have the transmission and rear ends, it gives better braking performance, and options for hauling different loads. If the power is transmitted to the drive line like tesla is mentioning in the performance, those rear ends should be 60000lb capable.

A normal truck with a 600hp 2050tq usually comes with a super 40 rear or 46000 rear depending on what the truck is purchased for, and is totally customizable from the factory. As I mentioned tesla has alot of catching up to do.

If the dynamic or regenerative braking can maintain the BHP throughout the motors rpm than it may be a bit safer than what Im thinking, than I may change my mind.

Stick a few hundred holes in that plywood tho.
With 60000lbs in the box, my pre emission freightliner classic would get 5-5.5 mpg, it did quite well for a 430hp with a 3.90 rear end ratio.

Aerodynamics have come along ways, its not the tractor thats the main problem its the trailer. Look at the skirting on the underside of reefer and van trailers, some even have extensions on the back, those made big improvements.
Id love to see how far a tesla would go with a trailer and a load that drags heavy.


Teslas technology in cars is nice, I’m nowhere convinced they are in the same league as the Peterbilt even with the lower advertised range.

I think you are missing the point of what the Tesla Semi is designed for. It's not designed to replace logging trucks, winch tractors, gravel trucks or any other special purpose truck. They are designed to replace bare bones tractors that pull vans, that's where the money is, selling thousands of units to companies like UPS or Fedex for freight, or large box stores like Walmart. I'm sure Tesla has made a calculated move that it is not worth it at this time to try and replace the trucks we commonly see in Alberta, the cost of developing a platform that is flexible enough for these uses is not worth the small profits to be garnered from the comparatively small numbers of sales, these orders will be left for companies like Peterbuilt to fill.

 

[jhurkot]

Dynamic braking and regenerative braking are electrically identical as far as the motor is concerned, it provides xx# of amps output from the motor. The difference is that dynamic braking puts this current into a resistor bank where the energy is dissipated as heat and regenerative puts the current back into the battery. One doesn’t suck any more than the other.

Lets say I buy something for $1 and get $0.70 of change. Regenerative braking is putting the 70 cents into your pocket. Dynamic braking is throwing the change on the ground and walking away. I would say they are a lot different.

 

[lilduke]

dynamic is for diesel electric aplications like a train, where there is no battery to charge.

it doesn't suck, it is just for a different aplication....

 

[jhurkot]

dynamic is for diesel electric aplications like a train, where there is no battery to charge.

it doesn't suck, it is just for a different aplication....

That's true but I just hate to see energy converted to waste heat.

Went to the USA yesterday to pick up a package and the guy at the border was apparently not an EV enthusiast. He asked for the car to be turned off and I said it can't be turned off (it seriously can't). I said you can put it in park and that's about as good as it gets. There is no on/off switch so the only way it shuts off is when the car is locked and it doesn't detect weight on the drivers seat. He failed to understand that and then went on a rant about how stupid I was to be driving an electric car and that the "battery will probably die in the middle of nowhere". After making us wait for 10minutes he reluctantly let us through.

 

[S.W.A.T.]

That's true but I just hate to see energy converted to waste heat.

Went to the USA yesterday to pick up a package and the guy at the border was apparently not an EV enthusiast. He asked for the car to be turned off and I said it can't be turned off (it seriously can't). I said you can put it in park and that's about as good as it gets. There is no on/off switch so the only way it shuts off is when the car is locked and it doesn't detect weight on the drivers seat. He failed to understand that and then went on a rant about how stupid I was to be driving an electric car and that the "battery will probably die in the middle of nowhere". After making us wait for 10minutes he reluctantly let us through.

All energy has a waste in one form but it usually is heat. If it get hot enough the heat becomes light.

 

[doorfx]

Regenerative braking has been used in the electric lift truck industry for 20+ years. Stand up electric lift trucks don’t even have a brake pedal. In the lift truck industry it is known as “plugging”.

 

[ABMax24]

All energy has a waste in one form but it usually is heat. If it get hot enough the heat becomes light.

This is true.

But look at the irony of a diesel electric locomotive, the engineer that worked on the engine spent thousands of hours trying to squeak every hp out of every ounce of fuel trying to prevent it from being wasted as heat. Then the engineer working on the brakes comes along and says "I'm going to take these wonderful electric motors in the wheels and use them as brakes, to do so I will generate huge amounts of electricity while slowing the forward motion of the train, and after I have generated the electricity I will dump it to a resistor bank generating massive amounts of heat and dissipating it to the air." At that point i think the first engineer falls out of his chair.

 

[S.W.A.T.]

This is true.

But look at the irony of a diesel electric locomotive, the engineer that worked on the engine spent thousands of hours trying to squeak every hp out of every ounce of fuel trying to prevent it from being wasted as heat. Then the engineer working on the brakes comes along and says "I'm going to take these wonderful electric motors in the wheels and use them as brakes, to do so I will generate huge amounts of electricity while slowing the forward motion of the train, and after I have generated the electricity I will dump it to a resistor bank generating massive amounts of heat and dissipating it to the air." At that point i think the first engineer falls out of his chair.

I've been under the impression that trains use air for brakes, same as semi trucks, at least according to my father in law who drove them for 35 years.

 

[ABMax24]

I've been under the impression that trains use air for brakes, same as semi trucks, at least according to my father in law who drove them for 35 years.

They do both, the braking system I described is called dynamic braking and is similar in principle as a jake brake on a truck.

 

[S.W.A.T.]

So would that require choppers and a scr type system to be installed on a vehicle or truck?

Just trying to correlate with what I know from diesel electric and AC rigs.

 

[Bnorth]

Went to the USA yesterday to pick up a package and the guy at the border was apparently not an EV enthusiast. He asked for the car to be turned off and I said it can't be turned off (it seriously can't). I said you can put it in park and that's about as good as it gets. There is no on/off switch so the only way it shuts off is when the car is locked and it doesn't detect weight on the drivers seat. He failed to understand that and then went on a rant about how stupid I was to be driving an electric car and that the "battery will probably die in the middle of nowhere". After making us wait for 10minutes he reluctantly let us through.

So his attitude basically aligns with most of the other members posting in this thread then?

 

[lilduke]

So his attitude basically aligns with most of the other members posting in this thread then?

yeah except he carrys a gun and can detain you just cause.

 

[S.W.A.T.]

So his attitude basically aligns with most of the other members posting in this thread then?

Would be fairly ignorant to think ev's dont have a legitimate place and purpose as well as a grip on the market.

 

[jhurkot]

I am looking forward to this...

https://youtu.be/VcMedyfcpvQ

 

[Stompin Tom]

I am looking forward to this...

https://youtu.be/VcMedyfcpvQ

so you transfer the traffic lineup at the light to the entrance of the tunnel? Pretty sweet if your the only person using it and going only where the tunnel ends. I would say a pretty substantial cost if only one user.