Who is ordering their tesla semi truck

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by kay_ray, May 18, 2022.

  1. Accidental Trucker

    Accidental Trucker Road Train Member

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    the thermal efficiency of a combined cycle natural gas power plant approaches 60%.
    The thermal efficiency of a Diesel engine is under 50%, and the average efficiency of a truck engine is much less than that because of varying demand for power, etc.

    So figure on an electric generating station being between 30 to 35% more efficient than a truck in converting fuel to energy. Subtract transmission losses, battery storage losses and electrical motor inefficiencies, add the energy costs associated with delivering the diesel to the truck stops, and parasitic losses between the Diesel engine and the road (transmission and rear end), and electricity wins by about 25% on efficiency.
     
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  3. bonder45

    bonder45 Road Train Member

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    Steer = 13,400
    Drives = 34,000
    Spread trailer = 40,000
    = 87,400

    Which is more than enough to run with electric trucks.
     
  4. Rubber duck kw

    Rubber duck kw Road Train Member

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    How many fleet trailers are a spread? How do you imagine the average fleet driver you see backing in beside you going with a spread?
     
  5. Long FLD

    Long FLD Road Train Member

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    They will push thru higher weights nationwide for tridem trailers. They’ve already been trying for years.
     
  6. Rubber duck kw

    Rubber duck kw Road Train Member

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    That'll be fun to watch in the average truckstop. How well do tridems put up with somebody turning as tight as possible again? How much are tires these days again?
     
  7. Long FLD

    Long FLD Road Train Member

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    Run wide single tires and have the back axle be self steering that can be pinned when the truck is backing up. Fleets wrecking their equipment and going thru tires doesn’t really concern me much anyway, I don’t have to pay for it. But they’ve been pushing for 97k gross on 6 axles for a while now.

    Personally I’m more interested in platooning technology than I am electric trucks anyhow.
     
  8. Rubber duck kw

    Rubber duck kw Road Train Member

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    Yeah, so that guy who doesn't check his turn signals once a day is going to get out to lock that back axle? No he'll just push those tires sideways, but maybe he'll hit the guy on the other side not you.
     
  9. aussiejosh

    aussiejosh Road Train Member

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    It just occurred to me they've been using Electric motors to drive Trains for many years now in fact the whole of the Bowen Basin coal deposit in North Queensland almost all coal is transported by electric powered locomotives to the port at Hay Point, and Abbortsford point. Although this is electricity or AC not DC current I wonder which is why the hp should not be an issue those locomotives would need thousands of hp to pull those long carriages filled with coal. Question is do they have a DC powered battery that can produce around the 500 hp for a Prime Mover?
     
  10. Arctic_fox

    Arctic_fox Experienced mx13 execrator

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    No its not. But we can make educated guesses on how it will perform just based on what IS on the road and what tech IS avalible now and what the weights are on the vehicles we have details about. We can also compared to current electrical vehicles and their current breakdowns and make a fairly accurate speculation on how that translates to big rigs.

    For example we know most known specs shared by other EV companys and the few running around overseas that they tend to be 2000-6000 pounds heavier then their diesel counterparts. We also know that the cars we have on the road do pretty badly in mountains, extreme cold and extreme heat.

    Is electric an awsome tech and would i love to see it practical? Sure. Is it viable right here and now? No in most applications it is not. But it is a fair argument to say that a sledge hammer is not always the best tool to use in every situation either.

    Also to address the people saying that the EVs are more efficent.....maybe though im doubtful of that and i also know they arent nearly as green as people like to pretend. Using just basic numbers we know that elon said they will have a 500kwh battery and we will use that even though ive seen sources say 1200 is whats needed. And we know the 500 battery is 300 miles of range though realisticly you will get much less on average.

    Using that math we can look on any governent webpage and see a single kwh causes .99 pounds of c02 to be produced depending on which government study you use. Ive seen as low as .85 and as high as 2.55. So we will go with .99 per latest epa fileings i could find with deffinitive numbers as an average.

    That means a tesla in ideal perfect 300 mile per charge conditions will produce 990 pounds of C02 to go 600 miles. Thats discounting all the losses from generation to wheel turning too just to be as fair as we can. A gallon of diesel produces 22.44 pounds of c02 disregarding all emissions improvments. So using this number and the national 6.5 mpg average of U.S semis and the aformentioned 600 miles we get 2072 pounds of C02 rounded up for the trip. And thats with diesel in the absolute worst light and tesla in the absolute best.

    Now if we stop here like most news groups do case closed teslas are the best right? Wrong that 22.44 pounds is if you take a gallon of diesel and burn it. If you add in all the emissions controls def egr ect the national average is 2.77kg or 6.11 pounds per mile of co2. Or you can use grams per ton mile the epa prefers which is 162 per ton moved per mile average or for a fully loaded semi 6480 grams per mile to move 40 tons. Which is 14.29 pounds.

    Using the national average and assumeing 6.5mpg over 600 miles you get 564 pounds of co2 uh-oh tesla aint looking as green is it now? And if you use the epa numbers you get 1319 pounds. Whew the tesla is still better according to the gooberment.....nope we are still disregarding all the power losses from generation to wheel on the tesla. You add those in and well....you lose 15% of that 500 just to charge it. Then you lose another 15ish% in transmission from plant to wall. So that 500 is now 650 which is now 1287 pounds of C02 in a best case. Throw in losses from heat or cold, devices like AC and lights and everything else.....

    Well that tesla aint nearly as green as advertised even if it looks like it. Even if you use the .85 its still not particularly green.

    Oh and refrences for those who want to call bs on me. Greenhouse Gases Equivalencies Calculator - Calculations and References | US EPA

    https://blog.se.com/energy-management-energy-efficiency/2013/03/25/how-big-are-power-line-losses/

    Trucking Carbon Footprint| DSN Chemical Transportation

    And i have several more go look it up yourself. EVs are cool tech sure. But they currently arent nearly as green or as nice as you think they are. And if you get really into the weeds it gets worse and worse for EVs
     
  11. Rubber duck kw

    Rubber duck kw Road Train Member

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    Exactly, look beyond surface and "green" tech is no greener than what we already have. It's like switching your money from one pocket to another and saying you now have more money.
     
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