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davidbrady · (This post was last modified: 06-14-2016 20:57 by travelite.)

Don't know if you guys have been following this: https://nikolamotor.com/one#power

It looks like it's real. We need some of this technology in our motorhomes: six 800V AC electric motor drive, 2000hp, 3700 ft-lbs torque, multi-fuel turbine, 320kWh battery pack, 400kW generator, 1200 mile range, 0 to 60mph 30s, 10 to 20 mpg, regenerative braking, 150 ft stopping distance. What took so long! LOL! Smile

BIGBIRD · 06-15-2016, 00:30

It looks great until you figure the total cost over, say, 20-30 years. Most of us don't put the miles on to ever justify the cost. With the price of crude where it is now, I doubt we'll see much of this anytime soon.

davidbrady · 06-15-2016, 11:05

The big selling point is fuel savings and you need to rack up the miles to realize those savings. But, if the fuel savings are as great as they say they are, then the trucking Industry will quickly adopt this approach and the Class A motorhome industry always follows. In the meantime I guess I'll continue with my electric regen motors and adapter plates for my tag axle wheels. Smile

BIGBIRD · 06-15-2016, 11:13

Its a vicious circle. As they adopt the new technology, the demand for fuel goes down and so does the price. Then it makes less sense to upgrade. I'm all for anything that lowers the price for diesel. Then we can afford to continue to run the old technology.

davidbrady · (This post was last modified: 06-15-2016 14:50 by travelite.)

As Jay Leno's fond of saying, "we need this fancy schmancy technology on new cars and commercial trucks so that we have more dino-fuels to run in our classics and recreational vehicles". Unfortunately, the Guv'mint will undoubtedly screw it up by taxing the hell out of diesel fuel to cut GHG emissions, which throws a big monkey wrench into the free market thing. Sigh... back to my tag axle electric drive regen motors! LOL!

Itchintogo · (This post was last modified: 07-05-2016 07:36 by Itchintogo.)

Sounds pretty interesting. From a financial point of view 5000 per month in the trucking biz to cover everything sounds pretty good. I did not notice the cost of a rig only a lease arrangement.

On a different note with mountainous terrain it may be a bit concerning as the trucks may be capable of traveling so quickly but no one is going to iron out the 25 and 30 MPH corners. I just came home from a trip in southern BC where the province has raised the speed limit from 55 to 62 MPH. I used to haul fuel through this corridor a number of years ago and did I ever notice alot of skid marks on the road at nearly every corner with even a moderate challenge to it. The road did not used to look like that. The skid marks were from both cars and heavy trucks alike. That also increases the pucker factor and results in alot of dirty underwear!

Interesting times are coming as the operator skill levels ( in cars especially ) are dumbed down as the technology increases capability.