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Old 02-04-2017, 06:53 AM   #1
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Electric school buses are coming....can RV's be far behind ?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/electric-...184753724.html
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Old 02-04-2017, 07:18 AM   #2
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The major problem with Electric vehicles is range.. When I drive this house I normally do 200-400 miles per day (8 hours average speed 50mph = 400 Miles) and I drive solo, with a co-driver 600 or more would be possible.

School buses do not often exceed 50 miles per trip.. Then they can return to the barn and re-charge.
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Old 02-04-2017, 08:09 AM   #3
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The major problem with Electric vehicles is range.. When I drive this house I normally do 200-400 miles per day (8 hours average speed 50mph = 400 Miles) and I drive solo, with a co-driver 600 or more would be possible.

School buses do not often exceed 50 miles per trip.. Then they can return to the barn and re-charge.


I see 200+ miles attainable in a few short years.....the RV is a pretty perfect platform since they already have a generator onboard. If the generator capacity is upped, it might be possible to run the generator while driving to greatly increase the range when needed. Stopping for lunch or to stretch legs also gives generator time to add more miles to range.

Without the large V10 or Diesel engine weight and bulk in the chassis the generator could be sized very large.....and still achieve great efficiency and unlimited electricity available. With a full charge on the batteries, the inverters could power everything in the RV including air conditioning for a really long time. Solar on the roof would also be a great asset in this use case as well.

I'm excited to see how this evolves in the coming years.
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Old 02-04-2017, 09:26 AM   #4
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In addition to range the availability of chargers at campgrounds will be problematic. I am sure with the battery bank required to power a motorhome quite a few hours will be required to recharge so logically it would be done overnight.

I imagine campground owners prepared to invest the capitol could have a few sites with chargers and charge a premium for them to recoup the cost but that kind of investment is probably not feasible for many small campground owners who have trouble providing even a good wifi signal.

I do like the idea though and eventually I am sure we will get there. I do remember seeing a few years ago some kind of prototype electric Class A motorhime that was something like a millions bucks.
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Old 02-04-2017, 09:30 AM   #5
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Pasdad - what you describe already exists - train locomotives. They drive a genny (alternators) from diesel engines.

In that case they're solving for a specific problem-traction and variable power.

With automotives and a battery it becomes less efficient-everytime you convert (fuel-locomotion/fuel-genny-locomotion/fuel-genny-battery-locomotion) you have losses,largely to heat. Not to mention you have those losses TWICE w/battery-in and out.

Batteries generally lose 10-20% of the energy in *each* direction.

Why is this loss important? Because *everything* then has to be oversized to compensate,increasing weight, reducing efficiency.

Just some thoughts - going to be interesting to watch over the next 10 years.
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Old 02-04-2017, 09:37 AM   #6
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And 50 years ago they said self driving cars were happening within 5 years still not quite there
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Old 02-04-2017, 09:39 AM   #7
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Lol Johnboy. I was tryin *real hard* to suppress my inner cynic so as to not be a thread killer! [emoji14]
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Old 02-04-2017, 10:19 AM   #8
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Putting in a electric motor then charging the batteries for it from a gas or diesel generator is stupid. It's more efficient to just run the RV from the fossil fuel engine in the first place. As mentioned, school buses don't generally need to go more than 150 miles on a given day, and can be charged during the day or night - any time they are parked at the barn. For most RVers, only having a 200 mile range would be unacceptable, and for the RV parks the charging infrastructure would have to be built from scratch.

It may happen some day, but I don't see electromotive power as being nearly as attractive for RVs as for all types of urban and suburban buses.
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Old 02-04-2017, 10:20 AM   #9
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In addition to range the availability of chargers at campgrounds will be problematic. I am sure with the battery bank required to power a motorhome quite a few hours will be required to recharge so logically it would be done overnight.

I imagine campground owners prepared to invest the capitol could have a few sites with chargers and charge a premium for them to recoup the cost but that kind of investment is probably not feasible for many small campground owners who have trouble providing even a good wifi signal.

I do like the idea though and eventually I am sure we will get there. I do remember seeing a few years ago some kind of prototype electric Class A motorhime that was something like a millions bucks.


No new infrastructure would be needed. 50 amp power (12,000 watt) should be more than sufficient. The charging hardware would be onboard ... the campground would do nothing different (except maybe charge more for the electrical usage)
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Old 02-04-2017, 10:26 AM   #10
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Pasdad - what you describe already exists - train locomotives. They drive a genny (alternators) from diesel engines.

In that case they're solving for a specific problem-traction and variable power.

With automotives and a battery it becomes less efficient-everytime you convert (fuel-locomotion/fuel-genny-locomotion/fuel-genny-battery-locomotion) you have losses,largely to heat. Not to mention you have those losses TWICE w/battery-in and out.

Batteries generally lose 10-20% of the energy in *each* direction.

Why is this loss important? Because *everything* then has to be oversized to compensate,increasing weight, reducing efficiency.

Just some thoughts - going to be interesting to watch over the next 10 years.


The generator need not be sized to generate 100% of the power required by the traction motors in order to be useful..... it merely needs to be able to extend range
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Old 02-04-2017, 10:27 AM   #11
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Interesting point about infrastructure pasdad - since RV's aren't usually in/out, they'd have time to charge using current (pun!) grid. Campgrounds could add a couole "fast charge" locations for overnighters.

Certainly an interesting thought experiment.
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Old 02-04-2017, 10:32 AM   #12
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In my opinion it will not happen at least for tow vehicles towing large 5er's. The truck stops plazas would be full of trucks charging their battery packs, which will take anywhere from 2 to 12 hours. I would be waiting all day just to charge up my TV for another 50 miles of driving distance. On inter-city transportation vehicles it is possible but not for cross country vehicles that haul freight.
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Old 02-04-2017, 10:32 AM   #13
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My point about traction was in re particular problem that locomotives have-maintaining traction at start (not over-torquing wheels). Electric solves this problem,but at the cost of HUGE diesel engines and HUGE generators and HUGE fuel stores, only reaching efficiency over thousands of miles @ steady speed.

Its all about the tradeoffs/compromises, which all the electric cheerleaders seem to gloss over.

No system is perfect, but rather a compromise for the primary requirements.
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Old 02-04-2017, 10:34 AM   #14
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And 50 years ago they said self driving cars were happening within 5 years still not quite there


I don't remember seeing *ANY* prototype of a self driving car 50 years ago ! Heck, computers had hardly been invented, and filled rooms with their vacuum tubes.

So you are citing pure science fiction speculation that might have existed that far ago...

The difference now is electric cars have been for sale to consumers for close to a decade now, and they improve every year. Tesla is getting almost 400 miles range now.

When the new "giga factory" comes online in a few months, batteries will dramatically drop in price due to economies of scale.
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