Where is the Tesla Semi?

[move on]

Sounds interesting. My first thought is that it's too expensive.

[radar]

Originally Posted by RWeigant

I believe the future is in Electromagnetic Induction. Coils of wire will be inbeded in the roadway to create a magnetic field when current passes through it. This will charge your batteries while you drive on the freeway. Same as the garage chargers that lay flat under the car. This will provide endless charging for Big rigs and RV's.

I think that would be great. But the cost might be prohibitive. It’s pretty cheap to put in a charging station, even a solar powered one depending on its requirements. But digging up thousands of miles of roadway might get pricey. Not to mention getting manufacturers to install the equipment on the car.

Who knows what the future brings.

[RandDescape]

I was reading a few years back that China was doing something similar to power and recharge buses in the cities. They were using overhead lines not induction.

However they didn’t cover the whole route they just electrified some of the main roads and that allowed them to charge enough to cover the few miles of route between the main roads.

Similarly you wouldn’t have to start by providing service in every lane of a major road.

- Richard

[D20]

Originally Posted by RWeigant

I believe the future is in Electromagnetic Induction. Coils of wire will be inbeded in the roadway to create a magnetic field when current passes through it. This will charge your batteries while you drive on the freeway. Same as the garage chargers that lay flat under the car. This will provide endless charging for Big rigs and RV's.

This would be a great solution even if just on the interstate highways. BUT considering the present state of the highway system and the severe lack of maintenance, I don't see how the installation of a charging system into the highways would be possible, practically speaking. Just to fix the highway system that we have now is beyond reach.

[radar]

Originally Posted by RandDescape

I was reading a few years back that China was doing something similar to power and recharge buses in the cities. They were using overhead lines not induction.

However they didn’t cover the whole route they just electrified some of the main roads and that allowed them to charge enough to cover the few miles of route between the main roads.

Similarly you wouldn’t have to start by providing service in every lane of a major road.

- Richard

Interesting. Makes sense.

[Hurricane-TX]

Originally Posted by radar

Time will tell. Hope they make it. Lots of good jobs and really the only competitive North American EV maker. If they go down China and Europe will be the major EV builders of the world.

I tend to disagree with Tesla being competitive. They only exist because of the government handouts Musk has negotiated and the government handouts paid to their customers. If Tesla had to compete without government largess, Elon would be working at a weed shop in Colorado.

[radar]

Originally Posted by RetiredbutWorking

I tend to disagree with Tesla being competitive. They only exist because of the government handouts Musk has negotiated and the government handouts paid to their customers. If Tesla had to compete without government largess, Elon would be working at a weed shop in Colorado.

Could be. Im not up on that aspect of it as we are not Americans. What kind of handouts are they getting and what handouts do the customers get? We didn’t get any kind of subsidy for ours here. Right now it’s about a three to eight month waiting list here for a Tesla depending on what model you want and most don’t have any kind of incentive attached to them. So obviously at least here demand is not being driven by subsidies. Not sure about other countries though. And the reality is most Tesla’s are built for export now so probably a varied picture.

[VanDiemen23]

Always amazed at the folks that keep bringing up subsidies. This article has a lot of the numbers for Tesla, its competitors, and some other industries:

https://cleantechnica.com/2020/08/03...%20a%20company.

If you go to Tesla's on site there's a page on subsidies (all for solar or EV charging equipment, not the EVs themselves) that links to the individual company's pages.

Why do you get subsidies from power companies - because the amount of power your house uses has been going down steadily as LEDs and energy star appliances have phased in. They want to sell power, and obviously they aren't going to give you something completely free. They are going to cover the cost of that subsidy elsewhere in their business plan.

For most EV manufacturers, the tax credits to individuals buying their vehicles ran out ~2018, and even those were capped by the price of the vehicle and/or income caps on the buyers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Govern...#United_States

Come on people. The internet is out there, use it.

[amosnandy]

Originally Posted by move on

EVs are not doubt great performance vehicles. The problem I have with the EV revolution is that it's built upon the false premise that the earth is warming due to fossil fuel use, and that it's built upon the false economy of government subsidies. Take away the false premise and the false economy and let's see how much of the EV revolution remains.

I see you are a science denier. Good luck with that. Be happy to be in the .5% that still don't believe in science.

Say did you know that if you get a Covid vaccine you become magnetized and a fork will stick to your forehead?

Sorry, EV's are here to stay. The big issue is the distance an 80,000# truck can run before recharging. The solution to that is coming to. Problem is it will put the small trucking companies out of business. Truck tractors will have about a 250 mile range. So they will go from depot to depot to keep moving, dropping one tractor for another and head on down the road. There won't be any shortage of drivers either, because they will be self driving. All the jobs will be hooking and unhooking trailers, and plugging in the chargers, that are powered by the solar panels on the roof.

[move on]

Originally Posted by VanDiemen23

Always amazed at the folks that keep bringing up subsidies. This article has a lot of the numbers for Tesla, its competitors, and some other industries:

https://cleantechnica.com/2020/08/03...%20a%20company.

If you go to Tesla's on site there's a page on subsidies (all for solar or EV charging equipment, not the EVs themselves) that links to the individual company's pages.

Why do you get subsidies from power companies - because the amount of power your house uses has been going down steadily as LEDs and energy star appliances have phased in. They want to sell power, and obviously they aren't going to give you something completely free. They are going to cover the cost of that subsidy elsewhere in their business plan.

For most EV manufacturers, the tax credits to individuals buying their vehicles ran out ~2018, and even those were capped by the price of the vehicle and/or income caps on the buyers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Govern...#United_States

Come on people. The internet is out there, use it.

Tesla has received substantial backing from Green investors for developing the Semi. Not exactly a subsidy but vast financial contributions nonetheless. Unfortunately these investors did not think this through. The Semi is not viable. Probably Musk knows it and now he's faced with having to tell the investors that it's not going to work. He should never have taken their money to begin with. When the Semi has to be cancelled it's going to look pretty bad for not just Musk but for the rest of the company as well.

The chief engineer of the Semi project bailed out just in time.

[amosnandy]

Originally Posted by move on

Sounds interesting. My first thought is that it's too expensive.

Right now it is. But battery costs, solar costs, and wind costs are going down.

5 years ago my cousin worked for Disney, and they offered to put solar on any employees house, FREE. I'm sure they wrote it off or got tax incentives to do it, but pretty cool, Free.

They did see the bill. About $9,000, and their power bill went to zero. Unfortunately part of the payback plan was they didn't get to sell any access to the power company, I suppose Disney, or CLP or the government got the excess.

They are still doing it. A coworker just had it done, and saw the bill, almost identical system, $3700, and yes, their power bill dropped to zero too.

So it is getting less expensive. Just think, in 1902, if you had a car you had to stop at a drugstore, or general merchandise store to get fuel. There were all different kinds. My grandma, who would be 137 if alive, used to tell me what a big deal it was when they put a gas pump in at their shop. (they did auto canvas and leather) Crank the pump until it filled the glass jar on top and then let it run down into the tank.

So yeah, we're at that stage now, but things change fast.

[move on]

Originally Posted by amosnandy

I see you are a science denier. Good luck with that. Be happy to be in the .5% that still don't believe in science.



Say did you know that if you get a Covid vaccine you become magnetized and a fork will stick to your forehead?



Sorry, EV's are here to stay. The big issue is the distance an 80,000# truck can run before recharging. The solution to that is coming to. Problem is it will put the small trucking companies out of business. Truck tractors will have about a 250 mile range. So they will go from depot to depot to keep moving, dropping one tractor for another and head on down the road. There won't be any shortage of drivers either, because they will be self driving. All the jobs will be hooking and unhooking trailers, and plugging in the chargers, that are powered by the solar panels on the roof.

The big issue is not the charging network. The big issue is the weight of the batteries. Trucks are limited to 80,000 lbs GWR so if you add 10,000 lbs in battery weight that means you have to carry less freight. In other words, you will have to buy more trucks to move the same amount of freight.

Another issue that the CAGW alarmists don't want to talk about is the fact that a diesel engine rolling down the road has a better thermal efficiency than the average electric grid. This means it produces less CO2 than a battery powered semi.

[amosnandy]

Originally Posted by move on

The big issue is not the charging network. The big issue is the weight of the batteries. Trucks are limited to 80,000 lbs GWR so if you add 10,000 lbs in battery weight that means you have to carry less freight. In other words, you will have to buy more trucks to move the same amount of freight.

Another issue that the CAGW alarmists don't want to talk about is the fact that a diesel engine rolling down the road has a better thermal efficiency than the average electric grid. This means it produces less CO2 than a battery powered semi.

Hey mister thinker. A Volvo diesel engine and transmission weighs in at 8000# pounds, plus a 1000# radiator, fan and coolant, I always start out full, 300 gallons of fuel, another 1950#, so there is your 10,000# of batteries. I have a friend that has a Tesla 3. 3800# My Fusion hybrid weighs 3695#

Yes, I have read all the data on the emissions trucks. Yup, the air coming out of the exhaust is cleaner than the air going in. But it burns and produces heat. And CO2. Solar produces no heat and burns nothing, hence no CO2.

Yes, the manufacturing process is still dirty and needs vast improvement. So was oil refining in 1920. Has cleaned up a lot since then. Don't hear about acid rain much anymore do you? That's because it's fixed.

Human contributions to climate change are real. Not just because of fossil fuels but they are a big part of it. Use some logic. It took millions, if not billions of years for nature to created the oil and coal we have dug up in the last 150 years. We have used up all the easy stuff. That's what we do. Just like gold mining. Take the stuff laying on the ground first. At some point we are going to run out. Just like water. We are running out. Why? too many humans using to much of everything. Every time you fart you create methane. Stop eating beans.

[move on]

You alarmists really need to go beyond your narrow, childish worldview where happy little EVs roll merrily down the road propelled by windmills and solar panels. It's not going to happen.

Here's a little tidbit for you to contemplate. A study made for the Swedish Environmental Institute concluded that you have to drive an EV 200,000 km before it makes up for the additional CO2 used in material production and manufacturing compared to an ICE vehicle. And then after 200,000 km the battery is finished and you have to buy a new car. Lol.