New electric Ram

[mcarey]

It's cool to see 4WS come back. Not sure why they think it will do any better than it did 20 or so years ago with the Quadrasteer trucks. Other cars have had it through the years as well. It has a cult following with 3rd gen Honda Prelude owners, but most people didn't feel comfortable with it on the test drive.

I've never experienced it in person. I can only imagine it being weird at first though.

I'd love it off-road on tighter trails, or just when you need to turn around or whatever on street. Would be nice not to K turn.

 

[mikeru]

I've never experienced it in person. I can only imagine it being weird at first though.

I'd love it off-road on tighter trails, or just when you need to turn around or whatever on street. Would be nice not to K turn.

It felt weird on the test drive. But only took me about a day to get used to it, then I loved having it. It had a very tight turning radius.

 

[GTyankee]

I see that i was not really clear, when i wrote that charging stations will cause forced land sales.

The reason that i stated that is because on California's Highways, they have built the paved roads to within 20 foot of the fence lines.
To put a Charging station in most places along the highway, it would have to be at Off/On ramp & even in those locations, there is not enough land to build a parking area with Chargers & then Rest Areas & Dog Walking area, so the State would force land sales in those areas.
I would think they would need a total of at least 3 acres minimum & if they also wanted 18 wheelers to be able to charge there also, they would need even more land.

That is why i said forced land sales would likely happen, at least in California

 

[mcarey]

I see that i was not really clear, when i wrote that charging stations will cause forced land sales.

The reason that i stated that is because on California's Highways, they have built the paved roads to within 20 foot of the fence lines.
To put a Charging station in most places along the highway, it would have to be at Off/On ramp & even in those locations, there is not enough land to build a parking area with Chargers & then Rest Areas & Dog Walking area, so the State would force land sales in those areas.
I would think they would need a total of at least 3 acres minimum & if they also wanted 18 wheelers to be able to charge there also, they would need even more land.

That is why i said forced land sales would likely happen, at least in California

Why wouldn't they just put them at gas stations that already exist?

 

[GTyankee]

Gas stations would also have them, at least i would assume.
But California is going to install Charging Stations along the highway, similar to a Rest Area or a Park and Ride

This is one area, where it would be fairly easy to put a Charging Station. The land is owned by a U.S. Marine Training Base, The Railroad & the State of California. There is no Civilian Property for at least 20 miles in any direction.
It is about 70 miles north of the city of San Diego & about the same distance from Los Angeles

 

[barr0208]

the quadrasteer was a gm failure it was dropped for a lot of problems and the way gm has been going it will be a problem again.

 

[mcarey]

Gas stations would also have them, at least i would assume.
But California is going to install Charging Stations along the highway, similar to a Rest Area or a Park and Ride

This is one area, where it would be fairly easy to put a Charging Station. The land is owned by a U.S. Marine Training Base, The Railroad & the State of California. There is no Civilian Property for at least 20 miles in any direction.
It is about 70 miles north of the city of San Diego & about the same distance from Los Angeles

View attachment 488291

Honestly looks like a great place to put one, really. Nothing going on, seemingly in the middle of nothing, and 2 of the 3 plots are already owned by either the state or the country so the "sale" should be easy enough.

On a secondary topic, I for one am severely jealous of @Evguy1 "Vehicle propulsion bill" over the last month. ;-)

 

[Socalramfan]

Gas stations would also have them, at least i would assume.
But California is going to install Charging Stations along the highway, similar to a Rest Area or a Park and Ride

This is one area, where it would be fairly easy to put a Charging Station. The land is owned by a U.S. Marine Training Base, The Railroad & the State of California. There is no Civilian Property for at least 20 miles in any direction.
It is about 70 miles north of the city of San Diego & about the same distance from Los Angeles

View attachment 488291

Starbuck’s and Costco’s

 

[runamuck]

that location is hilarious. I wont even stop at a gas station unless it is easy off/easy on. also what business is it of the state government to be in the electric refueling business. the real world charging stations I have seen are owned and operated by for profit outfits not the taxpayers and yes, people have to mark time and wait till a charger becomes available. I watched an electric truck review a few days ago where they were only able to charge long enough to get home because the walmart charging area was not designed for folks pulling a trailer and they were blocking a lot of the space. they charged for 37 minutes so they could go the 53 miles to home. 17$ worth of charge for 53 miles. I can see a scenario at these stations similar to the boat ramp at the lake on the weekend.

 

[HEMIMANN]

the quadrasteer was a gm failure it was dropped for a lot of problems and the way gm has been going it will be a problem again.

Crikey - even my last John Deere Tractor has quadrasteer. Yeah, I know it was only low speed angles, but still. And it was nothing more than some figured-out geometry with linkages and triangular rotating plates.

 

[barr0208]

that location is hilarious. I wont even stop at a gas station unless it is easy off/easy on. also what business is it of the state government to be in the electric refueling business. the real world charging stations I have seen are owned and operated by for profit outfits not the taxpayers and yes, people have to mark time and wait till a charger becomes available. I watched an electric truck review a few days ago where they were only able to charge long enough to get home because the walmart charging area was not designed for folks pulling a trailer and they were blocking a lot of the space. they charged for 37 minutes so they could go the 53 miles to home. 17$ worth of charge for 53 miles. I can see a scenario at these stations similar to the boat ramp at the lake on the weekend.

and if certain factions get there way that $17 will become $50 as well as tripling the price of hydro for everyone else and lots of brown outs where the system cannot handle the electric loads. it is not well thought out.

 

[GTyankee]

If a person could over look the airstream design of electric vehicles,
The real issue is distance. When you can only drive 300 miles or less before needing a charge is the whole real issue.
When i am working, i am driving my Ram & am either in front or behind a semi truck. I can't ask the trucker to pull off the highway for 30 minutes while i get a fast charge, the trucker would either fire me on the spot or never call for my service ever again & the word would be rapidly spread for everyone to blackball me

 

[HEMIMANN]

If a person could over look the airstream design of electric vehicles,
The real issue is distance. When you can only drive 300 miles or less before needing a charge is the whole real issue.
When i am working, i am driving my Ram & am either in front or behind a semi truck. I can't ask the trucker to pull off the highway for 30 minutes while i get a fast charge, the trucker would either fire me on the spot or never call for my service ever again & the word would be rapidly spread for everyone to blackball me

The issue is environment. Batteries lose capacity in cold ambient. Yeah, yeah - none of us should live where it's cold, but that ship sailed long ago. Plus you need heat in the cabin - a double whammy loss of power.

And where it's hot, you add air conditioning loads.

Ain't no free physics. Just tonight on the news they were bemoaning lack of charging infrastructure as if that should still be a revelation by this point. Lotta naive, nonthinking people out there.

 

[Tim7139]

Why wouldn't they just put them at gas stations that already exist?

I find charging at gas stations tends to be unpleasant. They are not designed for extended stays. They're best where you want a tourist to spend 15-45 minutes.

 

[Tim7139]

Infrastructure is needed, and only the federal government is big enough to accelerate it on the scale required. Heck, they "gave" away the land for railroads (taken from Indians without compensation), among other infrastructure rights-of-way.

The Canadian Government has done a lot of work here. You can drive coast to coast with PetroCanada stations less than 155 miles apart (most of which are 350kW DC fast charging), and they're just one of many companies that the government is worked with.

I prefer to see more charging infrastructure at attractions rather than gas stations.

 

[Tim7139]

Isn't that what we call a hybrid?

I suspect the wording means it will be like the BMW i3, an optional add on motor that only charges the batteries. Sadly Ford patented the removable instal on demand bed mounted option but does not seem to have plans to use it.

 

[Tim7139]

... removable battery packs you wouldn’t have to wait at a charging station you could just have someone change out your battery packs

This issue is patent trolls. The concept of removable batteries is patented, and the rights holders want stupid money.

In the late 1990's Simmons powered fleets of garbage trucks that swapped batteries in a few minutes to get through the day in a few UK cities.

 

[Tim7139]

I do see a big issue with the cars that are parked on the street like people who live in cities as you said. I hope someone has some sort of idea for that.

This seems to be the leading option for that.

Utility Pole-Mounted Electric Vehicle Chargers are Revving Up Clean Energy Initiatives | Utility Dive

Utility industry news and analysis for energy professionals.

www.utilitydive.com

 

[Tim7139]

On the way home tonight I noticed new charging stations going in at a gas station along the highway not that I would ever use them since it always cheaper to charge at home.

May not be true for you, as BC Hydro and many retailers have free level 2 chargers. I suspect you have two withing 20KM, and I've used both.

Sadly BC Hydro hasn't placed any free chargers in Coombs.

 

[Mrbyh20]

I’ve no interest in electric vehicles regardless if it’s a car or truck. I’ll keep burning my gas guzzling fossil fueled truck as long as I live! Lol. Plus the fact there’s absolutely no infrastructure here nor even a remote chance of current electric grid structure able to provide such services. But hey who am I too say!! my opinion.