Posted on 11/27/2012 8:04:45 PM PST by smokingfrog
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to make a deal with diesel truck owners in the Chicagoland area: give up your truck, and the city will give you a voucher that covers around 60 percent of the cost of a new electric one.
Officials say the project could help with air quality and even quieter streets across the city. By next spring, fleets in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties will be able to apply for the program.
“The city is encouraging companies to invest in electric vehicles in order to incrementally improve Chicago’s air quality while helping to advance these emerging transportation technologies,” Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein said in a statement. “By offering a voucher at the point of sale, rather than as a post-sale rebate, we hope that more companies will be encouraged to participate in the program.”
But not all drivers are jumping at the chance to trade in their truck. Phil LaPalermo, co-owner of All Ways Paving and Plowing, says he's not sure there's an electrical vehicle out there that can compare to the power of a diesel truck. LaPalermo said he likes the idea of using alternative energy sources, but the diesel engine is what keeps his fleet plowing and paving streets all over the city and suburbs.
(Excerpt) Read more at wbez.org ...
Nah..
None.
There are motors that can do it and even exceed the torque of a diesel engine.
But there is no power source that will give a usable amount of power before recharge.
But an electric truck is much easier to start when its -30 in Chicago. The heater will kill the battery before your out of the parking lot but eh, that’s just a technicality.
How bout a natural gas powered one? Those they do make.
they are stench mobiles. however, i rate that as a problem of
lesser importance than say removing the gangstas from control of the streets.
The reason is that it is much more cost effective to generate electricity and use electric motors to drive the wheels than to build a transmission and clutch to handle the power.
Diesel locomotives are typically 2000 to 6000 horsepower, but have a limited RPM range. They would need a lot more gears than a car which has a transmission with 3 to six gear ratios. And, the gears would need to be much larger than automotive gears to handle the loads. Transmissions also have internal losses. These are typically low, but even 1% loss of a few thousand horsepower is a lot of heat, which is where the power loss shows up.
Ping-Diesel
DIESEL electric trains! And trains don’t have batteries that catch fire when wet. The Rhamster ignores natural gas which already is running trucks all over the city. What a publicity seeking putz.
Hybrids perhaps, but not total electric. Caterpillar has at least one maybe a few diesel/electric dozers out now.
Let’s see - a good diesel truck can tow 15,000 lbs and an electric truck can tow what - an empty trailer, but it cuts the range down from 60 miles to 22 miles?
We'll just burn the natural gas in power plants to make the electricity. Then the trucks will be carbon free. Simple. < /sarc>
I want to watch when the first trucker actually buys an electric truck. He won’t be able to show his fact at the teamsters’ hall. It would be like a member of a road gang riding a Vespa instead of a Harley.
http://www.proterra.com/index.php/mediacenter/companynews/
I live in Tallahassee. Several years ago the city (I think they did it with grants) got the local privately owned buss company to buy electric busses. They are GM products. You never see them around town. According to my friends in government the busses are always in the garage for one problem after another. I haven’t heard anything about them (or seen them) lately and can’t find a word on-line.
I suspect that GM is about to announce an electric truck line. It doesn’t matter if your product doesn’t work so long as the government forces somebody to buy it. What happens when a “global warming” snow storm shuts down Chicago and it is too cold for the batteries to work on the snow plows? I suspect that Rahm will punish the snow removal contractors.
just thinking about the amount of electricity that would need to be generated to charge all of the batteries
The second trailer would be about the size of a pick-up bed and carry the “goods.”
Now, that’s the future of electric tractor-trailer rigs.
just thinking about the amount of electricity that would need to be generated to charge all of the batteries
The second trailer would be about the size of a pick-up bed and carry the “goods.”
Now, that’s the future of electric tractor-trailer rigs.
Don't they call Chicago 'The Windy City'? (hint, hint)
We all knew he was an ignorant leftist flake. Now he has shown that to be unarguably true.
Must be one hell of a kick back Rahm is getting from the electric truck manufacturer...to push this dumb idea...
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