Tesla Powered Truck Thoughts

[Toyguru]

The battery pack would likely have to be more than 200 kWh in order to get decent range while towing big loads. My Tundra mileage drops in half when pulling my relatively light rv (6000 lbs). The good news is that a truck chassis would have the room and weight carrying capacity to handle the larger battery, motors, cooling systems required.
A big part of the poor cd of trucks is because of the large frontal area required for the radiator, condenser, inter cooler, etc. that wouldn't be needed in an EV. The front end could be made much more aerodynamic than current offerings to help with the efficiency.
It would be great if future model S and X could be delivered in a trailer pulled by an EV truck...

 

[roblab]

With dual motors each motor can be geared differently. This will give you some of the benefits of multiple gears without the complexity. The rear gets more power on take off and the front at cruise.

OK, so watching Tesla for nine years, the first thing you notice is they aren't stupid. People come on these forums and declare with supposed authority that this thing or that thing can't possibly happen unless Tesla changes something or does something.

Y' know what? I bet Tesla has some real pickup guys working for them already. Probably engineers who have been hauling 5 ton loads for a living, with their own pickups. Do they know what a pickup has to do? Do they understand torque? Do they understand gearing? Do they get it? Heck yeah.

I think they do. Of course, it's fun to conjecture how it will be done, but I bet (again) that Tesla has it figured out. I'm not worried.

 

[electracity]

My thought is that a company that designs its "SUV" to meet the needs of the businessman is Beijing is a long, long way from considering an american style pickup.

 

[Rama]

The average new F150 owner is wealthy, educated, and has probably never heard of rolling coal.

I don't recall saying truck owners were poor and uneducated. I think the average new full size truck buyer HAS to be wealthy considering how much they cost nowadays. I just don't think they care much about emissions. And if they do, it's far down the list of priorities.

 

[Scotty]

Y' know what? I bet Tesla has some real pickup guys working for them already. Probably engineers who have been hauling 5 ton loads for a living, with their own pickups. Do they know what a pickup has to do? Do they understand torque? Do they understand gearing? Do they get it? Heck yeah.

I think they do. Of course, it's fun to conjecture how it will be done, but I bet (again) that Tesla has it figured out. I'm not worried.

I don't disagree with you. However, even with the roadster upgrade, MS production and improvements, model X release, and the Model 3 in progress, I remain optimistic that Tesla's engineers are burning the midnight oil on a truck. However, I wouldn't bet that enough of their engineers are available and working on it much. I would think that EM would be twittering and then detwittering comments about it. Unless this might be the Model Y.

Scotty

 

[beeeerock]

OK, so watching Tesla for nine years, the first thing you notice is they aren't stupid. People come on these forums and declare with supposed authority that this thing or that thing can't possibly happen unless Tesla changes something or does something.

Y' know what? I bet Tesla has some real pickup guys working for them already. Probably engineers who have been hauling 5 ton loads for a living, with their own pickups. Do they know what a pickup has to do? Do they understand torque? Do they understand gearing? Do they get it? Heck yeah.

I think they do. Of course, it's fun to conjecture how it will be done, but I bet (again) that Tesla has it figured out. I'm not worried.

I agree completely. Building a truck isn't rocket science - heck, Ford, Dodge and GM can do it... ;-) And Tesla Motors has a big family of cousins who DO know rocket science...

In many ways, building an electric truck is actually an easier proposition than a competitive ICE. It's about scaling up what they do with S and X now. It's about re-thinking what a truck needs to do, just as they've done with the S and the X. Plenty of heavy equipment already runs on electric motors, just with on board diesel generators. A truck isn't a big stretch and it absolutely will come. But the Model 3 needs to be sorted out first. One vehicle classification at a time. By the time they're ready, batteries will be better, lighter, smaller etc.

I envision a heavy duty rolling chassis that could have a truck body dropped on it, or a big SUV shape like a Suburban. Single cab, quad cab, short box, long box, you name it. The skateboard Tesla builds now is pretty scalable.

I also agree with a previous poster than the range isn't necessarily greater than needed for a car. In fact, perhaps less. The contractors on my job sites show up with some gear, perhaps towing an equipment trailer, then park it for the day. Or run it around the site a few times. And the vast majority of light trucks on the road (around here anyway) are used as commuter cars - back and forth to work - with a trip to the lake towing the boat on a few weekends.

I would be surprised if there weren't some artist's sketches kicking around TM that depict a few different pickup concepts!

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I don't disagree with you. However, even with the roadster upgrade, MS production and improvements, model X release, and the Model 3 in progress, I remain optimistic that Tesla's engineers are burning the midnight oil on a truck. However, I wouldn't bet that enough of their engineers are available and working on it much. I would think that EM would be twittering and then detwittering comments about it. Unless this might be the Model Y.

Scotty

Off-road capability. Everything else just needs "more".

 

[Toyguru]

Rumour has it that Tesla is supplying a number of drive trains for EV Landcruiser conversions for mine use. Not exactly the same, but a step in that direction.

 

[billarnett]

My dream is a Tesla "jeep". 4 motors, serious ground clearance (preferably with lots of air suspension travel), big diameter tires, lots of armor underneath. I don't worry about range: my Jeep driving off road is so horrendously inefficient that I often get <5 mpg. That's mostly down to very low gearing resulting in the motor running very fast at slow road speeds generating tons of heat and not much motion. Of course, the low gearing is needed for enough torque but that's not an issue with an AC motor

An off-road Tesla would be far more capable than anything out there today. And easier to drive, too. It would be expensive, of course, but I'll bet Tesla could easily sell all they could build.

And just think how cool it would be to be super-quiet while crawling up the rocks...

 

[MileHighMotoring]

Has anyone done an EV conversion on a real off-road capable Jeep?

 

[billarnett]

Has anyone done an EV conversion on a real off-road capable Jeep?

I know of only one, done some years ago with lead-acid batteries. Great performance, near-zero range.

- - - Updated - - -

Has anyone done an EV conversion on a real off-road capable Jeep?

I know of only one, done some years ago with lead-acid batteries. Great performance, near-zero range.

 

[muleferg]

Tesla Pickup Truck - Business Insider

 

[MileHighMotoring]

Tesla Pickup Truck - Business Insider

View attachment 99486

Did you see that the article you linked to was from before you even joined TMC?

 

[roblab]

Has anyone done an EV conversion on a real off-road capable Jeep?

Doing a quick Google for Jeep Electric Conversion, there are pages. First one is:

Leslie's 1997 Jeep Wrangler

 

[tander]

Having driven my MS for a year now, and with more than 47,000 miles on it, I have started thinking about the usage on one of my other vehicles. It's a 2006 Dodge 3500 Turbo Diesel long bed 4 wheel drive pickup truck. Sure, it's a stretch; You could even say that if there's a connection to a MS, or even the MX, it's definitely more than a stretch.

The holy grail. Wonder if they will call it the Model T or if Ford still has that? The timing ought to be about right for a truck after the model 3,y. Just imagine what happens when you can start telling a farmer that their tractors, equipment, and trucks can all be electric, and they will be less maintenance, possibly more tax deductions than they already get, and the fuel cost will basically be one up front solar array/battery bank with all fueling done on site, oh and they'll drive themselves.

 

[constraint]

Probably the only threads i follow anymore on TMC are the pickup truck threads because i still need to tow my trailers and have decent work commute. So I am either stuck with a solution of buying 2 separate vehicles (which i dont have the space in my driveway for) or just suck up the high diesel and maintenance prices. An EV F150 like... solves this issue for me and will be a better driving experience i would expect.

An EV truck needs to be usable for 98 percent of use cases but ultimately be affordable enough to compete with the ICE counterparts. With all this "technology" going into trucks to make them cleaner and higher MPG, the maintenance fees of keeping these rigs on the road is becoming a serious problem. Your 20 something rolling coal type are just a subset of a group that are modifying their diesel trucks because they are more reliable, have more power and last longer when they bypass all this EPA crap the manufactures have put in the trucks (and most of them dont care about the pollution). When your exhaust system costs $4k to replace and only lasts 100,000 miles well obviously people are going to chip and straight pipe that exhaust.

In order for an EV pickup to really work (in the mainstream... for contractors and recreational users), battery prices at the pack level need to be below $150 per kwh. At $150 per kwh, unladen you can get ~250 miles range with an F150 body for a little over $22,000 in batteries. When you add the motor, inverter, charging system and other electrics you will be close to $30,000 for your drivetrain (rough estimate that i am pulling out of my...). You add the other elements of the body, profit margin you are probably selling for $50k for a basic model. That is the cost of an LTZ/Platinum trim level but the benefits of an EV powertrain will persuade a good number of people if the product is compelling which appears to be Telsa's compentence.