favoritos
Well-known member
We have certainly taken a strange approach to bringing EV to the masses. I'm not against the idea, but the implementation is seriously flawed.
These big, fancy, feature loaded vehicles are a bad combination along with the idea that we can do long duration work without a quick repower.
The current idea of "waiting" for juice to load makes it tough to use. Winter doesn't help for a number of reasons.
If we continue with the current approach, the implementation will stall. After the thrill of new and fancy wears down, the repair bills on those things will kill the market.
Oddly, we have places where electric is the primary power source and has been for years. Walk into a big warehouse and look for an ICE powered rig. I've spent a lot of time in some big facilities. We had hundreds of rigs in the biggest buildings. Waiting for charging wasn't an option. There were a few different approaches to a solution. Two rigs for every operator were the early approach. The operator would run the rig until it was dead and swap to a different machine while the first charged. It's spendy because of extra equipment, and it's slow. It's also the same basic approach we are using with vehicles.
One of my last facilities went big bucks into a fast swap battery setup. Forklifts are happy with weight and we used the old lead acid batteries, but it still costs money when you pop for a couple hundred of those things. The initial capital of the charging - changing stations was a tough pill. Monitoring payoff was interesting when looking at total equipment costs. We were in the 3+ year range. When we added in waiting down time and shutdowns, the payoff was down to a year. Running equipment was easier with less wasted time. Operators could swap batteries in about ten minutes.
As human beings on the go, we know that sitting around and waiting isn't fun. We inherently know it isn't efficient. It's worse for those of us in the central part of the country. We have further to drive and we are often working the vehicle. Add in the cold weather factor and the pill gets harder to swallow. It feels like an expensive concept is being shoved down our throats.
Our current approach has too many escalating expenses for it to continue. As human beings, we inherently know this is also a bad idea. Living in this part of the country, it is even more apparent.
Another approach may be possible. Little juicers for running errands and simple vehicles for hard work might be a workable solution. We're not there yet and I don't see our market heading in that direction. That approach would be hard for myself. I like vehicles that are fun to drive, look decent, and hold up for the long haul without breaking the bank. I'm also trying to cover most of the bases with one main vehicle. In reality, most of us like our cars and trucks. We also want a car or truck that we like.
These big, fancy, feature loaded vehicles are a bad combination along with the idea that we can do long duration work without a quick repower.
The current idea of "waiting" for juice to load makes it tough to use. Winter doesn't help for a number of reasons.
If we continue with the current approach, the implementation will stall. After the thrill of new and fancy wears down, the repair bills on those things will kill the market.
Oddly, we have places where electric is the primary power source and has been for years. Walk into a big warehouse and look for an ICE powered rig. I've spent a lot of time in some big facilities. We had hundreds of rigs in the biggest buildings. Waiting for charging wasn't an option. There were a few different approaches to a solution. Two rigs for every operator were the early approach. The operator would run the rig until it was dead and swap to a different machine while the first charged. It's spendy because of extra equipment, and it's slow. It's also the same basic approach we are using with vehicles.
One of my last facilities went big bucks into a fast swap battery setup. Forklifts are happy with weight and we used the old lead acid batteries, but it still costs money when you pop for a couple hundred of those things. The initial capital of the charging - changing stations was a tough pill. Monitoring payoff was interesting when looking at total equipment costs. We were in the 3+ year range. When we added in waiting down time and shutdowns, the payoff was down to a year. Running equipment was easier with less wasted time. Operators could swap batteries in about ten minutes.
As human beings on the go, we know that sitting around and waiting isn't fun. We inherently know it isn't efficient. It's worse for those of us in the central part of the country. We have further to drive and we are often working the vehicle. Add in the cold weather factor and the pill gets harder to swallow. It feels like an expensive concept is being shoved down our throats.
Our current approach has too many escalating expenses for it to continue. As human beings, we inherently know this is also a bad idea. Living in this part of the country, it is even more apparent.
Another approach may be possible. Little juicers for running errands and simple vehicles for hard work might be a workable solution. We're not there yet and I don't see our market heading in that direction. That approach would be hard for myself. I like vehicles that are fun to drive, look decent, and hold up for the long haul without breaking the bank. I'm also trying to cover most of the bases with one main vehicle. In reality, most of us like our cars and trucks. We also want a car or truck that we like.
