[HN Gopher] Range Energy's electric trailer can improve semi-tru...
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Range Energy's electric trailer can improve semi-truck mpg by 36%
Author : thelastgallon
Score : 38 points
Date : 2023-11-27 21:29 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (electrek.co)
(TXT) w3m dump (electrek.co)
| stetrain wrote:
| I'm assuming there are a lot more trailers than trucks in
| operation, so this seems less efficient than hybridizing the
| trucks themselves.
|
| Also depending on the type of operation, the trailer owner may
| not care about how much diesel the truck owner burns.
|
| One benefit though is that the trailers could slow charge off of
| a basic 240V charger while parked at a loading dock between uses.
| uoaei wrote:
| Good point re: microeconomics between truck and trailer owners.
|
| The trailers could also charge off the alternator of the truck
| itself which could help to calm concerns of long charging times
| at stationary sources. The percent gains would probably be in
| the single digits and would demand a bit more from the engine
| but maybe there's an optimal balance there.
| talldatethrow wrote:
| An alternator is about 50% efficient. The engine turning the
| alternator is around 40% efficient. So charging a battery
| using your engine doesn't really pay off.
|
| If you optimize for a more efficient Regen using a proper
| purpose driven 'alternator', and only do it when the truck is
| slowing down, that would be much better. Aka, current hybrid
| tech.
| RecycledEle wrote:
| Alternators are suited to the electrical needs of the truck.
| Asking them for even another 1 KW is not practical.
|
| Charging a hybrid truck's lithium batter at 1 KW is nowhere
| near enough power to be useful.
|
| If you want to have the diesel engine charge the battery that
| means a total redesign if the truck, its engine, and its
| power train.
| nurple wrote:
| Interesting. At what point might it make sense for the
| tractor itself to evolve into a pure genset and steering
| unit, like a diesel-electric train? Might make sense as an
| interim step to carbon-free electrification.
| jiaaro wrote:
| On the other hand, these things see a lot more annual miles
| than consumer vehicles so the payback period should be shorter.
| I agree though, that probably it would require some kind of
| government involvement to get broad adoption.
|
| Also, I imagine it's easier to find extra space for batteries
| in the the trailer than the tractor.
|
| Regenerative breaking seems like a more important improvement
| though.
| nurple wrote:
| Yeah, this was my thought as well. Not sure how accurate this
| article[0] is, but it says the trailer to power-unit(tractor)
| ratio is around 3-5:1.
|
| One interesting thought though: if these trailers could
| implement thrust vectoring and other safety measures(like
| adjacent vehicle detection), it may be realistic to run longer
| trains than can be done with dumb trailers that tend to be
| unhandleable beyond 2-long. This may effect a reduction in the
| trailer pool ratio, increasing efficiency even more.
|
| I grew up in the Columbia River gorge and I remember driving
| alongside triple-trailer pulls and it was terrifying to attempt
| passing them when the wind was gusty. I'm confident everyone
| that frequented that corridor could regale you with tales of
| being almost run off the road by one of these behemoths at
| least once.
|
| [0] https://www.dat.com/blog/trailer-pools-friend-or-foe
| stonemetal12 wrote:
| Wouldn't the truck owner offer a discount for the fuel savings,
| or formulated differently add a fuel surcharge for loads that
| take more fuel to carry?
|
| There by getting the trailer owner to care if they have loads
| hauled regularly.
| jack_riminton wrote:
| I'd like to see the financials for this from a haulage operators
| perspective; payback period, return on investment etc
|
| Also would be cool to see the sums if solar panels were added to
| the equation
| ggm wrote:
| Unless a rig spends significant time not moving in daylight, I
| suspect the tow cost and other inputs to a PV attached to the
| rig is above the ROI for power.
|
| It might mean the cabin AC can run when its parked, and keep
| things humane. It might supplement a refrigerated intermodal
| and prevent engine run-on so be good for noise.
|
| I doubt it would extend range much.
|
| Happy to be proved wrong. E.g. the entire truck-top surface
| area with an integrated trailer might be enough to make
| sufficient KW to be worth doing.
| FriedPickles wrote:
| A very similar concept is Revoy, which hitches a device between
| the tractor and trailer. I expect Revoy's model would see a much
| higher utilization rate (time spent driving or charging vs
| sitting idle).
|
| https://www.revoy.com/
| Turskarama wrote:
| The article writer claims that the market for this will disappear
| as more electric trucks enter the market and I couldn't disagree
| more, it will make them MORE desirable.
|
| The biggest issue with electric trucks is range, and it's way
| more of a problem than it is with cars. Charging a truck in 20
| minutes is a very different beast from doing it with a car since
| the amount of power needed is much higher, potentially in the
| tens of megawatts. Trucks are also traveling very long distances
| every day instead of just on the occasional road trip. If having
| a trailer assist is the difference between getting to your
| destination in one go vs stopping that's way more important for a
| truck than a car.
|
| If a truck can effectively get a 30% charge just from picking up
| a trailer then that's massive.
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