440 Six Pack Diplomat Wagon FS (Not mine)

[Mikes5thAve]

Just where is all this electricity supposed to come from? The socialist state of California can't keep up with current (no pun intended) electricity demand today, much less with millions of cars plugged in to the grid. There's maybe 2 electric cars in this area and one is a Tesla. The guy that owns it also has a normal car he brings into the shop at work. He said that on a zero degree day, with the heat cranked, headlamps on, etc., his range is approximately 60 miles on a full charge if he's lucky and,,,,,,his home electric bill has almost doubled since he bought it. He told me that honestly, he's sorry he bought the thing. Then there's the electric cars bursting into flames in the middle of the night when something goes wrong with the Lithium Ion battery pack. When they do ignite, it's pretty much the same type of fire as thermite. Right now Chevy and the NTHSB recommend owners of the Bolt to park the cars outdoors, away from any structures to reduce the likelihood of burning their houses to the ground. I suppose you've figured out my opinion on electric cars One thing they never seem to mention is, it takes more energy and makes more pollution to mine and ship the lithium for batteries, and then at the end of the life, to recycle the batteries than a gas powered car does during it's life, starting with raw materials to scrap years later. Of course, they can't be bothered with details.

BTW, how did a 440 wagon turn into a debate on electric cars? Weird how that happens, isn't it?

I've got nothing against electric cars themselves altho I think hybrids are more practical. It's everything you said that the electric pushers conveniently ignore.
There's no such thing as zero emissions.

 

[Aspen500]

Exactly. Electric cars just shift the emissions somewhere else.

Wonder how many people will get killed when they touch the wrong thing. Hybrid's and electric use high voltage and extremely high amperage battery packs. If you touch a high voltage terminal, you'll never know it. Death will be instananious. Stay away from the orange cables unless the battery pack is dissconnected. I'm certified for hybrid's but not full electric, but still am leary of doing anything related to the high voltage system.

 

[Oldiron440]

The electric vehicle debate is my fault, I mentioned the valve of gas powered collector cars in our future. It's a good debate and something we should all be aware of.

 

[Aspen500]

Should have known it was you instigator

Guess I have nothing against electric cars personally, although I don't want one, it's when the government starts trying to force them down our throats. If people want an electric car, they're available and they would buy them, yet 98% of the vehicle sales are still gas or diesel powered. I'm still waiting to see how the all electric semi the CA socialists are mandating is going to work. Let's see, 80,000 pounds of truck and trailer, electric motors with enough power to pull it, even with a ridiculously large battery pack it'll still have like a 100 mile range, on a 75 degree day with no headwind, on level ground if you're lucky. In other words, it'll be pretty much useless. Unfortunately with the current socialist administration, things are only going to get worse, for at least the next 4 years, and I'll stop there before I go off on a tangent and get too political.

 

[Kramer79]

IF the testla semi can live up to all its promises that will be a game changer... but many big questions until we actually see them in action...

 

[Lightning II]

Should have known it was you instigator

Guess I have nothing against electric cars personally, although I don't want one, it's when the government starts trying to force them down our throats. If people want an electric car, they're available and they would buy them, yet 98% of the vehicle sales are still gas or diesel powered. I'm still waiting to see how the all electric semi the CA socialists are mandating is going to work. Let's see, 80,000 pounds of truck and trailer, electric motors with enough power to pull it, even with a ridiculously large battery pack it'll still have like a 100 mile range, on a 75 degree day with no headwind, on level ground if you're lucky. In other words, it'll be pretty much useless. Unfortunately with the current socialist administration, things are only going to get worse, for at least the next 4 years, and I'll stop there before I go off on a tangent and get too political.

i wouldn’t knock so much on the range of the eSemi. Volvo’s been testing theirs in Long Beach at the ports running containers across SoCal. Bout a 400 mile range so far, even with all of the accessories running. Toyota/KW are testing a new-style battery. Tesla is stuck waiting on their battery for the truck to improve.

since trucking is my current career I try to stay here on top of future developments.

 

[Ele115]

Man has a really promising truck they have been testing and tweaking in Germany and, I believe even further from home. They have a history of good trucks and striving for better and better products

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

My former employer (Meritor, Inc.) is THE Global Supplier of drivertrain components in the Heavy Duty/Truck business: long-haul semis as well as off-road/specialty/etc. including military type stuff. Customers all over the world: MAN (EU and South America), Freightliner, International, Mack/Peterbilt, Hino, list goes on and on, etc.

Needless to say, they've been making incredible progress with Electrification of their product lines and already are at the edge of being able to replace certain ICE applications for specific fleets.

Soooo....this is a LOT closer than general public thinks/suspects.

Is it a great thing for everyone? Umm...I would be more than happy to replace the dirty diesel emissions with more controlled emissions in the upstream energy supply chain. Whether that is nuclear, bio or renewables it all beats having to breathe particulate emissions from diesel powered trucks.

How do I know? Well, I live in Windsor, ON, Canada, right across the border from Detroit, MI, which is the busiest border crossing between US and Canada for commercial traffic. For about 10 years I lived literally 2-3 blocks away from that busy road and believe me, the non-stop dust settling everywhere really opens up your eyes to just how much shit comes out of those awesome sounding truck exhaust pipes.

Never again do I want to go back to that, nor would I wish for anyone else to live in such proximity to truck emissions. So yeah, Electric all the way here!

 

[kkritsilas]

Just for clarity's sake, its Mann, not Man.

Also keep in mind that just because you don't see particulate emissions, doesn't mean that the air is clean. In particular, the electricity to charge up electric vehicles has to come from somewhere. If it is coming from a hydroelectric dam, then no emissions (but there are also other environmental effects). If it is coming from a coal/gas/oil fired generating plant, the emissions may not be immediately local, but there are emissions. As for solar and wind, keep in mind that they are only generating power when conditions are right; many days of cloud, and solar stops generating anything. Days of no/low wind, or excessive wind, means nothing from wind generators/farms. It is hard to see how running a society or economy on an uncertain power source (solar/wind) will work.

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

Just for clarity's sake, its Mann, not Man...

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. I was responsible for the IT solutions when my former employer (Meritor) built their largest assembly plant in Brazil, right next door to MAN (who back then 2010 was Meritor's largest SA customer), so MAN is the name.

Further references are available here:

1) Wikipedia => MAN SE

2) Corporate Site => Trucks & commercial vehicles for long-haul transport & building sites | MAN Trucks

 

[kkritsilas]

My mistake. I always thought that the big European Semis were spelled MANN. I did do some travelling in Europe, and could have sworn they were spelled with the two N's.

 

[Duke5A]

It's really fun reading all the stops the thought train makes in this thread.

 

[Oldiron440]

Here's an interesting read.
California City Bans New Gas Stations—Will Others Follow?

 

[Mikes5thAve]

Here's an interesting read.
California City Bans New Gas Stations—Will Others Follow?

Bans like that aren't necessary a good thing. Usually new gas stations pop up as areas grow or expand out and not having a gas station near by isn't going to force people into electric, it'll make them drive further to fill up.