Let's see what Tesla brings us in the form of a semi- tractor.
If it's as good as Tesla's other products CA should use VW mitigation funds for subsidizing battery powered 18-wheelers and get the ball rolling.
September 28!
contact@wrightspeed.com
WRIGHTSPEED RANGE-EXTENDED ELECTRIC POWERTRAINS
WORK JUST AS HARD USING HALF THE FUEL.
Useful systems as part of the transition.
PHEV long haul trucks wouldn't save much fuel. Or you'd have to stop very often and charge up the little battery pack.
It looked like PHEV cars would be a good idea, at least until batteries dropped low enough in price. The Volt seems to be a very good car and if PHEVs like that were all we had we could probably cut personal fuel use by 85%.
But the cost of battery cells has come down. Extremely fast. Not that many years back EV batteries were around $1,000/kWh and we know that they are at lease $145/kWh now if not lower. And will likely be around $100/kWh when the Gigafactory is running efficiently.
Here's a graphic that shows at what battery and gas prices PHEVs are a good idea.
Semi-expensive gas and fairly expensive batteries. Keep the battery pack small to save battery money, use gas only for those few times one drives beyond battery range. Great idea if the economics are lined up. But they are no longer.
We're clearly under $300/kWh for battery packs. And we probably won't see gasoline above $3.50/gallon again. (Barring some major disturbance such as major war.)
Wrightspeed PHEpickups may sell to some extent. At least until we see some fully battery powered pickups on the market. Long term plug in hybrids can't compete. Batteries will soon be at a price point where nothing else will be competitive. (There might be some small niche cases where we would need an internal combustion engine.)