Diesel pickups are for chumps

[Wulf202]

I actually have a 3kw diesel multiphase sitting around

Also my 5th wheel has a 5500 gas gen with 30gallon tank on board...

[Irving]

I'm surprised no one has brought up the fear of something going wrong with wiring or programming and the driver being put into a situation where the trailer is powering when it shouldn't be. That's already a concern with drive by wire tech though, as we saw with the out of control Prius incidents.

[BlasterBob]

The design works well with locomotives, they have low friction steel wheels and are frequently pulling over 10,000 Tons... and you need weight for traction on the locomotive.

Those steel wheels of railroad equipment on steel rails are some of the most efficient modes of hauling freight etc. The amount of actual contact between the rails with those steel wheels is around one inch per rail car. Difficult to believe this. Hence, efficient low resistance/drag.
Yeah, this is going way off subject of diesels in road vehicles. Sorry!

[Irving]

Looks like someone already had the idea for an electric trailer assist and made an attempt.

https://www.truckinginfo.com/156759/...-quick-payback

Website: https://www.hyliion.com/how-it-works/

[ben4372]

I thought Coke was doing a hybrid trailer combo a few years ago. Not much info on the details, but I'm pretty sure the trailer has extra batteries. It was mostly for local routes.

[TRnCO]

I can see that the way of the world is to go "green" and "electric" and "high tech", BUT I've owned my 01 F250 with 7.3 since back in 04. She doesn't have 200,000 miles yet and barring a major wreck that totals her, I plan to never need to buy another big truck. I wonder if any of the new electrics will be on the road after 20, 30, years? If they are will it be after motor replacements, or electronic upgrades, battery replacements at what cost?

[Justin]

The Atlis looks like a neat concept, but I don't see them as competing with Tesla any time soon on account of the fact that Tesla has stood up the manufacturing infrastructure to make vehicles at scale.

Tesla is already ahead of the curve on pretty much everything. Largest battery capacity/range, good looking, nationwide super charging network enabling long-range travel, literally the biggest battery factory in the world, hell, the Model 3 has already cracked the top 10 for sales among sedans.

On top of that, Tesla has already announced plans for a pickup truck to hit the market after the release of the Model Y, so Atlis has their work cut out for them.

At this point, Bollinger is closer to production, but even they will be a boutique manufacturer that probably only builds a couple thousand vehicles a year. (BTW, for the guy with the Bollinger reservation, if you get one, can I have a ride? :-) )

[Justin]

I can see that the way of the world is to go "green" and "electric" and "high tech", BUT I've owned my 01 F250 with 7.3 since back in 04. She doesn't have 200,000 miles yet and barring a major wreck that totals her, I plan to never need to buy another big truck. I wonder if any of the new electrics will be on the road after 20, 30, years? If they are will it be after motor replacements, or electronic upgrades, battery replacements at what cost?

Electric vehicles are much more mechanically simple than traditional ICE-powered ones. The motors should last longer, and there's data now available on high-milage first gen Tesla Model S's that shows battery degradation isn't a huge deal, something like less than 10% in 100,000+ miles. My expectation would be that if you hang on to an EV for long enough, you might eventually replace the battery packs just due to the fact that incremental battery improvements will presumably yield batteries that give you longer range, better temperature tolerance, etc.

[Aloha_Shooter]

The Porsche Tayman is going to rock. Tesla broke the ice and makes some good vehicles but I think they're in for a world of hurt as real car companies get in the mix.

[Jer]

The Porsche Tayman is going to rock. Tesla broke the ice and makes some good vehicles but I think they're in for a world of hurt as real car companies get in the mix.

WARNING: word wall ahead.....

It's going to rock based on what? Not trying to be a dick but what about that car excites you in 2018? About the only thing they mention that will be different than other EVs is battery cooling for prolonged power delivery and increasing the top speed. So? When I was 20 I thought top speed was everything and now that I'm... not 20.. I realize that the 150mph top speed of current EVs is more than enough. It may be more track worthy as well which I expect but that's a much more niche market to tap and won't hurt Tesla much who has an eye squarely on the largest market segments. If what you're after is pure performance numbers look no further than the new Tesla Roadster that will be coming out around the same time. At this point I don't think Tesla is too worried about "real car companies" anymore now that they've established themselves.

The reason I say this is that we now have a 4dr sedan that's been out for 5 years that does 0-60 in about two-and-a-half seconds and never requires you needing to visit a gas station or get an oil change. On top of that the level of features and whiz-bang things the vehicle does are limitless with more coming online weekly with OTA updates. The point I'm making is that now, all these years later, the "real car companies" want to get onboard only to try to do damage control at this point. They see the undeniable market share shift and they can no longer ignore the "Indy car marker with bright ideas that will never succeed" and continue business as usual relying on their brand and reputation. We finally have a challenger to the throne and it, even if you don't give a hobo's crap about the environmental aspects, is building a car with specs that are decimating it's competition in almost every category. They're also establishing themselves as a long-term reputable entity and once that happens the "real car companies" will have nothing to lean on to make sales.

If they had actually attempted to revolutionize the way we think of cars anytime over the last several decades maybe Tesla wouldn't even exist. But now they do through necessity. Not only does Tesla exist but it represents something that a LOT of consumers are looking for in today's market: change. It's a direct shot to the status quo and I for one am thankful someone has finally come along to challenge the "too big to fail" entities who have done just enough innovation to stay neck and neck with their competition who is also trying to do just enough to get by w/o putting forth too much effort. They capitalize on old ideas and existing platforms as much as possible because it betters the bottom line. It's a collective race to the bottom with everyone doing just enough to not get fired... how long could you keep your job with that mentality?

If you've driven one of these Tesla vehicles you immediately realize how much of a departure they are from what have come to expect from basic transportation as they are anything but, even in their most basic of configurations. I'm sure this will sound corny to some but as someone who doesn't just see his vehicles as a point A to point B affair these vehicles are next to life changing. It really is that much different than even the nicest of vehicles you can buy today. They offer so many features that today's car's aren't even capable of and will cause them to be many years behind the curve of innovation. Personally, I'd rather support the innovation that forced the hand of all of those who fought innovation tooth and nail. To me, Tesla embodies the American spirit in all of it's greatest ways and I'm still unsure why so many refuse to accept what accomplishments they've achieved over the few short years they've been in business... each step of the way being told they can't do any of them. This has a lot to do with Tesla's meteoric rise in popularity because it's not just another car maker but a new way of thinking of the segment entirely. There's a LOT more to Tesla than just making cars and we as consumers will benefit greatly from it.

After having a love affair with cars/trucks/bikes nearly my whole life -from Lambo posters on my wall and cleaning the neighbors Chevelle SS on the weekends for $5 as a kid to buying my first car and obsessing over it 24/7 and learning every nut and bolt of that vehicle and finally to modifying everything I've owned to make it exactly what I wanted- I can say that I will most likely never buy a traditional ICE vehicle again. If I do, it will be a toy like another Supra or a GTR or something I break out on special occasions and spend more time wrenching on and drooling over than actually driving. More of a hobby and a stroll down memory lane and we all know that those sorts of purchases don't need to make sense. We work hard and invest wisely for decades so that we can make one of them every now and then. Otherwise, I'm done buying ICE vehicles. Our current sedan is one I've loved since I bought it brand new and we now have over 100k trouble-free miles on. Hopefully we can wring another 100k or so out of it because the next vehicle we buy will be a Model S. I don't plan to finance and I absolutely HATE losing money on cars so I will pay cash for something used in the $35-$40k range that has already taken the largest depreciation hit and has the options we're looking for.

The hope is that sometime after that Tesla will have a pick-up that lives up to the specs the Model S and 3 have laid down before it and I will then replace my truck (which I also love) using the same metrics. For me, I can't see "investing" in what just feels like yesterday's technology already. I think of all of the moving parts and things that can fail on our car and truck and I have no idea how these things stay moving down the road when I think about it and it doesn't make me comfortable. From a vehicle that has thousands of moving parts (ICE) to one that has hundreds or moving parts (EV) the difference is undeniable. I've had electric mowers, weed eaters and snow blowers for well over a decade now so I've seen first hand not only how the technology has grown but what it's capable of. I think we're on the cusp of seeing a massive depreciation of older ICE vehicles other than special & unique collector vehicles that is going to signal the permanent shift to the ongoing EV trend.

Once higher mile versions of these cars can be had for $20k or less.... then what? Once the Model 3 can be had brand new for $35k less any tax incentives (at this exact moment they total $12,500 in the state of Colorado effectively making the vehicle $22,500 brand new if you could order the Model 3 as a true base model) and those start popping up used for half of that a few years later... what's the incentive to buy gasoline powered vehicles other than niche requirements for some that are becoming less and less with each new innovation in the EV segment?

All of that w/o even a passing mention of the other ways (Power grid batteries, solar, SpaceX, etc.) that Tesla is investing in to drive innovation that we will all benefit from in one way or another.

tldr; Tesla broke the ice which is forcing others to innovate and compete. As a result we as the consumer win no matter what the outcome.