Electric conversion on a 2nd gen Toyota pickup

This pleases me.

http://www.offroadxtreme.com/news/no-cam-no-heads-and-no-carb-rich-rudmans-all-electric-4x4-toyota/

The 2 hour battery range isn't pleasing, but a) that's a half of a battery from a Nissan Leaf for hells sake, and b) he kept the drivetrain from the transmission on back, that's not a very efficient conversion. With a properly sized battery pack and at least a motor for each diff, if not direct drive motors on each wheel, you'd get a massive improvement in range.

I agree with you on the stock drive train not being efficient. It'd be killer to have direct drive on each wheel.

Now you guys are talking about the kind of stuff plaguing me almost every day. The new electric vehicles, ranging from cars all the way up... it's a new world. I saw a garbage truck concept that Mack had last year. Separate wheel motors on all four sets of duallies, with a small turbo 4 cylinder engine to help create the juice if needed. And that concept isn't that far away. Ford is talking about having an F150 with a plug for a contractor to use for his circular saw in just another few years.
Magnetic charging plates in the street to charge up vehicles as they pass over them (USU is working on this right now, and has tested it on electric buses either up at the U of U, or Park City)
Battery technology... charging...

And don't even get started on the connected vehicle technology, and the self-driving technology. Two different directions that can and probably will intersect at some point.

Wow...

Yeah, the electric F150 isn't far away at all.  I'm interested to see exactly how that one plays out.

But the self-driving, and smart/connected stuff, that all gets way too complex. I'm excited for electric to make vehicles simple again, and they're going to ruin it with that shit.

I can get down with the electric vehicles, but the self-driving stuff I don't have any interest in. I'm not a fan of how connected everything can be. Heard a commercial for a wifi connected bed that monitors your sleep...... no thanks.

My neighbor is going nuts wiring up his house, he's got smart alarm and smart thermostat and smart lights and a smart fridge and who knows what else. Of course it's all commercial stuff, so it's all phoning home to the mothership, and all I can think it what a wealth of marketing data he's providing free of charge.

And what a way to let anybody who hacks any of those companies have free keys to your house.

The connected thing is real interesting. And actually, UTA and UDOT have an experiment right now with the bus route on Redwood. I heard about it last fall, and there was a story on the news the other day. The buses, if they're running behind, are going to talk to the traffic lights to ask for a few seconds longer green light to catch up.

In another experiment, UDOT was involved with three 18-wheelers going on I-80 out to Wendover. The three trucks were 'connected' so that if anything happened with the front one, the others would immediately respond. They then had them convoy with holy-crap-no-space between them, so close they had to get an allowance to break the law. Front truck realized about 7-8% fuel economy increase, and the other two were in the upper teens.

Bennamin wrote:The connected thing is real interesting. And actually, UTA and UDOT have an experiment right now with the bus route on Redwood. I heard about it last fall, and there was a story on the news the other day. The buses, if they're running behind, are going to talk to the traffic lights to ask for a few seconds longer green light to catch up.

They were supposed to have something similar with the express buses on 3500s, where they always got green lights. But for whatever reason they don't do it. All the money for the special bus lane, and they end up waiting at traffic lights like everybody else.

That's cool about the semi trucks. A ten percent increase to fuel economy is no joke for those guys.

It'd be crazy to see a couple semis cruising down the freeway with little space between them.