Posted on 12/29/2023 1:06:51 PM PST by Red Badger
A plug 'n' play electrified trailer that reduces fuel consumption on trucks to about the level they can do without a trailer onRange Energy VIEW 2 IMAGES
Range Energy makes truck trailers, with a clever connection to any standard tractor cab, loaded with electric powertrains to turn any semi into an efficient hybrid. They also let you push entire trailers around by hand at the depot in "shopping cart mode."
Range's 53-foot (16-m) RA-01 trailer packs its own 200-kWh battery, as well as an 800-volt e-axle powertrain that can put up to 14,000 Nm (10,326 lb-ft) of torque, at up to 350 kW (469 hp), through the rear wheels. The same battery also feeds a rear liftgate and powered landing gear.
It works with any electric or diesel-powered cab and is perfectly suitable for fleet operations, without any modification to the trucks. It takes its cues from a smart kingpin, which basically senses the acceleration and braking loads that the tractor is putting on the trailer, and uses its electric motors to help out.
Thus, when the cab accelerates and pulls on the kingpin, the motors add torque instantly and proportionally. And when the cab brakes and pushes back against the kingpin, the trailer kicks in with some regenerative braking.
In fuel economy testing performed by Mesilla Valley Transportation Solutions, Range reports a fuel economy boost of 3.25 mpg (72.4 L/100km) , representing a 36.9% efficiency gain against the test truck's standard fuel consumption.
"We're essentially matching the fuel economy you'd get if you were bobtailing your tractor," Range CRO and founder Ali Javidan tells The New Warehouse podcast – bobtailing in this case meaning driving the cab without a trailer attached.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
DIESEL KNOCK!......................
Is there any NET change. Most likely and increase in total cost and energy if you really looked at it.
Claims mean nothing. I want to know what the cost per unit is going to be and maintenance costs when they ultimately arrive.
As you point out, nothing is free. However, electric motors have some advantages. They have instant torque from zero speed whereas ICE engines must spin up. Accelerating is where ICE engines lose their efficiency.
Submarines have used generators to run their electric engines because the ICE engine can be run in its most efficient mode as a generator, which then runs the actual electric motors driving the screws. I think this would work in ICE vehicles and you wouldn’t need the battery. But everything you do adds weight, complexity and cost. And, in the case of lithium batteries, fire risk. There’s obviously a point where some innovation makes economic sense. Beyond that point it only makes political sense.
But if replacing the battery costs more than the lifetime savings of the fuel...well...
Might be good in hilly or mountainous areas where the electric drive in the trailer assists the tractor in pulling up grades and the regenerative braking charges up the battery on the down grades while reducing brake wear.
It depends on the cost of this trailer. A 36% reduction in fuel costs, for semi-trailer trucks, is a significant amount of money. For every 8.8 miles of driving, .369 gallon of fuel is saved.
So, for every 1000 miles, 113 gallons of fuel saved, at $5 per gallon, $209 per thousand miles, or about 21 cents per mile savings. At an average of 45,000 miles per year, that is a savings of $4,309 per year.
We cannot know if there are overall savings unless we know the cost and operating cost of the units.
The battery must be the size of a small house.
Imagine a local fire department trying to put out an “unexpected” conflagration involving one of these contraptions? It’d last for days.
“We are beginning to deploy these with our first customers this year, and the goal here is to start scale production in 2024, probably late 2024,” says Javidan. “We’ll start seeing these things in volume on the roadways, I’d say, in early 2025.”
There’s no information as yet on the price of the trailers, but given the epic amounts of fuel a typical semi burns in a year, we imagine the business case over time will look pretty dang decent. This seems to us a great way to begin soft-decarbonizing land transport operations without needing big infrastructure changes or the retirement of existing trucks. We look forward to seeing how things develop for Range.
And I agree with your math on fuel savings. With that in mind, don't forget the math on cutting labor costs. For example, if the electric motor(s) of the trailer can keep the truck moving at top cruise speed even going uphill with loads, that means faster average speed and, therefore, less driver time per 1,000 miles. Or put another way, more miles driven per day (within the NTSB's allotment of driving hours per day per driver) means less hotel stays.
But then there's the cost to charge the trailer battery, assuming it operates like a plug-in hybrid.
Good analysis.
It doesn’t say what charges the battery; I’m assuming the diesel engine up front. What’s the power consumption in fuel on that?
What are all of the associated costs?
Purchase, Insurance, maintenance, life expectancy...?
Guys this is a pretty basic setup, and it it does boost fuel economy by 30%. The cost of maintenance can be larger and still be cost beneficial.
By the description this doesn’t sound like a complicated system at all. Battery some motors and a few sensors and some code. Batteries probably add some weight to the trailer which may reduce the overall cargo it can carry but even that is likely marginal relative to fuel gains.
Definitely sounds like one of those “why didn’t someone think of this before” inventions. If the fuel gains are anywhere close to what is claimed this will likely be standard on most trailer in a short period of time, at least for the bigger fleets.
“The battery must be the size of a small house.”
A small dog house.
“It doesn’t say what charges the battery;”
Per the article: regenerative braking
“It doesn’t say what charges the battery; I’m assuming the diesel engine up front.”
Obviously you didn’t read the article.
“It doesn’t say what charges the battery; I’m assuming the diesel engine up front.”
Article: “The trailer can be charged at either end of the journey, taking 10.5 hours on an AC connection, or as little as 45 minutes using a 350-kW DC fast charger.”
So now the driver has to makes stops every 150 miles and sit for 2hrs while the trailer recharges?
The article doesn’t report how much space the batter takes up. Each foot of battery space is a foot less paying cargo. That lost revenue has to be considered. Many customers sell product on a truckload basis calculated on number of pallets on a 53’ trailer.
You didn't answer my question as to how much the charging trailer is going to cost and the increased cost for an electric tractor trailer .........
Tractor trailers break down on a regular basis and there are companies that can either tow them or repair them on site of breakdown. On site repair ain't gonna happen with an EV semi.
And for what it's worth, empty weight of an 18-wheeler is 35,000 pounds, and the loaded weight cannot exceed 80,000 pounds.
Do you realize the size and weight of the batteries needed to run that EV semi? The batteries alone will substantially reduce the max weight a semi is allowed to carry on to a weight station.
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