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 ...
Did you actually even read the article?
The cab remains standard. Should the electric drive in the trailer faile it doesn’t disable the vehicle the vehicle just looses the benefit of thr reduced fuel need when towing that trailer until it’s fixed.
I like the shopping cart mode. Just think of all the aluminum cans I can wheel down to the recycling center.
Lithium can and will burn.
Almost certainly regenerative braking via the trailer wheels with electric motors.
Could you explain your definition of a "true cost/benefit analysis"?
Yes - apologies for not being clear.
When analyzing the financial impact of changes in energy use (such as replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs), it is common to perform a cost/benefit analysis from several different perspectives. Typical perspectives are the financial impact on the participant (e.g. the home owner), the utility (having to deliver less electricity), and “society” in general (e.g. impact on electric rates and emissions).
Each of these perspectives is impacted differently from the action to use less energy.
If you add the trailer and its electrical system to the cab, and you want to know its full impact on energy usage, you need to consider the energy cost of manufacturing the trailer as well as energy savings reaped during its operation (if any).
At first blush, that trailer looks like a good idea for the user, but, as you said, you need to know the operational cost vs fuel savings, and translate it all into dollars to know if it is cost effective or not.
This document is a bit long in the tooth but illustrates some of the concepts:
so will anything if the temp is high enough.
Gasoline seems to burn pretty good. Didn’t stop us from filling up tanks with it.
“Interesting that the battery is only 200 A-hr”
200-kWh
Ah, that makes a lot more sense. Thanks for correcting me.
It’s not clear what the V of the battery pack is from the description. May or may not be 800 like the working voltage. So not enough info to calculate amp hours.
Total trailer weight vs. a conventional trailer? Do you lose 30% of cargo capacity? Net wash?
The light metal lithium, once ignited, burns in an out-of-control manner, at insanely high temperatures.
The normal means fire companies use to put out domestic fires, dousing with large quantities of water, is commonly ineffective with light metal fires such as lithium. This is because light metal fires burn so hot that they can yank the oxygen they need (to continue burning) straight out of the H2O water molecule.
And that’s the true meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown.
https://www.bmwblog.com/2022/08/23/bmw-eboost-and-mild-hybrids/
Same principle has been applied to cars, just a matter of degree to how much battery is useful. Probably adds 3-6% improvement in fuel efficiency for city drving.
They’re overweight when loaded similarly.
Lithium ignites at 180 degrees C.
Steel at 704 degrees C.
Gasoline burns at 1,950 C
If you believe your bunk about burning oxygen from water, then it would happen when a gas car burns, as gasoline burns at 1,950 C and Steel burns at 704 C.
So then what happens to water than since the Temp is SOOO much higher?
“burns in an out of control manner” means you don’t know high school chemistry.
That’s not science, it’s emotion.
Seek help.
Get educated. I have a masters in SCIENCE.
gaslight
....Jersey.....enough said.
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