Hats off to Danfoss for developing all these components and making them available. Companies like Edison are needed to engineer how to use the components for a particular application. Danfoss is a well known and respected brand in the industrial control world. Industrial components are designed to last as long as possible; no planned obsolescence or replacement. Industrial customers will pay whatever it costs to make the components reliable due to cost of downtime.
This is great I'm looking forward to the end result. This would be great for so many trucks with PTO. In a bucket truck we're always turning it on and off to hear each other.
I'm glad you talked about how dangerous electricity is and that you need to take precautions to eliminate those dangers before any kind of work or maintenance.
Since I was 12 years old I’ve been saying that a diesel electric car or truck would be great idea I love what you guys are doing I’ll definitely be a customer in the future
Rich, I think that this is a great idea. I work at a major skills college in Cambridge and we all think that a hybrid is the necessary component in EV Watching this closely. Hit me up for a tour of the campus if you're ever in Cambridge
Greetings from the south Okanagan, thanks to you both for the update. In talking with people in the industry, I can see a huge market for hybrid service trucks where they currently have a diesel for the main power, a gas motor for the welder, another gas for the compressor and then a hydraulic system run off of the main diesel. Running the auxiliary welder, compressor and hydraulic from electric makes so much more sense and would result in less fuel consumption. For bombing around in the BC backcountry, something more off road capable than our Rav4 hybrid would be flat out amazing. That Rav4 by the way gets slightly better fuel economy than our old '90 Jetta turbo diesel, but at the same time will pass our '03 Cummins truck going up mountain passes with ease. Looking forward to seeing where you all are taking this.
I thought this concept was awesome the second I saw it. I often thought, why don't car companies make electric cars work like a diesel electric train vs fully grid dependant electric. And then I saw the first videos about your project. As a long time heavy duty diesel truck tech, I am really impressed with your thoughts on servicing the truck after it is built. You may have posted it but I haven't seen all your videos yet, I am interested in your fuel economy compared to a traditional truck. All around I really like what you guys are doing!!
Even us i3 REx owners are watching carefully. After 115k miles with zero issues, virtually unused brakes (due to regen) cheap operating costs and a simple onboard generator, it feels like scaling this up to F350 size is a no- brainer.
Im a big EV guy... Im also a big diesel guy. (farm kid) Ive wanted to take a VW 4cyl diesel and slap it in a vehicle as a charger only for YEARS. Finally someone with some actual talent is doing it. After giving this a lot of thought. I believe that any vehicle that is doing "WORK" will be ICE/E (ICE over E) unless there is a massive change in battery tech that doubles the range at LEAST. There still might be some place for Tesla Semi, but the majority of systems would benefit from the efficiency....even over the road trucks. I see the Ramcharger doing great, the new Scout being an awesome alternative to the Rivian and I fully expect the next version of the Powerboost F150 to be ICE/E. Passenger vehicles will likely go all EV, but anything that has to tow or was intended to pull weight.... will be true hybrid. LOVE the project...cant wait until you start recruiting installers because Ill be interested!
"any vehicle that is doing WORK will be ICE unless there is a massive change in battery tech" is just absurd nonsense. There is a lot of commercial applications where BEVs have more than enough energy capacity to get the job done. Trash Trucks, Delivery Vans, Mining vehicle, City Bus, local municipal service trucks mostly things that are never far from home base. This is where real work commercial vehicle will shine as BEVs. There is no need for hybrids in those cases. Now anything that has to travel a long distance away or into the middle of nowhere that is where Series Hybrids is the correct tool for the job. You have to be more specific with what the vehicle is being used for.
If this pickup had a 200-400 amp 240 outlet that would do so much for me. I have several off grid structures that I'd love to power. Barns and garages. We'd love a lakeside cottage or ocean. Some of the more remote ones cost a fortune for utility poles. This and starlink would change that. Additionally our power grid has become much less reliable here in Nova Scotia. I'd love to plug in and use this as a backup. Add in the right to repair and this is my lifetime truck. Subtract the cost of a backup generator and thousands in utility poles I don't have to install and it starts to make a lot of sense. All electric commute to work is a nice bonus. I am very excited for this. I just need the perfect donor. I'd like something newer. Hopefully I get lucky.... I'm not interested in the new Ram. Right to repair and Edison standing behind vehicles is what makes this truck for me
Its very cool that you and Edison are working together to bring this technology to the masses. OK, is there a DC drive axle to eliminate all the AC to DC and then back to AC in the circuitry?
Been following your progress for a while now and I have to say you guys are doing an amazing job! When you we’re talking about lock out tag out in this video, have you guys considered designing your battery shut off like some of the hybrid car systems where as the battery kill switch is actually a key, and to get to the high voltage system you need that key. For safety you can’t access the high voltage systems without the shut off key. It’s a great guarantee to prevent accidental electrocution.
Really stoked that Rich is involved with Edison and the pick-up conversions. Just made my investment in Edison this week and looking forward to when I'll be able to purchase a pick-up conversion kit for my 03 3500. I'm not a believer in the whole 'world is going to end' because of 'climate change', since the climate has been changing for billions of years. I just simply see the Common Sense that this innovation/system is when it doesn't require billions of overpriced government infrastructure investments in charging stations across the nation. Government offices/employees are NOT efficient and are not innovators imo. Full Electric makes sense for short trips/distances, but for longer trips and heavy loads...the Diesel/Electric approach is rock solid IMO.
I bet for just a pickup truck, everything can be streamlined down to just fit in a bed mounted toolbox. I just hope Deboss labels the fuses, unlike Ford 😂.
I don't see the advantage, I've run and worked on WABCO diesel electric, it's dangerous, it's continually got a problem. you now have two systems to maintain and repair. plus you have batteries which is a whole other mess. electric just seems to be the IN vouge thing today, it's all been done and cast to the garbage pile of shitty ideas lol
Im glad your doing different stuff. Its all great content. After this big truck and small truck stuff. I hope you turn your eyes on farmers. Repowering some of these large tractors and combines.
Differently put the whole "lock out, tack out" stuff in the truck as a standard accessory, that way you can make it easy for the backyard mechanic to be safe.
To me if you're already upgrading the new trucks I'd upgrade topsy as well. Put the new axles in and batteries and reprogram the system to work properly. It'll take alot of time and work but at least you are prototyping with the same equipment so if you find an error it can be fixed easily. Plus you can probably find a customer with a day cab single drive delivery trucks to put the axles under. And retro fit it faster than a ground up build.🤷♂️
can Edison motors make a hybrid airport snowblower (near 1000hp at the blower head alone with separate drive power) in a way to ensure reliability? another possibility would be a RWY sweeper unit that also uses two separate motors. this would be for winter use...can this be done at least as reliably (or more) as with diesel power alone? example of diesel blower would be the snow wolf, the sweeper combo would be the mauler with a wausau sweeper.
Seems like the logical step is to swap in the new axels and continue testing. when LMFAO (LMO) batteries are available, swap them in and keep the testing going. The more issues you find and fix now, the fewer you will be apologizing to customers for.
It’s crazy this technology has been around since the 90s. General Electric owns the patents for haul truck electric drive system and they are gate keeping it for mining operations it could very easily be implemented into trucks use one wheel motor and a smaller alternator. The reason they don’t give it out is because they make so much money selling parts at a huge price to mining companies if they made it available to the public the cost of parts would go down
Funny story about that they tried to do that but the Canadian Government wanted them to pay 200% mark up on the Chinese solar panels that they needed, (that where very slim and nobody in Canada makes them), because they wanted to help the Canadian solar industry... that is in the hand of a Chinese Company
I wanna find a 30-35’ old bus/trolley to convert to an R/V to travel the country and would be really interested in using that semi setup under it instead. Would have solar and generator for habitat as well.
I medically retired from the military at 32 I’m 45 now so I have the free time to build I just gotta save the money to buy the bus and have a place to build it.
Back in ‘09-‘10, James May if Top Gear made an EV using a small diesel engine as the onboard generator. It ended up being a comical outcome but it actually worked. An ICE generator onboard for an EV is a great idea! Isn’t RAM building one?
Well, similar to a freight train. Those generally don't have batteries for drive power. They also have a resistance grid I think for 'dynamic braking' since there are no batteries to sink the power during otherwise regenerative braking. I was wondering what the risk is if the battery gets full on the way down a mountain with the truck, does the CAT engine still have a jake brake, and do you have the programming set up to allow it to work? Because past that point with a heavy load, you're otherwise going to lose your ability to sustain braking. Obviously the disc brakes will help, I thought most semis used drum brakes in the back still today, obviously disc will work better with heat soak, but I can't imagine it solves that problem entirely.
Have you guys at Edison thought about making a hybrid generator it would have the capacity to store enough energy for one or two days of use if you are using your air conditioner or refrigerator or freezers and longer use if you are just using it for lights and fans and TVs
will be available board view and schematics for all used PCB? will be board's repairs easy (for electronic technician) or partners/suppliers don't allow for that?
patents only slow down technology. It wont stop company's. Its actually helps competition, because it explains how things work and what they are. Yall would be better leaving the competition in the dark. Its easier to copy a patent then to reverse engineer something to copy it.. It would be better to go without patents and push forward, cause it would take the competition a long time to catch up without them. A Airplane Co, did not patent on purpose so when they made upgrades, No one else knew, so the competition could not figure out the differences in engines and turbine blades.
Im a big skeptic, I just have a really hard time seeing how the average joe is going to have this work done to his truck, an engine swap is hard enough.......
part of me doesn’t think it’s for the average joe it’s for companies with companies service trucks you’ll see those pick up kits in ram 5500 service trucks and ford f450s running around i just don’t see the average joe being able to afford or justify the work wish em the best tho
I agree. They would have to have a finance option for 90% of customers. Even then I think this would only work for fleet vehicles in the beginning. Only because most people don't have a 2nd vehicle to drive while they wait on the conversion to be completed. It will be a great start for companies though.
My only question is can you get it wired in so my carborated gas welder on the back can fire automatically to charge/run. As a welder it would work perfectly to put the battery package and electric package all under the hood. Shave some weight increase the actual capacity of my vehicle and still keep all my tools exactly the way i like.
I have a 2 ton 1974 ford LN6000 with a 1140 cat diesel, 6 speed 2 speed rear end. Air brakes. Would like to convert it to hybrid, I have a Mulitquip 25dca generator @440 volt. Will this work for my power source? You guys are having a ball doing this!
For the inverters why don’t you use a rectifier instead. the ac electric hall trucks do this it goes from the alternator to the inverter then to the dc bus the the computers command IGBT’s through fiber optic to turn the dc back into ac to power the wheel motors Then for breaking they use chopper modules and grid resistors so the wheel motors turn into the generators power goes from the wheels. Through the chopper Moduel and then to the grid resistors also powering the blower motors to cool the grids. The chopper modules are basically just IGBT switch’s to turn the grids on and off for breaking there are two 4 of them for the different stages of breaking. This could replace Jake brakes
Seems strange going to LMO rather than LFP, the lifespan, cycle life, specific power and safety is better with LFP. Interested in the reasons behind that.
@@Ridendrty not necessarily. The generator is just a diesel generator. Not a lot to go wrong with the electronics and it should be able to run self diagnostics on most of that.
@@orange3203 thats good, i was reacting to the potential of death occurring as a result of unsafe maint. Seems to me extra effort is warranted to make sure people understand exactly how to do maint procs safely and are not harmed or killed in the process.
I would like to know, will there be a way to configure the pickup kit to not have the batteries? I would love to have one of the old diesels, like my lb7 Duramax or 7.3 powerstroke, running a generator that directly powers an electric axle, in place of a traditional transmission. I know that's not as efficient but it's an idea I've always had and would love to be able to configure my truck this way with the Edison kit.
An AC battery would inherently drain itself even when idle due to the internal inverter constantly converting DC to AC. For a 250 kWh, 800V theoretical AC battery, assuming a 95% efficient inverter consuming 75 watts just to maintain AC, it would take about 125 days to go from 100% to 10% charge with no external usage. This continuous energy loss makes it impractical compared to traditional DC batteries paired with external inverters.
I think they were making a joke. You are describing a DC battery with an internal AC converter to output AC. They were saying a straight ght up AC battery, why hasn't it been invented yet. Hence the jokes about a physicist.
a few questions on the pickup conversion will a 4 wheel drive package be able to go on too a 2 wheel drive and if the truck i chose dosent have ac and heating is that something that yall could install and how would that work if its ppossible
DC aka brushed motors are inefficient not maintenance free, compared to brushless motors which are mostly AC 3phase and sealed units only thing that might break is the bearings, unlike brushed motors where you would have brushes wearing out carbon dust and comutator wear which all adds to the maintenance bill
The only way I see the conversation kits becoming popular is if governments subsidise them for the standard guy, guessing most standard truck conversions will only be sold enthusiasts. As for the production heavy haulage truck hopefully they will be in full production during the government subsidies/tax breaks for the haulage companies and solo operators. And that is with any luck that governments subsidise hybrid and not just full electric
@@Neojhunit looks like all the electrical hardware is off the shelf stuff from China. it's just knowing what to ask for and getting it all connected up and working. Props to all involved, I can't wait to see it in a consumer pickup. My only real concern is dealing with the voltage.
Brushless motors mostly come in 3phase AC and a lot more efficient with basically no maintenance plus you couldn't use a brushed motor (which is DC) for any of this. Your washing machine depending on the age uses an AC motor but it converts the house AC to DC and then back to AC
I just don’t see a big market for this. Investing tens of thousands of dollars on an old valueless truck. Insurance companies will still say your truck is only worth $3k even if you put $20k in modifications
what would happen in the event of an accident on slick winter roads in Canada the truck veered off the road into water ? stranger things have happend would the driver be in danger of electrocution ?
There no such thing as "storing" AC power. You can only have AC power when its flowing from source to sink so it only exists "in the moment". What about Full DC trucks?
In the end its all about fuell efficiency. Especially on a car or pick up. No way its more efficient if the diesel would be ridden with a manual transmission! No way. Torque and all thats right, but fuel? No way.
As amazing as this may seem, I wonder about the poor fool working on one roadside, in the dark, in the weather, etc.; ‘human barbecue inevitable. Lawyers start lining up at the trough😅
Personally I think the F Tesla merch on the Edison website is distasteful especially for youngsters looking to get involved in these projects also I would like to see Edison mudflaps for sale
Still don't understand why they don't use just 1 electric motor that goes in place of trans and bolts to the transfer case of the truck. Be way more simple and most your drive train, brakes, etc would use factory replacement parts. This axle swap is a miss for pick up conversions.
That stuff is readily available right now and has been for several years. Check out any EV conversion website. This is an improvement over that conversion.
You would be severely limited by the amount of torque the transfer case could handle before just shattering the case just like their 1st semi eating u-joints because they couldn’t handle the torque
Efficiency is everything in EVs, and less drivetrain means less parasitic drivetrain loss. You'd be surprised how much horsepower is wasted just by the ring and pinion turning the rotation 90° in a standard diff.
How much money you all think it will cost realistically to convert to a diesel hybrid 🤔80k, 100k and if I had the money to do the conversion why the hell would I build a hybrid? 😂
I asked my daughter what she named her camry. She said cars don't get names dad. He doest have a name. So I said wait it doesnt have a name but it has a gender? its a "He" car, and not a Female car? She said yeah. So I said it's a Mr Car and not a Mrs car. She said yeah So now it's name is "Meeeester Car"
