I could see this working as mentioned for long haul freight like produce from California to the East coast but before entering the destination city drop your Revoy at a Revoy charging center and then off the final destination and then there would be no issues of driving with it in the city. I’m not a EV fan but this could work and definitely be worth it with a bigger heavier truck that can haul more weight.
Great video! It explains a lot! A TikTok video brought me here. I saw 4000 useless facebook comments on a video with the trailer and EV unit on the side of the road; thinking it was a self driving robot on Interstate 20 in Dallas. So I needed to look up what a Revoy is. Your video does a great explanation.
I have always thought it would be feasable to have a battery pack mounted under the trailers of all trailers. They are charged as the trailer is being loaded. The prime mover has it's own battery but only for driving from depot to depot etc (without a load). Get to the depot, collect the (loaded and charged) trailer/s and head for the destination. At the destination, drop that trailer and collec the next (loaded and charged) to take to the next destination. A further development is to add motors to the trailer so the need for a different power rating prime mover for each size of trailer is no longer required. On that, I see recreational trailers, caravans etc have off grid capability. Why not fit these trailers with an electric motor to assist the car towing it? This would be GREAT for off-road camping trailers!
These EV trucks reduce payload, requiring 2 EVs to 1 Diesel. Everyone thinks traffic is already bad, imagine doubling that. This EV craze is so dumb and not well thought out.
Coming from a truck driver I don't see how this is coast efficient. Freight prices will go up price of good in stores will go up. All driver would need a double triple endorsement and freight won't be on time. Making the truck heavy longer. What about a snow packed yard. That thing ain't wheeling it's self out to u. The driver it's self is going to lose money. They paid by the mile. U have a whole other unit to worry about breaking down now to stop in making time. Then side note to it all if it's for emissions why do use a battery that makes giant strips mines to make the battery ?
My 2016 diesel Freightliner Cascadia WITH an empty 53 ft trailer and full tank of fuel weighed 33,000 lbs. Your estimate is off by about 4,000 lbs. You'll also need to have a Doubles/Triples endorsement on your CDL. Which isnt hard, but not a ton of drivers have.
I see a few issues with this, for one if the revoys battery dies enroute now your yanking around another ~14,000 lbs so the very little extra you saved is just gonna go right out the window. 2. That would be hell in ice or snow it would basically be a great way to end up jack knifed.
Considering the weight limit of 80,000lbs including cargo. How much cargo can it carry compared to long haul Diesel? I imagine you will need at least 2 EV trucks to carry the same cargo. That is a traffic congestion nightmare.
In addition to total length concerns, what impact does the Revoy have on corning? The US has many narrow street intersections, some of which require swinging over onto opposing lanes to complete a turn. In certain tight intersections, the rear tires may have to ride up onto curbs. How does the Revoy address or exacerbate these issues and what potential solutions does it introduce?
A couple of things come to mind: 1) Pony Express - keep the rider and the mail bag; change the horse. 2) Length and Tare Weight are a problem for serious loads, but Revoy says 2/3 of trucks run low cargo weights, so that may not be a problem (for them). How do LTL fleets make a profit? 3) Electrons don't weigh very much, but the contaner to store them does. 4) "Power Dolly" was an idea in late '60s or early 70's. This is sort of an (electric) Power Dolly. The original Power Dolly had an engine and automatic transmission built into a dolly unit like the one used for double/triple combinations. It would provide additional tractive effort for the mountainous routes. Turns out that maintenance was as much or more for the dollys than for the tractors. They helped going uphill, but didn't add any braking on the downhill part.
I think they don't expect you to back your truck up with the Revoy attached. It appears they want you to unhook. and use the Revoy to back up the trailer.
Another consideration is the 250 mile range of the Revoy component. Having to set up swapping/charging stations with ample modules ready for swapping increases the infrastructure cost especially for long haul delivery companies. A cost and inconvenience that most trucking companies may not be willing to be challenged with and municipal electric supplies will not be willing to invest in. can only see this solution for short haul and/or delivery, which in itself constitutes a large volume of trucking miles. Perhaps on your next video, a study of the amount of short and long haul miles, vehicles, and where appropriate this solution could solve.
Surely the 250 mile range must be pure electric, and it can go much farther if it's only being used as an electric assist to improve MPG like an e-bike, right?
I wonder what it would be like on rainy/snowy/icy roads? I am sure that is not the norm, but a drive axle pushing behind a pivot point (tractor 5th wheel) seems like it might add some issues.
Just in front of the wheels of the trailers you can easely fit a battery and also, there can be attached a motor to the wheels of the trailer. So why creating this system? On top of that there can be added solar panels to the trailer and such.
BTW, I spoke to a trucker about the Tesla Semi and the regen down hill as well as the power uphill are both major attraction points. I suspect this has the same physics involved.
Why not design a trailer with integrated battery and motors as opposed to this add-on? I would imagine if the motors are only being used during acceleration or going up-hill then the battery could last a very long time. If the Tesla semi can go 500 on a charge then I would think this could get close to 1500. Given drivers have daily drive limits charging could occur during down time.
I’m in SF Bay Area and I’ve seen one of these. It’s one of the beverage distributors in the area. It was a day cab with this revolt thing pulling a 36ft van with 7-UP livery. Thought it was the weirdest looking thing. Then I questioned how efficient is this really? You probably can’t pull a 53’ and maybe even a 48’ is too long with this combination. And forget 29’ doubles. So how is this efficient or cost effective? This whole thing seems like throwing good money after bad.
I did a research. These Edison trucks are super regulated, not allowed in majority of highways and bridges. They indeed are highly regulated, typically these are used for very expensive and very special projects. But nice try. The common comercial trucking business will not survive if they only operated this way.
cool idea, however this in the snow "pushing" is a no no. pushing in general I would pass on. Also the cost savings of 5% or 10% after fees does not cover the time of all the swapping of battery units.
This won't be a free market thing, they will mandate some kind of hybrid drive in the near future, I'm sure. Those costs will just be passed along to the consumer, no big deal! /s
all those options are great but why not directly make an OEM/custom diesel electric semi truck that can literaly haul about 2-4x 80,000lbs? america has large roads, pparking lots.... Edison motors is doing somethiung similar and can also later be run on biodiesel.
The revolution really is the worst of both worlds. Plus double articulation is going to be problematic and safety risk. Cost is going to end up off the scale, likely more expensive than either full electric or diesel. Is as bad an idea as hybrid cars. Sounds green but ultimately the least green option
its an interesting concept, but the double articulation, time to switch and weight wont make this worth it. electric trucks are fantastic at short haul routes, but trying to make this for longer routes.. it would be easier to install rail and move freight that way. current trends show that trucks are going to adopt electric motors and use the engine as a generator with a battery buffer. that still brings out the benefits in electric motors with reduced fuel mileage and not having to shift every second.
This is beyond ridiculous. Longer wheel base with thos pos, loads have to be less because of the battery weight. This is just more greenie bullshit with no range.
Hear me out: This system, but instead of it being another sled to tow, you have the battery system as a replaceable unit behind the sleeper and either a 3rd EV drop-axle or find someway to power one of the existing axles. Battery exchanges could be lift and replace
I've been preaching this for years (not in the commercial market, but consumer): make EV's with literally a mega sized AA battery that could be slipped in and out, let the charging station slowly charge the battery while you drive off with a fresh unit. Batteries would become like a subscription service, you never "own" a battery and they're swapping out in minutes. Not practical on today's EVs but it could be if designed this way.
like many other ideas presented here, it also means either buying new rigs or heavily modifying (downtime) ones you already own. the one "advantage" this concept has is, it's apparently plug-n-play removable. you can ditch it and you're no worse off than before. I'm not saying it's THE answer, but part of what makes this a great country, is we encourage people to step outside of the box and try interesting/crazy ideas. let's see what happens with this. I could see the decision being made to deploy it on a load-by-load basis. if your total weight is low enough to add this, you do it, and "reap" the benefits
Electricity ⚡️ it’s junk for truck 🛻 Tesla 😮😮😮500 miles range 😂😂😂 They testing on flat roads, normal conditions 50-70F and max capacity 50-65kLB lol In reality 80-120k LB , 90-115F or -40F and in back roads on mountains ⛰️ + 2-3 years drops 20% batteries 🔋 capacity in real world you will get 200-300 max lol 😮😢😢 Electricity ⚡️ Cheeper then diesel lol that’s what they said about DEF or Natura gas ⛽️and now is 2-4 times more expensive 😮😢😢😢
Personally, I would love to tell you The Truth from The Holy Bible about what is going on. However, I politely encourage you to read it for yourselves. By The Way, check out Truthunedited and Stephan Darby's sermons to get a deeper understanding for The Life. May YAH bless you, your families, and HALLELUYAH!
@@motofunk1 Look at a truck stop, count how many trucks are parked there, add up how much power it would take to charge those trucks if they were electric, realize that it's equivalent to the amount of power produced by a small power plant.
@@PistonAvatarGuy Show proof, don't tell proof. I understand the basic argument you are making, it's an old one. Not sure if you have looked into it deeply or not, so.... Go look at JB Straubels presentations on Distributed Grids from around 2010 if I remember correctly. If you have done the deep dive like I have, make your case with some data, calculations and references.
@@motofunk1 "...make your case with some data, calculations and references." I did this often in the past, I don't care that much anymore, just know that I'm speaking as someone who did the math. JB Straubel works for Tesla and the Semi is a joke that should have destroyed all of their credibility. The whole idea of using solar panels to charge trucks, which will be charging mainly at night, is completely impractical. Simply the nature of the planet that we live on destroys the practicality of solar energy and electric vehicle usage in the winter months in much of the world.
