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LHutton
May 11th, 2016, 03:22 AM
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3068677/sustainable-it/nikola-motor-co-to-release-2000hp-hybrid-semitrailer-truck.html


The Nikola Motor Company emerged from silent mode today to unveil plans for the first-ever 2000 horsepower (HP) electric class 8 semi-truck, dubbed the Nikola One (named after Nikola Tesla).

The company also announced plans to release a 520HP 4x4 utility vehicle (UTV) that will boast more than 480 foot pounds of torque with a 125-mile range.

http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2016/05/nikola-truck-100660465-primary.idge.jpg

Dicknose
May 11th, 2016, 03:50 AM
Tough being a new player.
I know a guy who retro fits electric engines to existing trucks, mostly its fleet deals. Also does gas turbine engines driving a generator if they need more range.
Wrightspeed

Drachen596
May 11th, 2016, 04:54 AM
Maybe its the artist rendering but that thing looks a good 4 feet longer than a typical one.

Also no truck like this requires a 1200 mile range. Drivers can only be behind the wheel for 11 hours a day within a 14 hour work day. Plus the law requires a mandatory 30 minute break during that time anyhow.

The cost is also really high. Over double a brand new 2017 rig. Fuel being included or not.

Kchrpm
May 11th, 2016, 05:16 AM
I think the huge range is likely related to the crazy amount of time it must take to charge it. Edit: Nevermind, I see that it is just charged by the turbine and regenerative braking. The regen braking possibilities have to be huge in a towing situation.

I have a feeling a lot of people will be excited just by the fact that they will have enough power to maintain the speed limit going up hills.

Freude am Fahren
May 11th, 2016, 06:56 AM
Maybe its the artist rendering but that thing looks a good 4 feet longer than a typical one.

Also no truck like this requires a 1200 mile range. Drivers can only be behind the wheel for 11 hours a day within a 14 hour work day. Plus the law requires a mandatory 30 minute break during that time anyhow.

The cost is also really high. Over double a brand new 2017 rig. Fuel being included or not.


I think the huge range is likely related to the crazy amount of time it must take to charge it. Edit: Nevermind, I see that it is just charged by the turbine and regenerative braking. The regen braking possibilities have to be huge in a towing situation.
I'm assuming the 1200 mile range includes some generation. I wonder how much the 150 gallons worth of turbine generation will work out to in miles. But yeah, I think 1200 miles could include a stop for sleep without charging, so you can do maybe two 500 mile legs and a sleep without a need for a power source. Also, you could physically / legally do it with a co-driver, I'd think.

It does look long, but not much longer than the biggest sleepers.

As for cost, of course it's going to be more expensive, there is a price for progress. But the fuel for those first 5000 really could make it cheaper for those owners. They say a million miles. Even half that would equate to over $100,000 with the most fuel efficient trucks out there (10mpg, $2.20/gallon, 500k miles).

Finally, Nikola? Real original :lol:

Kchrpm
May 11th, 2016, 07:07 AM
They're the first name in electric semis ;)

Drachen596
May 11th, 2016, 12:06 PM
The weight is going to end up higher meaninh lower load weights.

its a straight fantasy if they think theyll sell any of these things.

500k miles is about 2 to 3 years work. Plus I don't forsee them hitting their mileage goal at all.

thesameguy
May 11th, 2016, 12:13 PM
Well, the interesting thing about an electric semi is that these trucks need gigantic motors to get things moving and go up grades, but when they're loping down the road at 60mph there is a lot of waste involved. An electric motor could address that to a high degree. I agree there is a massive weight and battery capacity challenge, but it seems like a lot of that work can be done with math in advance. Maybe not down to fine detail, but from reading especially about the Bolt it sure seems we've got a handle on EVs using 2016 technology. W weight and X acceleration and Y range needs Z battery. There isn't much mystery there. I'm not saying it'll work, but I also wouldn't inherently dismiss it. I'll also mention there could be significant tax & fee benefits for rolling something like that - commercial transport gets hammered with that stuff. And, as a footnote, there is almost certainly a market for local high-capacity transport in a lot of markets - these things needn't necessarily be long-distance haulers. Just moving farm products or last-mile goods from rail or port around could justify one.

speedpimp
May 11th, 2016, 01:14 PM
Even if it would ever come to fruition finding a place to recharge could be a problem. If there was a truck stop full(say 200) of electric semis recharging over a weekend what would the impact be on the power grid?

Kchrpm
May 11th, 2016, 03:06 PM
As I corrected myself earlier, there is no plug-in charging. The battery is charged by the turbine and regenerative braking only.

thesameguy
May 11th, 2016, 03:21 PM
Yep, which seems a good design for the obvious reasons! Academically speaking, the Nikola seems like a totally solid convergence of technologies. Maybe they're not ready for prime time, but I'm excited to see them make a go.

speedpimp
May 11th, 2016, 03:58 PM
It's definitely a step up from the diesel Hybrids that have been on the scene for the past decade or so.

21Kid
May 12th, 2016, 06:19 AM
I'm surprised there haven't been more advances in hybrid semis. All that available torque seems like the best match for this application.

Kchrpm
May 12th, 2016, 06:42 AM
Hybrid minivans have also been much slower to market than one would have expected. My only guess for minivans was that highway mileage on a hybrid is usually not as affected as much as city, and maybe that market looks more at highway mileage. Just now I've thought that maybe sticking the batteries on the floor of the car, where current minivans are putting stowaway seats, might also be an issue.

For semis I just assume the problem is cost. Making more torque than a tiny 4-cylinder is relatively easy, and car manufacturers are realizing small turbos and turbo diesels can give a more pleasant driving experience and better mileage without all the complexity and expense associated with hybrids. Semis are already using massive, torque-focused turbodiesels. Electric motors can beat them, but it's no small feat.

Freude am Fahren
May 12th, 2016, 07:16 AM
Yeah, I think with minivans, the problem might be packaging. You could lose storage/low floors that are kind what make minivans stand out from SUV's. And maybe the hybrid buyers would prefer an SUV anyway.

Also, let's not pretend the Model X in't a minivan :)

Kchrpm
May 12th, 2016, 07:31 AM
Lots of SUVs/CUVs are minivans in disguise :)

Drachen596
May 12th, 2016, 10:55 AM
With semi trucks load capacity is i would have to say rated as highly as fuel efficiency.

batteries are very heavy. I wouldnt be surprised if the Nikola weighs 6000 more than a normal truck. Add in weight restrictions and youve got a complicated formula.

These guys are going a bit over the top imo. Most trucks running now only have like 350 to 500/600 horsepower.

retsmah
May 18th, 2016, 10:10 AM
On their website they say the turbine engine is about 530hp, so that's pretty well in line with other trucks. With a series hybrid though there's probably not too much penalty to having the wheel motors be capable of putting out 2000hp for a short period of time, until the battery is depleted. A 320kwh battery would last about 18 minutes if you've got 2000hp going through to the wheels and 530hp coming from the turbine.

For those who haven't seen it, Daimler's SuperTruck (http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1097471_daimler-unveils-supertruck-12-mpg-semi-is-more-than-twice-as-fuel-efficient) gets 12.2 mpg, it was built for a department of energy program so it's not heading into production. It is a real, tested truck though. Peterbuilt got 9.9 out of their entry. The Daimler truck drivetrain isn't too radically different from a normal truck, it's got waste heat recovery on the exhaust. Will be interesting to see what this gets, they say the fuel economy is 10-15 mpg, which seems like a pretty wide range!

I think the 1200 mile range is probably because it's going to be harder to find CNG rather than diesel.

Drachen596
May 18th, 2016, 09:47 PM
CNG is getting easier to find. they've opened two CNG places within the last year or so less than a quarter mile from where i work. one is fully automated, no people actually work there.

thesameguy
June 26th, 2016, 09:49 AM
It appears at least the idea is not without merit - $2.3b in preorders.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/videos/nikola-gets-dollar23b-in-preorders-for-electric-semi-autoblog-minute/vi-AAhlu16?ocid=spartandhp

Drachen596
June 26th, 2016, 11:54 AM
the idea is amazing. Though is sort of just an adaptation of diesel/electric locomotives.

Question is can they pull it off and do it in a timely manner.

speedpimp
June 26th, 2016, 01:41 PM
We shall see come Dec. 2.

thesameguy
June 27th, 2016, 02:24 PM
I kinda can't wait to see them on the road!

speedpimp
June 27th, 2016, 03:48 PM
Can't wait to see something that isn't just a rendering.

Dicknose
July 12th, 2016, 03:41 AM
Wired story on wrwightspeed trucks
https://www.wired.com/2016/07/tesla-co-founder-making-electric-garbage-trucks-jet-tech-not/

Kchrpm
August 30th, 2016, 08:25 AM
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/08/30/nikola-motors-ditches-battery-powered-semi-looks-to-hydrogen/


The two-year old company recently claimed that it would completely drop its plans for a battery-powered semi truck in favor of one that utilizes hydrogen.

Instead of using a 320-kWh battery pack and a fuel-agnostic turbine, the company is looking towards a custom-built hydrogen-electric 800V fuel cell. Nikola Motors also claims that its Nikola One will have a range of more than 1,200 miles between fill-ups and can get nearly 20 mpg, all while emitting zero emissions.

Godson
August 30th, 2016, 09:01 AM
And so begins the downward spiral of bankruptcy.

21Kid
August 30th, 2016, 09:09 AM
:lol:




:(

speedpimp
August 31st, 2016, 04:48 PM
Pretty sure this was going to be the end game anyways, but with Tesla planning on their own battery-powered semi, it might actually come to fruition.

Drachen596
December 6th, 2016, 05:13 AM
http://newatlas.com/nikola-trucks-salt-lake-city-launch/46796/

so i guess they are gonna build them. still think it looks a lot longer than a standard diesel truck, to me it looks as long as some of the moving company semis with the huge sleepers.

speedpimp
December 6th, 2016, 03:14 PM
Only a driver's side door? Yes the wheelbase on that is horrendous and will make any maneuvering around in tight confines an interesting exercise in driver skills.

Drachen596
December 6th, 2016, 08:00 PM
Honestly i'm more interested in the Hybrid pickup that Workhorse vehicles is developing. its F150 sized and they're saying up to 80 miles pure electric and just under 400 on a tank of fuel.


Edit- there are photos of a day cab variant of the Nikola though.