Data point: If Subaru put a Volt-ish drivetrain in the Outback, there would be one in my driveway.
Brett (waiting) On Sep 15, 2014 7:48 AM, "Ben Goren via EV" <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sep 14, 2014, at 11:29 PM, EVDL Administrator via EV <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > As I see it, we really have only two ways to go. Either we look for > ways to > > make EVs that match those massive ICEVs in utility, or we concentrate on > > making great EVs that do other things really, really well. > > Actually, there's a third way, though I realize that it's one that's not > so popular with the readership here. > > Plug-in hybrids. > > If a "puffy" SUV or truck were outfitted with something analogous to the > Volt's drivetrain but appropriately "up-sized," even with the same size > battery pack, at worst it'd still have a ~20 mile all-electric range. As a > marketing bonus, that electric motor will have lots of low-end torque, and > that metric is the one the marketing departments love to use for these > vehicles. For many, that would make it a pure BEV for 80% of trips. Even > those putting an hundred miles a day on the vehicle would still be driving > 20% of their miles electrically...and that's the equivalent of turning one > out of five "puffy" vehicles purely electric. > > I think most of us here realize what it would mean for one out of five > "puffy" vehicles to be pure electric, and most would jump for joy at the > possibility. So why not a vehicle that's not pure electric but 20% > electric? And _especially_ why not when, again, on average, it'll really be > 50% - 80%+ electric? > > I think it's pretty clear that the only real technological challenge > facing electric vehicles is the battery. Motors aren't a problem; today's > electric motors absolutely smoke their fossil fuel counterparts. And the > way to improve batteries is to sell more of them. And the way to sell more > of them is to put them in more cars, even if those cars also have a fossil > fuel tank. > > A transition from an ICE-only vehicle to a 20-mile PHEV to a 40-mile PHEV > to an 80-mile PHEV to a 150-mile PHEV to a 300-mile BEV is much easier for > the industry to manage and practically a natural from a consumer and > marketing perspective. That 20-mile PHEV is a really big "value-add" for > the consumer: save big on fuel and get a performance upgrade. What's not to > love? The next generation has double the range, enough for most people to > only hit the gas pumps every few months. (As a practical matter, this would > be more than enough to solve all our vehicular fossil fuel problems.) The > 80-mile generation after that is effectively a BEV with an emergency > reserve tank of a few hundred miles. The 150-mile PHEV really is a pure BEV > save you can use it to tow the boat to the lake on the other side of the > state rather than having to rent something for the trip. And the 300-mile > BEV, assuming it can get to 80% charge in 15 - 20 minutes and an adequate > charging network, is the final na > il in the ICE coffin. > > ...but, of course, we're still at the front end of that transition, with > 20- to 40-mile PHEVs being the limit of practicality. But that's still an > absolutely amazingly wonderful improvement over the ICE, and worthy of > celebration and definitely something to encourage! > > Or, "TL/DR": Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the fantastic. > > Cheers, > > b& > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: signature.asc > Type: application/pgp-signature > Size: 801 bytes > Desc: Message signed with OpenPGP using GPGMail > URL: < > http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20140915/2351c6e1/attachment.pgp > > > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA ( > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20140916/54314d5f/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
