EV Conversion of 70 Series (1 Viewer)

[rick_d]

I am all for commuter cars being EV when the price for operation is reasonable for the populous. I cannot afford a $54,000 Tesla let alone one more expensive than that. Stop and go local traffic can be cured with higher efficiency vehicles quickly. The Europeans had 40+mph diesels 20 years ago which fit that need but the US market ignored them. Diesels properly tuned out gun all gas engines in pure longevity and miles per gallon.

Land Cruisers used by underground mining industry is not what we use our cruisers for. EV conversions should not be a path to be explored.

Land Cruisers are used for play for most here. Trailer their built 40 or 70 series to offroad activities- OR they use them inappropriately as daily drivers in urban centers where simple EV (or efficient diesel) should only operate.

I own a diesel land cruiser as my goal has been to achieve 20 US mpg for my drivetrain since 1998. I try to limit my smoke by have a reasonable tune to that engine and not a black smoke death machine. I also tend to drive my truck (s) for out of town outings at least 100 mile trips or more. Most trips are highway 500 mile trips that demand 4wd and the far end.

I don't have the best commuter car but when available at my pricepoint I will consider an EV.

 

[MyCruiserisaHogBeast]

My issue with the mass push for battery operated cars/trucks is that it increases our dependence for rare earth materials which a lot of is only in places like China. Not trying to be political but is that really a good thing?

Besides that I love the EV concept and what it can bring us.

The more demand there are for these products the faster the market will bring innovations that will lower costs and make batteries easy to make out of more readily available materials. China isn't the problem here, it's us not demanding more of auto manufacturers until it became a red hot emergency to do something about emissions.

 

[FJ73Texas]

So you are saying we can make electric car batteries without any materials support from China or could get there in the future?

 

[MyCruiserisaHogBeast]

I am all for commuter cars being EV when the price for operation is reasonable for the populous. I cannot afford a $54,000 Tesla let alone one more expensive than that. Stop and go local traffic can be cured with higher efficiency vehicles quickly. The Europeans had 40+mph diesels 20 years ago which fit that need but the US market ignored them. Diesels properly tuned out gun all gas engines in pure longevity and miles per gallon.

Land Cruisers used by underground mining industry is not what we use our cruisers for. EV conversions should not be a path to be explored.

Land Cruisers are used for play for most here. Trailer their built 40 or 70 series to offroad activities- OR they use them inappropriately as daily drivers in urban centers where simple EV (or efficient diesel) should only operate.

I own a diesel land cruiser as my goal has been to achieve 20 US mpg for my drivetrain since 1998. I try to limit my smoke by have a reasonable tune to that engine and not a black smoke death machine. I also tend to drive my truck (s) for out of town outings at least 100 mile trips or more. Most trips are highway 500 mile trips that demand 4wd and the far end.

I don't have the best commuter car but when available at my pricepoint I will consider an EV.

When I worked for the company I thought about converting by BJ74, but it's still comfy, gets 20 mpg and has a great range. It's here as an adventure vehicle that I drive every day.

If I had the money I'd grab myself an FJ40 and do this conversion in a heart beat to be able to commute to work in a s***ty old Land Cruiser that I plug into a wall.

 

[MyCruiserisaHogBeast]

So you are saying we can make electric car batteries without any materials support from China or could get there in the future?

We'll get there in the future for sure so long as manufacturers have incentives (or requirements) to innovate. There are several experientmental battery types that are pretty far along in the development process that will likely hit the market within the next decade. Right now there are several places that the raw materials are mined from. I think we still get a significant amount of the cobalt we need for EVs from China.

Mining for these materials has significant problems for sure, but like I said earlier, they fail to compare to the scale of the huge ethical and environmental issues that go on with petroleum every day that we turn a blind eye toward in order to continue driving our gas guzzlers, not to mention the use of rare earth metal in things like catalytic convertors that far exceed those used for EV production. There's a ways to go but the only way for EVs is up. As a previous poster said, IC engines have pretty much matured and won't get much better, we should be cheering for EV tech as loud as we can.

 

[FJ73Texas]

Thank you for your input. Yes, the demand for petroleum is going to have devastating consequences in the future at the current (and rising) rate.

I had always been fascinated by the EV1 project by GM back when California attempted to push tough emissions laws and failed. GM could have been way ahead in the electric game if they had not scrapped the project.

 

[MyCruiserisaHogBeast]

Thank you for your input. Yes, the demand for petroleum is going to have devastating consequences in the future at the current (and rising) rate.

I had always been fascinated by the EV1 project by GM back when California attempted to push tough emissions laws and failed. GM could have been way ahead in the electric game if they had not scrapped the project.

All true.

 

[CRSWA]

So you are saying we can make electric car batteries without any materials support from China or could get there in the future?

That's one of the things that I really like about the idea of replacing batteries with supercapacitors. There are no rare metals or expensive chemicals involved. The primary ingredient is carbon.

 

[Blomdala]

That's one of the things that I really like about the idea of replacing batteries with supercapacitors. There are no rare metals or expensive chemicals involved. The primary ingredient is carbon.

There is also battery design that is going on using Carbon, just not ready for mass production.

One other thing to keep in mind is the recycling game for Li ion is finally taking off. Redwood Materials is one of them, and they are taking old batteries and ending up with a significant percentage of the raw materials ready to production into new batteries. I think maintaining a focus on EEV (not saying make everyone change immediately) is what will help both the creation tech, and the end of life process get to a point that's beneficial for people and planet.

 

[rick_d]

then there is this problem:

‘No one was driving the car’: 2 men dead after fiery Tesla crash near The Woodlands, officials say

Two men are dead after a Tesla ran into a tree in Spring.

www.click2houston.com

 

[Blomdala]

then there is this problem:

‘No one was driving the car’: 2 men dead after fiery Tesla crash near The Woodlands, officials say

Two men are dead after a Tesla ran into a tree in Spring.

www.click2houston.com

Autonomy and Electricity for propulsion are 2 very different things. These situations can sky rocket, and it would have no change on the validity or rolling forward of EV. If there is a sudden amount of deaths due to battery explosions or fires in accidents, then that would be an issue. But those sorts of protections are high on the list for actual vehicle manufactures. Hitting a tree full on, seems like the vehicle burning down would be reasonable no matter the propulsion type. Aftermarket/retrofit is under far less regulation so its anyone's guess.

 

[Blomdala]

Here is some better news lol

Toyota Debuts All-Electric SUV Concept - Toyota USA Newsroom

PLANO, Texas (April 18, 2021) – Toyota envisions a future in which carbon neutrality is achieved through the practical marketization of a portfolio of products with advanced, alternative-fuel and zero-emission powertrain technologies. Already a leader in electrification, the company took a major...

pressroom.toyota.com

 

[FJ73Texas]

Autonomy and Electricity for propulsion are 2 very different things. These situations can sky rocket, and it would have no change on the validity or rolling forward of EV. If there is a sudden amount of deaths due to battery explosions or fires in accidents, then that would be an issue. But those sorts of protections are high on the list for actual vehicle manufactures. Hitting a tree full on, seems like the vehicle burning down would be reasonable no matter the propulsion type. Aftermarket/retrofit is under far less regulation so its anyone's guess.

I think some people are putting too much faith into the self driving feature but now Mr. Musk himself is saying the feature was never engaged which makes no sense since one person was in the passenger seat and the other in the back seat at the time of the collusion.

Anyways, I spoke to my brother this morning about this since he lives in Spring, Tx. In fact he said he is doing construction work (he builds pools, patios, etc) on the same street. He said that no one really understands what happened in this case yet.

 

[Blomdala]

I think some people are putting too much faith into the self driving feature but now Mr. Musk himself is saying the feature was never engaged which makes no sense since one person was in the passenger seat and the other in the back seat at the time of the collusion.

Anyways, I spoke to my brother this morning about this since he lives in Spring, Tx. In fact he said he is doing construction work (he builds pools, patios, etc) on the same street. He said that no one really understands what happened in this case yet.

Yeah autonomous crash investigation is going to be a new art that likely is going to require enhanced data recording and software analysis in the future. You can't determine the cause if the company who is making that software is smarter than you and you can't prove them wrong.

On top of that faith in autonomous, people don't understand that Tesla is ONLY using cameras, and the real players in the autonomous world are operating with Lidar which is much more accurate and further distance. But Tesla advertises that its not really autonomous, people are just using it as such because they are able to trick the system enough to assume someone is paying attention for back up.

Most of these Tesla accidents seem like a stack tolerances sort of situation, but that's my outsider view. I think autonomous is really neat, but it needs the right hardware and safety designs. I don't believe Tesla has that.

 

[FJ73Texas]

Yeah autonomous crash investigation is going to be a new art that likely is going to require enhanced data recording and software analysis in the future. You can't determine the cause if the company who is making that software is smarter than you and you can't prove them wrong.

On top of that faith in autonomous, people don't understand that Tesla is ONLY using cameras, and the real players in the autonomous world are operating with Lidar which is much more accurate and further distance. But Tesla advertises that its not really autonomous, people are just using it as such because they are able to trick the system enough to assume someone is paying attention for back up.

Most of these Tesla accidents seem like a stack tolerances sort of situation, but that's my outsider view. I think autonomous is really neat, but it needs the right hardware and safety designs. I don't believe Tesla has that.

Well you know Toyota use autonomous technology at the factories. Engines, Transmissions, etc get carried by autonomous battery operated carts. It is pretty neat to watch but I have little clue how it is guided. Does it stop if there is an obstacle?

 

[coldtaco]

Well you know Toyota use autonomous technology at the factories. Engines, Transmissions, etc get carried by autonomous battery operated carts. It is pretty neat to watch but I have little clue how it is guided. Does it stop if there is an obstacle?

Don’t know about Toyota factory delivery bots but other factories have electric stuff in the floor that these bots follow.

 

[Blomdala]

IT

Well you know Toyota use autonomous technology at the factories. Engines, Transmissions, etc get carried by autonomous battery operated carts. It is pretty neat to watch but I have little clue how it is guided. Does it stop if there is an obstacle?

Its all based on the software logic. In a controlled environment like a plant, its easier to have reliable protections. You can list all the obstacles that may occur, or control the areas around it to prevent them (like a fence). Out in the real world you have to worry about things like 16 year olds who want to show off to their friends and try to mess with a driverless vehicle. That is there they money is right now, creating the artificial intelligence that can understand where it is and what it is doing in an environment so when that environment changes, it can take what actions are available. Lots of time and brains involved in that, both within Toyota (Woven) and outside (all the tech companies partnering with auto manufactures).

Very interesting times we live in, lots of change on the horizon. Hoping Toyota remains a safety leader, even if it keeps us a bit back from the bleeding edge of new tech..

 

[rick_d]

blomdala

I guess you missed the point that fire department put 33,000 gallons of water on the single tesla fire to see if they could snuff it out.

Fire department will now need 1/2 ton of sand next time.

not a perfect technology.

 

[Blomdala]

blomdala

I guess you missed the point that fire department put 33,000 gallons of water on the single tesla fire to see if they could snuff it out.

Fire department will now need 1/2 ton of sand next time.

not a perfect technology.

That is really sad ( I missed that). I think everyone here agrees its not a perfect technology. And there will be these kinds of situations as everyone levels up their understanding. Tesla (being a tech company more so than a vehicle company) should have already provided the information for how to handle that sort of situation. It mentioned they tried to call Tesla and get it but none was provided except let it burn. For Toyota, we make dismantling and emergency response guides for our vehicles. Again, training, knowledge, procedures, all things that need to be looked at and taken care of as part of the EV development. When one area exceeds before others catch up, we will have issues like using 30,000 gallons to try and extinguish a battery fire.

 

[speedkills]

Some more 70 series EV promotional and conversion information in a thread from earlier this year.............

For what it's worth.....

Electric 70 Series!!

Wonderful article on electric 70 series for the mining industry in Australia. Toyota and BHP begin trialling electric LandCruiser 70 Series | CarAdvice

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