EV conversion of an overland Vehicle .

[renago]

I have a Toyota 78 , with a HD-T motor , km 350 K , the motor is getting a bit tired , maybe its the turbo ?
I am thing ahead , in case the situation will get expensive .
is it worth to dump the old diesel motor , keep the drive train am switch for a electric power train ?
eventually Hybrid ?
maybe keeping a small generatore to pump up the range .
or we are just at the beginning of the electric revolution , too early ?
any comments will be appreciated
this is my car at present

 

[TonyP]

No input besides there's a 95% chance I'm moving to Pordenone next year. I'll snag that 1HD off of you.

 

[tmarx]

If you plan to do some remote travel in africa then keep it diesel powered mate.

 

[renago]

No input besides there's a 95% chance I'm moving to Pordenone next year. I'll snag that 1HD off of you.

See you here Tony , ring a bell if you pass by Milan

 

[SuperDuperCruizer]

Battery technology keeps improving and the infrastructure of charging stations are expanding/evolving too. There are charging stations at my community center down the street. My local gas station is the first in the nation to completely ditch gas and only sell electrons. https://www.washingtonpost.com/tech...ic-energy-what-happens-next-is-anyones-guess/

I’m watching these electric conversion shops that are waitlisting people 5 years out. There’s a VW shop in California that just specializes in electric conversions and they are doing very well. I’m sure you saw the thread here on mud where a 40-series is getting converted. The manufacturers are developing electric and hybrid platforms for the industry. I’d like to see what that translates to for the conversion market.

We’re at that tipping point, but I’m not to ready to make a long road trip in an all electric vehicle just yet.

 

[renago]

My post was a bit provocative , to see who got better ideas then me on this subject , and eventually maybe some one is already working on it .
I have seen the EV VW shop in California , nice , but very much ocean drive style .
for overloading maybe we are a bit too early .mainly for the storage of energy .
on the motor side I think a 200 Cv electric motor is far simpler ,lighter and much more performing then a combustion engine .
meanwhile I keep my antennas alert , to seee what comes up

 

[SuperDuperCruizer]

For overlanding, it might require something modular to suit. Instead of jerry cans, we’ll see off road trailer/campers with battery packs integrated for the required extended range. The market will evolve. It’s scary to think combustion engines may eventually get banned or heavily taxed.

 

[TWILLY]

This is a good and provocative question that I often ponder.

I would like nothing more than an electric platform for remote touring. I am hesitant to do so until the technology yields:

• 700 - 1000 miles (fully loaded) range; and
• The ability to recharge (or switch) batteries relatively quickly, in an hour or two; and
• The ability to charge, by wind and/or solar, remotely

Battery trailers could solve the range problem, but the availability and speed of charging stations in remote locations remains a challenge. Advances in both battery and solar panel efficiency are encouraging, but I think that, for purposes of remote touring, we're still a decade or so away from truly viable technology.

This video, about solar self-charging vehicles, is interesting. Imagine someday being able to camp on a remote beach for two or three days while your touring vehicle recharges itself...

 

[SuperDuperCruizer]

Can't the trailer'ed battery serve as a "second tank"? I wasn't suggesting the trailered battery be used to recharged the primary battery. Seems like you would waste some of the trailered power reserve by recharging the primary battery.

 

[TWILLY]

Can't the trailer'ed battery serve as a "second tank"? I wasn't suggesting the trailered battery be used to recharged the primary battery. Seems like you would waste some of the trailered power reserve by recharging the primary battery.

That's how I'd envision a battery trailer working (second tank), but I'm not an engineer.

 

[flx]

• The ability to charge, by wind and/or solar, remotely

With a very big truck you may be able to squeeze 3 * 300W solar panels.
This means in an ideal environment/sun you could get 900W from the solar panels, let's round up to 1kW to be nice.

Tesla bigger battery is 120kWh, same for the Bollinger truck (which has a terrible range event with that much battery). Charging 120kWh energy with 1kW production power will take you 10 days in a perfect condition.

This is definitively not the solution, particularly with the batteries becoming bigger.

 

[White Stripe]

You have to keep in mind too that as you load up the rig for your travels such as water, food, equipment, and so forth that range will plummet. Also wherever your destination is, you have to know if they will have electricity their. Many areas do not have strong electrical grids still.

 

[renago]

Dragging a trailer for overlanding is Joyner that much fun ...
Ref. Range , I agree the right range for a good overland vehichel is 1000 miles , 1600 km .
to achieve with confidence that sort of range with an electric battery , you really need a truck of batteries behind you .
The power density of liquid fuel is still far higher .
We need at least 2-3 steps of radical improvement on batteries .
I am confident that technology will improve quickly .
Quickly enough to see it ?
I hope so

 

[TWILLY]

With a very big truck you may be able to squeeze 3 * 300W solar panels.
This means in an ideal environment/sun you could get 900W from the solar panels, let's round up to 1kW to be nice.

Tesla bigger battery is 120kWh, same for the Bollinger truck (which has a terrible range event with that much battery). Charging 120kWh energy with 1kW production power will take you 10 days in a perfect condition.

This is definitively not the solution, particularly with the batteries becoming bigger.

Yeah, like I said, while battery and solar panel efficiencies are improving, we're still many years away from that being viable. The video I posted above showed some interesting panel designs that unfold into fairly large arrays (that would be a pain to secure against wind).

 

[bigredmachine]

personally i would stick with the diesel, its gotten you this far so why give up on it. its a proven technology and a proven engine that you will be able to have serviced or parts sourced pretty much anywhere in the world. worrying about finding batteries or a controller board or inverter is not really doing to be as easy as finding parts for the truck as it sits now, or in the event of a failure figuring out a way to make something work to till a proper repair can be made.