This Electric Semi is a Million-Dollar Idea! Edison Motors at Fully Charged LIVE Canada - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR6Az1wfTI8&t=78s)
This is pretty cool, good luck to them
4th generation battery Janus (Kenworth glider conversion) electric truck burns in Melbourne, Australia. A 5th generation of battery design might be required.
A similar electric Janus is used as a log truck in Australia.
ELECTRIC Cement Truck CATCHES FIRE in Melbourne | MGUY Australia - YouTube (https://youtu.be/liPm6OKPsB0?si=LI3orMZvciDYWB3Z)
I really like what Edison is doing, it's cool that they're from Canada. What's cool is that their approach is to allow right to repair and make things serviceable, which is very uncommon for any EV company to do.
I have watched a bunch of there video's and like the approach they are taking. As Ginger Squirrel said, a lot of off the shelf parts on the truck itself. I was kinda bummed about a lot of the electric components coming from China, but its still an easier sell for me than the crap all electric vehicles. I, me, would call this a hybrid, since it's got a good sized built in diesel genset to assist with recharging vs. needing to plug it in every day. That's just me, I know its electric, but I like this approach better than the one some company's are trying to cram down our throat.
Edison's approach is trying to use the strengths of each for the application. It's not a lot different than the drive systems that the big mine trucks use, except I don't think those have a battery bank. From what I understand, Edison is using that bank to provide a boost of power when it is needed, and also to be able to store power from braking etc for a later boost.
A conventional class 8 diesel truck that has 600 hp, only uses that horsepower when accelerating or pulling hills. 90% of the time, like just cruising down the road, you probably only need half that. And that's what Edison is doing, with a power plant in the area of 300 hp and then the battery bank that provides extra power when needed.
Barbender,
I may be wrong, ask my wife, its one thing I'm good at! I really thought it was an EV but with the onboard diesel for primary charging of the batterys. I'll have to dig in to it a bit more. Either way, there approach makes more sense to me than any straight EV truck I've seen yet.
I could be wrong too. It looks like our wives have something that they could immediately agree on😁
I think we're actually kind of talking past each other. Maybe they can be plugged in and charged, but I don't think that is the case.
My impression was that the diesel engine powers the electrical system. Most of the time it will have power to spare, and be charging the batteries, but sometimes it will need some help back from the batteries. Either way, the electrical system is powering an electric drive. I can't remember if it is electric to a mechanical driveline, or if they have electric wheel motors. Now I have to go learn😊
Per Edisons website, I'm off in my thinking (also known as "wrong"😁) The battery electrical system can power the truck apart from the diesel engine, and the diesel exists only to charge the batteries. They do sell straight electric trucks as well.
True, in the Edison truck, the diesel is purely a generator to charge the batteries for the electric drive axles. They are also partnering with Deboss Garage to retrofit pickup trucks with EV axles. You will have the choice to use the current gas or diesel for a generator or go with a small Cummins for generator or go straight EV. From what I understand on the big trucks they can go up the mountain, load up with logs and use regen going down to bring the batteries back close to a full charge.
A hybrid vehicle can be various combinations of power plant and battery storage.
If it's primary drive is electric, and it has a decent storage battery, then it can have a decent electric only range. It might only be ~50 miles, so not practical for a days work. But in slow traffic. loading / unloading etc, it can be run as a full electric, which is where the diesel would usually be mostly wasting fuel.
Main difference is the diesel isn't mechanically connected to the wheels, it's just a gen-set. When needed it can run steadily at it's most efficient speed and load, and power not needed at the wheels goes back into the battery. Come to a hill, and you need to lean on the battery AND the gen-set . Going down the other side, you have the diesel and the regen braking putting power back into the battery for the next hill.
So while you might only have a ~300 hp gen-set, you have have ~900 hp electric on tap, with tons of torque, and no gear changes when you hit that hill.
The technology is all available now, it's just a matter of integrating it into a practical machine.
barbender, I've had "flawed" thinking in the past!
Can we also note these trucks look like WORK trucks too?
Good job Edison
Some of this Diesel over electric technology goes back to R. G. LeTourneau (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._G._LeTourneau)
In 1958, at the age of seventy, LeTourneau re-entered the earthmoving equipment manufacturing business, offering contractors a range of high capacity earthmoving, transportation, and material handling machines. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._G._LeTourneau)
These were based on his recently developed electric wheel drive (wheel hub motor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_hub_motor)).
His earth movers were called Tournapulls (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_tractor-scraper). His factories were South of Vicksburg, MS. I had many friends that worked for RG and then later for his son, Richard.
EDIT: Obviously my links did not link correctly, sorry.
R G Letourneau was an interesting guy to study, a mechanical genius with an imagination on a different level. Some of the machines he invented bordered on science fiction (and he actually built working prototypes). A self propelled concrete form box to pour an entire house, a 35' wide 160 ton tree roller crusher, and a 570' long rubber tired artic land train to name a few. He disliked hydraulics, and preferred electric motors, cables, pulleys, and giant rack and pinions to actuate his machines.
And to stop his machines he used air over a rubber bladder pressing the brake "shoe".
Yes LeTourneau had some wild machines! I always think of that with all of this electric "innovation", he was doing that 70 years ago.
I've got a book signed by R G LeTourneau that he wrote about how he got started and what he built. He gave it to my Grandfather who was the dealer for his equipment in WV years ago. He was a religious man and I think the name of the book is Moving Heaven and Earth. He gave a lot of his money to the church.
He and his innovation were the lifeblood to the area where I grew up. His factories were located on the Mississippi River which gave him transportation access to not only the river but also to the railroad from Chicago to New Orleans and Hwy 61 which was also a main North/South highway. He built housing so that his employees did not have to travel to work.
In later years, the company focused on off-shore oil drilling rigs and platforms.
I was wrong about the title to the book. It's titled Mover of Men and Mountains. As I remember it was a pretty interesting book and I think it's still available if anyone would be interested.
I was not aware of R. G. LeTourneau's book and yes, I found a new one (paperback) and ordered it. $10 bucks. ffsmiley
I just found a used paperback copy, its on order!
Every time I see something about a LeTourneau machine, I end up engrossed in it
I think you'll find the book pretty interesting. I need to read the one I have again. The company I worked for had the Wabco account for several years which was mostly electric drive. Wabco was bought out by Dresser so we lost it for awhile but then Dresser was bought by Komatsu so we got it back. We sold a bunch of large electric trucks to coal surface mines in the area. The largest was the 930E which would haul 300 tons and the gross vehicle weight was around one million pounds. I never got to drive one loaded but drove them fairly often empty during troubleshooting or moving to the maintenance area. It was like driving a house. The brakes were hardly used as when you pulled the retarder lever the wheel motors were switched into generators and the electricity they produced was directed into large resistors to slow the machine down. I read awhile back that Komatsu has now bought the LeToureau wheel loader line and are now building the largest wheel loader.
Diesel electric has been the standard for locomotives for many years. I'm not sure if any of them have batteries other than what's needed to start the diesel but the advantages listed above make sense for them. No gears, full torque at low travel speeds, etc.
Quote from: Wlmedley on January 16, 2025, 09:54:20 PMI think you'll find the book pretty interesting. I need to read the one I have again. The company I worked for had the Wabco account for several years which was mostly electric drive. Wabco was bought out by Dresser so we lost it for awhile but then Dresser was bought by Komatsu so we got it back. We sold a bunch of large electric trucks to coal surface mines in the area. The largest was the 930E which would haul 300 tons and the gross vehicle weight was around one million pounds. I never got to drive one loaded but drove them fairly often empty during troubleshooting or moving to the maintenance area. It was like driving a house. The brakes were hardly used as when you pulled the retarder lever the wheel motors were switched into generators and the electricity they produced was directed into large resistors to slow the machine down. I read awhile back that Komatsu has now bought the LeToureau wheel loader line and are now building the largest wheel loader.
Yes, Komatsu is building the L2350. If you can't beat them, buy them!
I legit told my wife today that I hope the LeTourneau book has pictures! (I got the paperback version)
As to Edison, I like that they are keeping this in check as far as not trying to grow too big too fast (they work out of a tent with a dirt floor). I really like that they are using so many off the shelf parts for the chassis, cab, parts of the build
Those Edison trucks seem to be on a path that is realistic. Recently saw an interview with what I believe was the owner or at least a founding member. Struck me as a down to earth guy, one comment he made about their trucks having some success in hauling logs made a lot of sense.
He brought up simply how they log in his area had a fair amount to with his trucks doing well. Most of the time going uphill the trucks are empty and loaded coming down. Which drastically cuts down on power requirements.
Quote from: TreefarmerNN on January 17, 2025, 03:54:55 PMDiesel electric has been the standard for locomotives for many years. I'm not sure if any of them have batteries other than what's needed to start the diesel but the advantages listed above make sense for them. No gears, full torque at low travel speeds, etc.
I don't think any currently use batteries, they just use generator / resistor banks for braking. Less wear and tear than mechanical brakes. An old internet friend used to work for the local railway, and was involved in the main electric line from Auckland to Wellington. Basically went from sea level, up to several thousand feed in the center of the Island, and down again. They figured that of the power used getting up onto the central plateau, they got about 50% of the power back as braking on the downhill run. The rest was lost to friction / transmission line losses / motor efficiency etc. No batteries involved, the power just went to and from the mains grid.
But that's one of the main reasons hybrid vehicles get better mileage. The braking isn't going into wearing and heating of the brakes, most of the energy is being recovered, and being stored for later. The physical brakes are only really for emergencies and parking. If driven carefully they seldom actually activate.
Obviously a conventional log truck will have engine braking to help slow down, but that's not recovering any of the energy, it's just turning it into compressed air and noise. Better than burning up brakes of course, but it's wasted energy.
Quote from: Magicman on January 15, 2025, 07:39:29 PMI found a new one (paperback) and ordered it. $10 bucks.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/IMG_7111.JPG) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=357512)
My book came in and I am about half way through reading it. He was an amazing man and to answer someone's question about pictures, there are 33 pictures in the center of the book.
Here is a YouTube LINK (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYynQnUremw) to a video of some of his logging equipment.
Nice time of the year to read a good book. I've read two this month.
Magicman, mine came in, but its still in the "cue". I did bump it up to next in line!
At the risk of causing an arguement don't forget comparing a DC motor to a diesel as far as horse power is a factor of up to three to one .In other words three hundred HP DC motor to 600 HP diesel could be the motor equals more than the diesel engine .Generally speaking 746 watts of motor is one HP .