Leccy trucks coming thick & fast

Weight saving?
Get an extra zillionth of a cm in range.

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Or exhibitionist/voy eur friendly. Apparently voy eur is a naughty word.

Poor old Lindsay is no engineer but he seems to be able to pick trucks. From one truck in 1956 to 5,000 today, his face must have fitted and he had a bit of a stash in the cunning kick. No engineer, just an old truckie.

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If they want to make EV trucks work they’ll need to understand the difference between a tractor unit and a semi trailer v a prime mover and trailer.The latter has more scope for battery capacity and payload.

Why don’t you give Mr. Fox a ring, I expect he’ll be eternally grateful for your expert advice.

Like Sweden NZ of all places contains all the ingredients needed to make a 65 tonne + EV locomotive and trailer outfit work no need for my advice.Obviously the description road locomotive removes all the unnecessary confusion between tractor unit and prime mover when both are obsolete in this brave new world.
The rigid prime mover should just be a dedicated battery carrying and motive package along the lines of a ballast tractor.
The tractor unit and semi trailer is no longer even relevant or fit for purpose.
The Norwegian example is close to getting it right but no cigar.

I’m still amazed at how many times electric trucker has to drop his trailer to get on a charger to charge up, They’re light years ahead of the UK over there in charging infrastructure but drive through bays are still very few & far between.
It’s going to be right mess for the transition to electric heavy-duty trucks in this country, even with the timeline of 15 years before diesel goes away for trucks.

MAN are on the ball with e-services setting up charging infrastructure & digital software services. https://www.electrive.com/2025/02/15/man-expands-services-for-the-etruck/

We’re apparently having 55 electric Lorrys arrive in June , got 2 already so a total of 57 , charging points are being put in now , they will just run between factories .
Seems a awfull lot to me but apparently it’s a major push to go green

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Thought you’d called it a day doze.

WOW! That’s some serious coinage for that amount of e-trucks. I read t’other day that incentives would need to rise to get companies to transition to electric. Will all HGV drivers now have to download EV charging point Apps like ZAPMAP or ABRP onto their mobile phones? Some even have weather integration & topography built into them to determine range & power usage, Or will the traffic office be up to speed as it will be a different ballgame altogether.

A sort of AI version of “spitting on your finger to see where the wind is coming from” for sailors?
Where is the skill and artistry in everyday life gone?

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From what I’ve read about those features for EVs, they’re pretty accurate & can determine what % of charge will be left in the battery pack & how long it will take to get to the predetermined charger, Or it can have a plan B to direct you to another route & charger.

Yeah, as I’m sure you know my tongue was in my cheek.

I guess you know the idea…probably better than I remember it…

What happens before you are 8 is natural.
What happens from 8 to 28 is normal.
What happens after 38n is new fangled.
What happens after 58 is almost a miracle.

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Forsyth estimates that your average B-double would get between 400-500km per charge, depending on loads, and other variables, with some smaller applications going as far as 600km.

No doubt Carryfast will go into a multipost rebuttal on why an Esemi trailer cannot work.

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Indeed. Rumour has it that Admin have charged him with the responsibility for keeping all of us Walter Mitty characters on TN in line, lest our imaginations run away with us. :wink:

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I’ve a 1/2/1 with the new mob taking over the contract rob where I’m going to ask for 3 days per week , hopefully there more sympathetic than the current mob .
As I explained to moaster I found it hard when I was off for months after ops , I kept thinking about things whereas work , chatting with mates your mind off things .
But 5 days is too much , 3 I think would be ok .

Our electric trucks are only going to do factory shuttles lancpudn so will charge at factories , I’m amazed they need 57 lorry’s to do that but they know best .
I’m not convinced it’s as green as it sounds as the normal fleet have lost most of the back hauls so we will all be running hundreds of miles back empty , it was a massive issue a few years ago but apparently now it’s fine !! ,
Xpo are bring 5 electric trucks & some other firm 50 , no idea how it pays , maybe cheap deals and n electric trucks .

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I think the issue is you’ve all these young liberal greeny leftie types making these decisions these day , there’s no real thought that goes into anything other that we Must save the planet , we’ve got a fleet of 24 / 73 plate Lorry’s that are now going to be made redundant all in the chase for these green targets .
Those lorry’s can do any work , go anywhere etc , to be replaced by a majority fleet that can go a-b local & that’s your lot .
But I doubt these leftie liberals will be telling Ed Millband the real truth about the consequences of buying electric lorry’s ( more empty running , limited use ability ) , theyl be just creaming themself over saving the bloody planet , though as one said to me your just old & cynical !! .
Let’s just hope we don’t have a power outage at the factory then we’re ■■■■■■ !!

Of course conventional diesel trucks are not affected by oil shortages, strikes at refinery gates, foreign wars inflating prices and shortening supplies… :wink:

Why do electric trucks mean more empty running?
Haven’t you said that the conventional fleet has lost backloads before you have new trucks?

@star_down_under i cant remember if i asked you this before so if i have i appolagise.

a year or so ago i saw a bit about an australian company converting tractor units to ev. They put the battery packs where the diesel tanks were in such a way that they could be swapped out with a fork lift easily. They were going to set up all these stations and already had quite a few set up. the idea was you rented the battery pack and when you needed a charge you just popped in and they swapped in a fully charged battery like you would with a propane bottle.

has this taken off or did it die a death