When you think of the future what do you think of? Do you think of self lacing shoes? Do you think of hover boards? Or do you think of flying cars? I personally think of flying cars as a big one and I think a lot of that comes from watching "The Jetson's". When I was younger I always thought it was so cool that they had flying cars but thought it was dumb they still had a lot of traffic. I talk about flying cars because they are a thing of the future and even though we are in 2018 and still don't have flying cars, we soon will have hybrid electric semi-trucks.
Tesla, which is a major car company, most commonly known for their hybrid electric sports cars, have released statements saying that within the next 2-3 years they will be releasing hybrid electric semi-trucks. These trucks will replace the common combustion engines with electric motors. To charge the motor, drivers will have the option of plugging in their vehicles while loading or unloading but the brakes on the trucks will also act as generators that will supply power and a charge to the battery within the vehicle. As it better states in the article "It also charges up at a solar-powered Megacharger, and can get 400 miles of range on a single 30 minute charge, which can be done while you're loading and unloading by detaching the cab. (Darrell Etherington)". The only way the truck could charge in 30 minutes is to have a lot of power going through the cabs. I know with the long hall no way we are going to have a big power station between cities. Another con to this truck would be there battery weight close to 14 tons that is now were next to the power train of a diesel. The problem with this is the more weight your truck is the less you can haul so less money into your pocket by the end of the day. Another surprising thing to me is that Cummins, a very major diesel company who supplies engines to most semi dealers, construction equipment and other major vehicles with diesel engines has also released statements that they are researching and finding ways to modify their products to hopefully release hybrid electric semi-trucks in the future. To me personally I believe that this invention comes with a lot of different pro's and con's which I would like to focus on in this article.
To start I will discuss the pro's. I feel as though with the invention of this it will cut back on diesel fuel. I believe that it will cut back on the production of fuel so there is less drilling for oil. I believe that it will also cut down on the cost of diesel fuel which will be nice for the ones who still use fuel. I also think that it will cut down on the emissions in the air which is a good thing in a lot of states that really struggle with air pollution and poor air quality, such as Utah.
For the con's I feel as though if the motor works well and a lot of companies start to use it there will not be a lot of technicians who are trained on the new motors and the new maintenance processes which could potentially be a problem since it might require additional schooling which people may not take the time or money to learn about. I also feel as though it could potentially take away a lot of jobs for people who do work on oil rigs since the production in fuel will go down.
I find this topic very interesting and do have mixed feelings about it due to the fact that I absolutely love diesel engines. I think I will continue following the research and see if I can find more information involving the advancements of this technology.
Tesla, which is a major car company, most commonly known for their hybrid electric sports cars, have released statements saying that within the next 2-3 years they will be releasing hybrid electric semi-trucks. These trucks will replace the common combustion engines with electric motors. To charge the motor, drivers will have the option of plugging in their vehicles while loading or unloading but the brakes on the trucks will also act as generators that will supply power and a charge to the battery within the vehicle. As it better states in the article "It also charges up at a solar-powered Megacharger, and can get 400 miles of range on a single 30 minute charge, which can be done while you're loading and unloading by detaching the cab. (Darrell Etherington)". The only way the truck could charge in 30 minutes is to have a lot of power going through the cabs. I know with the long hall no way we are going to have a big power station between cities. Another con to this truck would be there battery weight close to 14 tons that is now were next to the power train of a diesel. The problem with this is the more weight your truck is the less you can haul so less money into your pocket by the end of the day. Another surprising thing to me is that Cummins, a very major diesel company who supplies engines to most semi dealers, construction equipment and other major vehicles with diesel engines has also released statements that they are researching and finding ways to modify their products to hopefully release hybrid electric semi-trucks in the future. To me personally I believe that this invention comes with a lot of different pro's and con's which I would like to focus on in this article.
To start I will discuss the pro's. I feel as though with the invention of this it will cut back on diesel fuel. I believe that it will cut back on the production of fuel so there is less drilling for oil. I believe that it will also cut down on the cost of diesel fuel which will be nice for the ones who still use fuel. I also think that it will cut down on the emissions in the air which is a good thing in a lot of states that really struggle with air pollution and poor air quality, such as Utah.
For the con's I feel as though if the motor works well and a lot of companies start to use it there will not be a lot of technicians who are trained on the new motors and the new maintenance processes which could potentially be a problem since it might require additional schooling which people may not take the time or money to learn about. I also feel as though it could potentially take away a lot of jobs for people who do work on oil rigs since the production in fuel will go down.
I find this topic very interesting and do have mixed feelings about it due to the fact that I absolutely love diesel engines. I think I will continue following the research and see if I can find more information involving the advancements of this technology.
Websites I read from:
-https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1112434_cummins-electric-semi-truck-traditional-maker-takes-on-tesla
-https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/16/this-is-teslas-big-new-all-electric-truck-the-tesla-semi/
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE_dPa1d4ok