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posted by cmn32480 on Friday September 01 2017, @02:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the keep-on-truckin' dept.

This week, diesel truck engine company Cummins made an unusual announcement. In addition to several new high-efficiency diesel engines, it also showed off an all-electric truck called the Concept Class 7 Urban Hauler EV. The truck is just a concept at the moment, but it's coming in the nick of timeā€”just as Tesla is about to announce its own semi EV.

The 18,000-pound tractor cab, built by Roush, comes with a 140kWh battery and is capable of hauling a 22-ton trailer. According to Forbes, Cummins hopes to be able to sell its battery to truck and bus manufacturers by 2019. Forbes says the truck can run for 100 miles and be recharged in an hour, although Cummins is allegedly working on improving the battery so that by 2020, that recharge time is reduced to 20 minutes.

In a press release, Cummins also said that its EV would come with a diesel-engine generator that could extend the range of the battery to 300 miles, which would offer 50-percent fuel savings compared to straight diesel trucks.

Cummins' news comes just after Reuters reported that Tesla's electric semis will likely have a range of 200 to 300 miles and come with autonomous functions. The trucking industry is a major polluter, and electrification is seen as an important component in reducing greenhouse gases from that sector, in addition to implementing fuel efficiency measures.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/08/ahead-of-tesla-semis-cummins-shows-off-all-electric-powertrain-concept/


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  • (Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Saturday September 02 2017, @06:29AM (2 children)

    by fraxinus-tree (5590) on Saturday September 02 2017, @06:29AM (#562862)

    NOx is good for agriculture, but very bad for people breathing it. Cars produce it a lot in densely populated areas and less in farmlands. So, generally, it is bad. And no, you cannot use pee instead of urea solution. You cannot pee that much urea.

    As for fertilizer part, I found it actually cheaper (here in Bulgaria) to buy truck-grade "ad blue" urea solution than fertilizer-grade urea. I used it for de-icing instead of salt, because it ended up in landlord's garden afterwards.

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  • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 02 2017, @02:24PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 02 2017, @02:24PM (#562924)

    NOx are not particularly bad for people to breathe -- the real problem is that they react with other pollutants to form ozone. See photochemical smog. [wikipedia.org] But you're absolutely right about the distribution problem.

    Since smog is mainly a problem in urban areas, I like to envision a world where diesels could run high temperatures, and thus high efficiency, out on the highway, and cut back when they enter town; the difficulty is in implementing it. You can hardly rely on even well-meaning drivers to flip a switch every time, and nobody wants a vehicle that uses GPS to decide whether or how well it's going to run.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @12:20AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @12:20AM (#563046)

      Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is harmful when we breathe it. Nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O), not so much.