zevulon
its painfully obvious the only way to bring electricity prices down NOW is with nuclear and coal. the quicker we get off petroleum fuels the quicker the feedback loop of private money starts funding electric and wind. so instead of coal and nuclear being solar and winds enemy......it should be wind and solars goal to get us OFF oil for transport fuel. if supporting coal and nuclear helps accomplish this, solar and wind would be better of supporting coal and nuclear.
hard sell though of course.
Threesixty
How many MPG when recharging via the diesel generator? SRV EV1 runs on diesel, coal, uranium. Solar panels are pure PR for an off-road dragster that eats a household's weekly worth in less than 1 hour!
None the less, people will buy performance at any cost and if electric out-performs petroleum then we have a winner.
$400/gallon...and the wars are fought right at the source? Go SRV!
Milton
How is it that they plan on competing in a 250 and 1000 mile race when the range is only 60-100 miles per charge w/ a multi-hour recharge time?
christopher
Odd. Two drive wheels, 2 electric motors, but they chose to retain the diff/transmission/reduction etc. Looks like they just bolted on the electrics where they pulled off the petrol from. Junk that wastage, and they'll probably get 100kg+ weight savings, improve drive conditions, 10%+ better range/efficiency (more if they're smart enough to shut off the unnecessary motor when appropriate - like the inside one when cornering)
Stephen Colbourne
I expect they will swap batteries during the race, but will need much planning to have charged batteries along the route at the correct points.
I think electricity will be the fuel of the future for vehicles when batteries have improved and we have ample renewable, nuclear or fusion power supplies. I will be watching the IOM TT race where each year the electric bikes are improving their average speed by about 6mph. There will be a time (I predict about 2025) when electric rules. At Pikes Peak it may even be within a couple of years.
The Skud
You would hope that the designers at the very least considered "fast swap" battery pack modules to keep at least one pack charging ready for when the 1st one craps out. If not, why not? Parking your racer on a trailer for 5 hours - not counting locating the trailer, loading, hookup, time to get back off and return to the track - seems stupid. I cannot see the military wanting their scout vehicles off-line for 5-6 hours at a time.
Milton
@Stephen Colbourne
Yeah, the "fast-swap" you mention seems to be the only viable alternative for the racing environment. But from the looks of the vehicle and the fact that they have a charging trailer, I don't think they went that route. And for such an insanely large pack, I imagine it should be broken down into multiple sub-packs that link together... that would allow for more manageable "swaps" without the need of a forklift. Even still, I'm not so sure there would be anything fast about swapping such a massive pack. (1950 lbs according to this article).
Janine Simons
there are level 3 charging stations today capable of recharging in minutes not hours also quick charging may be available filling to 80% in a fast time
brickandfanal
Electric vehicle for endurance racing? I think this is a very bad idea, there is not enough autonomy for that and the time to fill up a battery is too long, especially considering that there is no electric installation in the middle of the desert in the first place. What is the point to run a petrol generator to generate electricity to recharge a battery? You just spend more petrol!
professore
So they are in ME contries where most oil is produced and as a result is often cheaper to buy than drinking-water, yet they are presumably shipping fuel from the US for these vehicles. The price of $400 per gallon probably means the smaller US gallon so it equates to $500 in standard gallons....even worse!