Featured Ford Says a Fully Electric SUV with 300 Miles of Range + Hybrid Mustang/F-150 Are Coming by 2020

Calm my friends. When a resource does not meet the demand, the prices become unstable. Sad to say, there is no way to predict the price extremes. The variability, yes, the timing no.

Gas prices are already up BUT I placed my bet.


Bob Wilson

 

The towing issues with a power split architecture are due to overheating of the MGs - too much sustained power going through them. The Gen 4 got a tow rating due to added cooling.

In any case, the rumors I've heard have said that it's getting a parallel system with the 10-speed automatic.

Meanwhile, I would be very surprised if a Toyota hybrid pickup didn't have a power split system, and I have reason to believe that the Multi-Stage THS II as used in the LC 500h was intended for a truck - Toyota had a patent showing the concepts behind, although not the exact implementation of, the LC 500h gearbox (a 4-speed reduction box on the end of a power split device) back in 2007, and it was in a 4WD truck application (the patent being on a system to alert the driver to inappropriate usage of low-range). And, really, IMO, the LC 500h's gearbox doesn't make sense in that application, unless it was designed for some other application where a CVT-like strategy was preferable, and used in the LC for cost savings over designing a bespoke parallel hybrid architecture. They try to behave exactly like a 10-speed conventional automatic in the first 9 gears, after all...

 

ironic, that a sufficient cooling architecture was available in the RX Lexus (SUV) by late 2005. Later - the Highlander Hybrid had a towing rating too.
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Those vehicles also have much bigger MGs, too, though.

I should probably compile the tow ratings for vehicles that have both ICE-only and hybrid powertrains of similar displacement...

 

Just drove through Wyoming this holiday. Tesla will not sell in Middle America. Stayed in Holiday Inn Express where there was a dozen unused chargers. Ended up ICEs needed to park there because the chargers took up so many spaces.

 

wow, a dozen used chargers. amazing. there are no chargers at the hotels we stay at between here and florida.

 

Toyota/Lexus Europe tow ratings (European tow ratings, I find, are more likely to push the limits of the powertrain, because European towing isn't as stressful on the chassis), all weights in kg:

	Model	Diesel	Petrol	Hybrid	Diesel notes	Petrol notes	Hybrid notes
1	Yaris	780	730/880	0	1.4T manual	1.0 manual/1.33 manual and CVT	1.5 power split
2	Auris	1000/1300	1000/1300	385	1.4T manual/1.6T manual	1.33 manual/1.2T manual	1.8 power split
3	C-HR		1300/1100	725		1.2T manual/1.2T CVT	1.8 power split
4	RAV4	2000	1500	800/1650	2.0T manual	2.0 CVT	2.5 power split FWD/AWD
5	Lexus IS		1500	1500		2.0T automatic	2.5 power split
6	Lexus NX		1500	0/1500		2.0T automatic	2.5 power split FWD/AWD
7	Lexus GS		1600	1600		2.0T and 3.5 automatic	2.5 power split and 3.5 power split with 2-speed MG2 reduction
8	Lexus RX		1500	1500		2.0T and 3.5 automatic	3.5 power split

So, the bigger powertrains I suspect start running into chassis limits before they run into powertrain limits. Well, duh. Interesting that on the RAV4/NX, the rear motor seems to help increase towing capacity massively.

Edit: For comparison, Toyota/Lexus US tow ratings:

	Model	Gasoline	Hybrid	Gasoline notes	Hybrid notes
1	RAV4	1500	1750	2.5 automatic FWD and AWD except SE	2.5 power split AWD except SE
2	Highlander	1500/5000	3500	2.7 automatic FWD/3.5 automatic FWD and AWD	3.5 power split AWD
3	Lexus NX	2000	1500	2.0T automatic FWD and AWD optional	2.5 power split AWD optional
4	Lexus RX	3500	3500	3.5 automatic FWD and AWD	3.5 power split AWD

RAV4 SEs apparently can't tow, and note that the towing package is an option on the NX, without it, towing capacity is 0 lbs. (And, apparently the FWD NX Hybrid is dead in the US, but it had 0 lbs towing capacity in the US as well, when it was still around.)

 

What are you talking about?
Tesla is happy to sell to "Middle America".
We have about 300 members of the Minnesota Tesla Club.

Wyoming is pretty sparse, however the general population density in Wyoming is also very sparse.

 

makes you wonder why holiday inn would install 12 chargers.

 

Many possible reasons.
Since it costs them nothing, they wanted to attract Tesla owners to their establishment.
The owner supports electrifying transportation and is willing to help by allowing those to be built in his lot.
They get some sort of LEED credits (unsure of this one)?

 

Several years ago, driving through Wyoming, I saw more huge Windmills than people. I asked a guy at a gas station where they sold all that wind generated power. He said they were still working on building out the grid.

Sounds like the shortest copper wire run was to some local electric car chargers at Holiday Inns.

 

i wasn't aware they were tesla chargers, thanks.

 

Hmmm, actually, I'm not sure they were.
The first sentence referred to Tesla. The second didn't mention Tesla specifically, so perhaps they weren't.
If they weren't Tesla, the second and third reasons would apply, just not the first.

 

The article I posted earlier about the city considering using a grant to install charging stations spoke of a major objection being the loss of "normal" parking spaces.

 

Wow . . . That's not too far different from eliminating those real close handicap spots - because a person is over 350 Lbs. ie save spots for 'normal' people.
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i fought the chargers were supposed to go out the way. but perhaps they feel visibility reduces vandalism.

 

Finally.

Starting to Make America Great Again.

 

They should, and in many cases the Tesla ones are out of the way.
This also tends to eliminate the "we can't afford to lose the spaces" argument except in overly crowded lots.

Many chargers are right up front though. Many are placed up front simply because that is where they are cheapest to put in.
This is short sighted, leads to ICEing, and leads to complaints.

 

Geee ... imagine that .... not seeing a car charging. That's like saying "wow, there were no Lexus hybrids that stopped at the arco station while i was in wyoming ... thus, lexus hybrids will never make it in the midwest"
wow.
But there is a truly Funny thing also !!
Checked google maps of wyoming for Holiday Inn express. I did that because wyoming is one of the FOUR least populated states. There are only 10 holiday inn express'es across the entire state. That made it pretty easy to overlay plugshare maps - of Tesla superchargers. Yet none of the holiday inns have banks of superchargers, much less 12 superchargers. So, which city were you at in wyoming with the dozen superchargers?
Yea - of the 5 supercharger locations in wyoming, the largest has only 8. All the rest have only 4. It'd be pretty retarded for 12 stations to be located in wyoming, where so few people live &/or travel, which obviously red flagged the 'facts'.

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My whole point about Mr. Musk is that he is not tied down to automotive union guidelines or beauracratic red tape. He is, whether we like it or not, our modern day version of a true visionary. Mr. Musk has hired people who think like him. This includes assembly line people. So, having said that, my point was that he is probably more likely to build a truck that works simply, because he can. He already has done an SUV. He doesn't care about charging stations and locations and the like. He envisions things and gets it done. Everyone (including me) thought that he would go out of business building $100,000 electric cars, but yet, here he is. And now all the other automakers are scratching their heads trying to figure out why there is a waiting list for a $100,000 all electric car. So, if we see an electric truck built by him, I will not be surprised. The big 3 are too interested in "controlling the market". Elon makes the car, and the market comes to him..............no matter what the price.