South Africa's heavy-duty electric trucks to get battery swapping stations

Luis

Luis

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South Africa's heavy-duty electric trucks to get battery swapping stations

One of the world's largest manufacturers of electric heavy-duty trucks plans to pilot battery swapping stations in South Africa, starting on the freight-intensive N3 corridor between Johannesburg and Durban.

Chinese heavy machinery manufacturer Sany operates the biggest pure electric heavy-duty truck factory in the world, capable of producing 300,000 units annually.
 
Battery swapping, hmmm going back to the 1900s with electric cars
 
its cute and all. But the Battery weight cuts down on the load they can carry, so the economics does not make sense. If the price of diesel goes up, that might change, but not yet.

what they should be looking at is Diesel-electric hybrids with smaller batteries. Like Edison Trucks. you get all the range of a standard diesel, you save 30-50% in diesel, due to things like regen braking and downhill recharge. You also simplify the system as it does not need a complex gearbox. For interest the diesel engine on the Diesel-Electic is not connected to the drivetrain. Its a simple electric only drivetrain (like a diesel train, or heavy earth mover). It just recharges the battery when it gets low, so it always runs at the optimal RPM for efficiency. No gearbox, no clutches, no syncros, no differentials.
 
Lupus said:
Battery swapping, hmmm going back to the 1900s with electric cars
Click to expand...
Don't truckers have mandatory breaks like EU? They can charge during their breaks like in the EU. 350kW charger is enough. Unfortunately, we live in a backwater shithole that only support 50kW chargers.
 
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