DIY Electric RV?

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by bennelson

This past weekend, a friend and I drove from Wisconsin to North Carolina. He purchased an electric truck, using an investor's money.

Here's an interesting bit of the story for you at my blog...
https://300mpg.org/2019/04/13/electric-truck-road-trip/

The buy-it-now price appears to be $2700 US for the remaining units

https://www.copart.com/popular/categ...rch%22:true%7D

Ben - are these things still road-worthy? They look OK from the pictures. Not that I want to drive a .. ?5 ton truck? around ...

BUT ... I expect they need battery pack work and likely BMS work. Any manuals worth discussing?

Reverse engineering would be an experience ...

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by thingstodo

The buy-it-now price appears to be $2700 US for the remaining units

https://www.copart.com/popular/categ...rch%22:true%7D

Ben - are these things still road-worthy? They look OK from the pictures. Not that I want to drive a .. ?5 ton truck? around ...

BUT ... I expect they need battery pack work and likely BMS work. Any manuals worth discussing?

Reverse engineering would be an experience ...

2 more in Oregon

https://www.copart.com/popular/categ...rch%22:true%7D

[bennelson]

The truck my friend purchased looked to be in good overall condition. The original plan was to bring the whole thing back home. That didn't work out. (Trucking issues, sizes, weights, etc.)
We did bring back the batteries and are deciding what exactly to do with the rest of the truck. (Pay somebody to ship it, return with a different trailer, etc.)

You have to be VERY careful with some of these auctions. I believe the Oregon trucks are missing the motors and controllers, but the Copart description doesn't say that. Some of the other trucks we looked at had the driveshaft removed. None of them had working 12V batteries for testing.

If anyone lives near any of those trucks and can go check them out in person please do. I wouldn't dream of buying one without looking at it myself first.

For anyone looking at the buy it now pricing, please keep in mind there's a buyers fee and a brokers fee on top of that. Plus, you have to pay a tow truck driver to get it out of the yard. The price gets steep fast. I'm glad I wasn't footing the bill.

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by bennelson

The truck my friend purchased looked to be in good overall condition. The original plan was to bring the whole thing back home. That didn't work out. (Trucking issues, sizes, weights, etc.)
We did bring back the batteries and are deciding what exactly to do with the rest of the truck. (Pay somebody to ship it, return with a different trailer, etc.)

Did you get a look at the BMS? Brand or model?

Some of the BMS are nice and simple .. perhaps a 2010 model has a better chance of doing a simple go/no go than more recent models.

*EVERY* electric vehicle I have dealt with - golf cart, UTV, lawm mower, heck even a cordless drill! .. that had a BMS, had a problem with the BMS.

No one calls me to 'take a look' unless it's already broken. So given that it is broken, there is a high percentage of BMS issues. Damaged connectors, missing or damaged temperature sensors, corrosion on contacts, or general communication faults ... if I can get past those (or somehow get power to the contactor in the battery pack) the rest of the systems have some minor issues, warnings, alarms ...

Except for the battery packs that were completely drained or reverse polarity because (IMHO) the BMS did not disconnect when it should have

I guess that's not fair. I've seen 4 AC controller failures as well. But those vehicles were *VERY* abused. No motor failures so far. No encoder problems, besides a connector. One throttle had a failed channel. etc etc. Stuff that you can deal with. The BMS stuff is more black art!

[JSH]

My wife and I are looking to do a full-time RV / campervan tour in a few years to hit the remaining National Parks on our list and a whole host of other cool places.

12-16 foot box trucks are on the list of possibilities. After converting the interior of our Astro van I'm very interested in the straight 90-degree corners in a box truck vs. the endless contours of a van.

As far as an electric RV - I just don't see it. Those electric Class 4-5 trucks are meant for local deliveries with city ranges of 80-100 miles. I doubt you would get 75 miles driving 55 mph and that would be drawing the batteries down to SOC levels that would degrade long term health. For someone that want to live in an RV to save money on housing it could work but I don't see touring in one.

[oil pan 4]

I think 1 mile per kwh would be fairly difficult to achieve on the highway with a box truck.
I would probably expect 1 mile for 2 kwh.
Even 1 mile for 2 kwh would be like 17mpge. That seems possible.

[slowmover]

There is no such worse riding or handling vehicle than a box truck.

Bad as motorhomes are for space utilization (and the Achilles heel of its drivetrain; sits too much and dry rots) see the threads by ORBYWAN on aero work for a standard motorhome.

Read RON DITTMER at RV.net about his Phoenix Cruiser.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by slowmover

There is no such worse riding or handling vehicle than a box truck.

That depends on the spring rates and load. They have a horrible ride unloaded but with a proper load they smooth out nicely. I drove a medium duty box truck 2600 miles cross-county with all my household good and it rode fine. (Suspended cab / rigid seat)

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by JSH

That depends on the spring rates and load. They have a horrible ride unloaded but with a proper load they smooth out nicely. I drove a medium duty box truck 2600 miles cross-county with all my household good and it rode fine. (Suspended cab / rigid seat)

Changes nothing. Still worst by design.

1). The need to carry a maximum payload
2). And for that to fit a squared cube.

The secondary penalties of a motorhome: bad handling & braking with an extra-high COG

The space utilization and weight penalties can’t be overcome.

A Moho not only has NO advantage, it is nothing but DIS advantage the whole way down the list.

On the same chassis, at least the Moho has a bit of aero quality. A box truck, zero.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Changes nothing. Still worst by design.

1). The need to carry a maximum payload
2). And for that to fit a squared cube.

The secondary penalties of a motorhome: bad handling & braking with an extra-high COG

The space utilization and weight penalties can’t be overcome.

A Moho not only has NO advantage, it is nothing but DIS advantage the whole way down the list.

On the same chassis, at least the Moho has a bit of aero quality. A box truck, zero.

So everyone is on the same page - a box truck or motor home have no advantages compared to what?

Also spring rates have a huge difference on ride and there are dozens of options.