Why no hybrid trucks yet?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I want to see something like a series hybrid with a small 4 cylinder engine and no transmission.

Considering the hybrid option is only available with crew-cab and the highest-spec engine, and the base 3.3L naturally-aspirated V6 engine available for the F-150 has an almost unnoticeably lower torque than the 2.3L turbocharged 4-cyl fitted to the Ranger, it seems like even Ford didn't figure out how a hybrid capability might've been on its way to become a valuable asset for commercial operators. Well, maybe some publicity after the hybrid feature provided useful during the recent snowstorms will lead some Ford executives to find out it's not a bad idea to extend the availability of a similar setup to its entire truck (and van) range.

[redpoint5]

There must be a way to increase towing capacity, increase efficiency, and reduce lifetime operating costs by going with a series hybrid. It works well for trains, and there is a TEDx talk about running series hybrid garbage trucks with turbine engines for efficiency and lower maintenance.

The F150 hybrid has a 10 speed automatic transmission, which must cost a fortune and weigh a lot. Eliminate all that nonsense.

[jazclrint]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

There must be a way to increase towing capacity, increase efficiency, and reduce lifetime operating costs by going with a series hybrid. It works well for trains, and there is a TEDx talk about running series hybrid garbage trucks with turbine engines for efficiency and lower maintenance.

The F150 hybrid has a 10 speed automatic transmission, which must cost a fortune and weigh a lot. Eliminate all that nonsense.

No, that is the stock transmission all the other trucks get. The Ford Hybrid system is not more efficient. But the motor it is attached to is. Ford and a few others seem to be figuring out how to smooch an electric motor between stock engines and transmissions. Also, units Chevy they attached it to the most powerful motor and lost almost nothing in towing capacity, while making it the most powerful motor option. And you can only get the 7.2kW onboard power with the hybrid system. That's how you make the hybrid cool.

The GM hybrids really did get a raw deal just because people didn't see a big improvement in highway gas mileage right when he prices soared. I feel like they didn't go big enough. If they had done a Volt style plug in Hybrid system that got much better highway mileage, that might have more popular. But I'm not sure it would have been affordable, or tough enough at the time.

[freebeard]

Onboard power is a big deal, especially if it's 220V and can power a house.

[ksa8907]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Onboard power is a big deal, especially if it's 220V and can power a house.

I'll be selling my volt, but very seriously considered getting an inverter to go from the 400v battery to 240v ac for the house. Let's face it, the chevy volt is the world's best mobile 75kw generator. I may still do it with the yukon, but not sure how well it will work with such a small battery.

[redpoint5]

Interesting idea... I've been focused on getting a PTO genset, but what could be better than a plug-in hybrid as a genset? The only practical power limitation there would be the capability of the inverter...

If one already has a 7kW inverter from their solar array, what mods would be required to tap into a 400v DC battery with it to power a house? Something would need to bypass the inverter logic that shuts it down if it doesn't sense grid power.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

there is a TEDx talk about running series hybrid garbage trucks with turbine engines for efficiency and lower maintenance

You mean this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4H3FE0Z4QQ

Had it been scaled down to fit a Ranger or a Jeep Gladiator for example, would be interesting to say the least.

The F150 hybrid has a 10 speed automatic transmission, which must cost a fortune and weigh a lot. Eliminate all that nonsense.

When I see an increasing amount of gears in an automatic transmission, it seems like a CVT could make more sense. Well, considering the electric motors in some hybrids are set to emulate the function of a CVT, that makes some sense.

[Piotrsko]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

If one already has a 7kW inverter from their solar array, what mods would be required to tap into a 400v DC battery with it to power a house? Something would need to bypass the inverter logic that shuts it down if it doesn't sense grid power.

How about a true sine wave UPS for line voltage substitution? power drops out and UPS does it's thing providing whatever the inverter needs. Also constantly powers inverter line input unless line input is a huge drain. Ups's come in all the popular voltage flavors

[redpoint5]

I'll have to research this a bit more, but it might be complex to get a solar inverter to function with a battery instead of solar. The inverters are designed to utilize the grid as a battery, so any "excess" electricity is fed back out to the grid, and any deficiency is pulled from it.

If it's being fed a DC voltage from a battery, it would always have "excess" and any attempt to feed that excess to the fake grid we've created would not be good.

I don't know if there is an easy solution.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

When I see an increasing amount of gears in an automatic transmission, it seems like a CVT could make more sense. Well, considering the electric motors in some hybrids are set to emulate the function of a CVT, that makes some sense.

People don't like how CVTs sound / work. Drivers are conditioned to expect RPMs to rise during acceleration and then drop at the upshift. Rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall. When a CVT goes to peak torque or HP and just stays there it seems odd - like the engine is screaming and being abused. Of course it isn't but goes against decades of tradition. I drove a 2nd generation Prius for more than a decade and the engine still sounded wrong.

That is why more and more CVTs are being programmed to mimic a traditional automatic and shift virtual gears.