PG&E buys Via Motors e-Rev electric pickups

After the batteries are exhausted this is a serial hybrid, and must power a 400hp truck with charging losses. To do this the most efficient cost effective way is probably a 4cyl tdi generator, which can handle the 150KW or 10KW in a efficient manner, but..... These trucks are $79K before tax credits, and no one wants to put out that kind of money for an engine that you can pull from an inexpensive vw. That choice of diesel engine might also stop california incentives, I'm not sure, which is the reason to go with gasoline. Then since you have decided not to design for use, why not use the smallest engine you can buy in the truck. Keeping the revs down to 150KW or less is more efficient and provides a smaller generator.

 

There is no tax on engine displacement in the US so displacement is irrelevant outside of racing classes. Engine outside dimensions, weight, power, fuel efficiency and cost do matter. The 4.3 L engine should also outlast the more highly stressed 2.5 L engine with the same power and probably cost less to build because of lack of OHC.

 

Which 4 cylinder TDI can reliably put out 150 kW (200+ HP) for a viable commercial duty cycle?

If the 4.3L V6 is the engine I think it is, it also costs less than a 4 cylinder TDI

 

I dont get why you would want to charge your $80,000 truck with a natural gas generator.
Why not buy 3 trucks converted to burn natural gas
for the same price? .

 

From this I got that the 4.3L engine only drives the generator.
And face it, 150kW from 4.3L displacement are 1970's numbers and have no business in this millenium. Not even low revving American engines. Which btw always use considerably more gasoline for given output than smaller european/japanese motors. At least in every overview I ever saw.
I'd love to see proof that big displacement engine ALWAYS live longer than smaller, more powerfull ones. One tip: find the engine that has done the most miles in a consumercar (not a long haultruck). I can tell you it's not a big displacement engine... (and IIRC, nor is the second or third, but that I don't know for sure).

Any modern carengine will run for 200k without much effort nowadays. Even my puny 100hp, 1100cc motorcycle engine lasts forever. I can't get cowlparts for it secondhand because the engines never fail. There are those with over 500kmiles on the clock . The only ones that wind up in parts are those that have been crashed... so no cowl parts...

e.g. Volvo has the 2.4L diesel D5* (not 4 but 5 pot, early one's in my Volvo) with up to 160kW, also used in their marine products, so very suited for stationary use..

So, apart from the customer expecting it, I still don't get it.
And you probably think: what's he on about, 4.3L is tiny for a truck

BTW: I do like them! As I like any awd electrical vehicle...
:focus:

*: D5 is the carname for the engine. Volvo D5 in marine version is a larger (4pot, 5L) engine. The D5 carversion is called the D3 in marine guise. Capice? [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_D5_engine"]Link to wiki[/ame]

 

They have some cummins diesels that do this fine in Europe. I haven't seen them in the US. I know the DOE is funding Cummins to build a super efficient 2.8L 4 cyl tdi to be used in a titan truck. This is a generator cycle for phev not a truck type duty cycle. Many 4 cylinder tdi generators for 100KW, let it be less efficient at 150KW. The normal duty will be 10kw-50kw with 150kw only for peak demands. Otherwise the battery will use its buffer. If most miles are ev, even a car tdi should do.

It definitely is more expensive, since the 6 cyclinder comes with the cheapest silverado that you can strip to build this phev. I was commenting on what would be optimal including efficiency

 

I read TDI to be the former trade marked TDI of the Volkswagen Automobile group, a different batch of engines. I didn't know they lost their trademark status in many countries last year.

 

Well close they are a little modified from 1985, truck engines were tuned back then to give more torque and less hp. Truck engines should be low revving. Ford dropped the normally aspirated 6 on its f series, now you can get the base 8, turbo direct injected 6 with more torque, or bigger gasoline or diesel 8s.

Sorry about that I should have just said turbo diesel with direct injection. Cut any of the truck 8 cylinder diesels in half, fit it with the appropriate turbo, and it would be much more efficient. That cummins 2.8L diesel being developed is 220hp, 380ft-lb torque, and 40% efficiency made for low emissions. That may be a hard sell with the hp wars, but it would be great in a phev., or a work truck.

 

Read in another thread he's really been badmouthing hybrids and/or EV's somewhere in the past???
If I understood this correctly, then:
Is the world simply ruled by the old boys network? You get someone's who's known in the hybrid/EV community for his anti hybrid/EV sentiments to be in the board of a company making PHEV's? How? Has the world gone mental? (Never mind, that's a rhetorical question, I know the answer to that...)