[QUOTE="MazeVX, post: 285881, member: 16380"]These are the Pioneers and I think and they have to make the way for mainstream …

I'm often a early adopter of new technology but this time I pass!

I'm involved in some parts of vehicle development and I think we are not ready yet we can build perfect commuters and daily drivers[/QUOTE]

Ive been following the technology for quite a long time. I have been to all of GM's Hybrid and electric vehicle classes as well as visiting the Edison research facility a few times to speak with the engineers.  Right now, one could say were in the 3rd generation of electric car. In reality were not that far. The early vehicles were a joke and were only produced because they were forced to. The manufacture's who did produce these cars really didn't have the technology to do so. We saw the same thing in the late 60's when the feds said "you will make engines produce less emissions" The engineers didn't know how to do that yet and it took us…….until the mid/late 90's to figure it out? Just look at the fine 80's cars that were produced.

Battery technology flat lined a while ago when everyone put their money into hydrogen fuel cell research. The biggest issue has been the auto manufactures decided we don't want those vehicles. No one wanted to put the money into the research.

Along comes Musk and Tesla corp. He evolved the battery technology rapidly. He made changes and came up with new technology then did not patent it. He has said many times that his goal is to see everyone driving electric vehicles. His chassis are projected for a million miles and batteries for 250k plus. My Land Cruiser has 250k miles and I've put more money into refurbishing it then I would have for a new battery pack.

 Right now there are several new companies starting up making these vehicles. While the technology is still improving and is still in its early stages. The biggest issue I see with these new companies is not "drive line" longevity or battery it's "your seat stitching has an issue" and the only place to deal with it is three states away.

Rivian is doing what Tesla did. Make a few vehicles for a niche market and ask a bunch of money. Hopefully selling enough to finance the next leg and bring in lower priced vehicles. 

If I'm not mistaken, the Nissan Leaf has a 90 mile range. I'm 10 miles from work. If most commuters lived within range, they would benefit from vehicles like this. If you watch the world oil producers, you will notice that the price's have started to drop slightly. With the world adopting electric vehicle's were going to see an oil glut  (producing more than used) within a few years.

It should be interesting to see what's going to happen when these companies start out doing each other. People who do remote camping where there is no place for a charging station will most likely still need fuel. Construction equipment and long haul will still need fuel also. At least for now.

The world as we know it is changing rapidly. These vehicles are the start. Power technology is evolving. It should be interesting to see what happens in the next decade.

Scott

These are the Pioneers and I think and they have to make the way for mainstream …

I'm often a early adopter of new technology but this time I pass!

I'm involved in some parts of vehicle development and I think we are not ready yet  we can build perfect commuters and daily drivers, we could build more efficient hybrid technology for semi trucks and commercial vehicles and earth moving equipment like excavators but to date, we don't have the technology for long range drive in relatively small vehicles and also not for overlanding or expedition.

We have to wait a few more years until the technology has evolved.

Thats my opinion.

You demonstrate my point admirably lol

So on a 410mi capacity battery, how did one get 700mi from civilization? \

No offense taken, but a hybrid would be great as an overlander. Jeep’s new 48v architecture in their 2.0 turbo 4 Rubicon is starting to make inroads as a very mild hybrid.

To really make a difference, they’re going to have to start looking at different hybrid architecture. The Prius-style parallel hybrid is too limiting. I’d love to see a real series hybrid overland vehicle. Shall we say 300 miles of pure battery range augmented by a diesel? Locomotives run this type of setup where the diesel engine doesn’t turn the wheels but just charges the batteries. There are only a few series hybrid cars available, and frustratingly enough, Chevy’s Volt is one of them (BMW and Honda also make them). Frustrating because GM/Chevy has experience in building a series hybrid, and their ZR2 shows that they have the experience to put together a serious overland vehicle, so why not just combine the two concepts together? A series hybrid ZR2? I’d be all over that!

1:  I'm not offended.

2:  Full Disclosure:  I drive an oilburner.

That said, I think once there are some growing pains ironed out, like charging availability, durability, etc., I'd love to rock an electric vehicle at Moab.  Electric motors make ridiculous amounts of torque in relation to horsepower and would be much lighter weight than an internal combustion engine.  If I could get a reliable, truly useable CJ-5 with ~500lbs of torque, I'd be all in.

That said, I don't see any of us doing Camel Trophy runs on battery power any time soon.