Apparently this new truck concept has created the youngest billionaire in the US. The truck touts a 1,000 mile range and an all-electric range of 25 miles - the latter with no decrease in performance fully loaded to 80,000 lbs.
The truck has an all electric drive train powered by batteries that are recharged by an onboard engine running on renewable natural gas, and features regenerative braking.
See the "How it Works" section of this website.
https://www.hyliion.com/erx-page/#/find/nearest?fuel=CNG
Now to the physics question. If the truck has a 1,000 mile range, with a 25 mile all electric component, and the batteries are recharged to be able to go 975 miles (1,000-25, in theory) by the onboard engine, wouldn't the onboard engine have to be powerful enough to propel the truck 975 miles? I left out the positive effects of regenerative braking, so there is some gain there. But the overall energy needed to travel 1,000 miles is the same regardless of the method of power generation.
So is all this effort just to get the gain from regenerative braking plus the feel-good effects of a 25 mile all electric range? I haven't seen the estimated cost of a truck like this, but I would guess it would be about double the cost of a conventional diesel truck.
The truck has an all electric drive train powered by batteries that are recharged by an onboard engine running on renewable natural gas, and features regenerative braking.
See the "How it Works" section of this website.
https://www.hyliion.com/erx-page/#/find/nearest?fuel=CNG
Now to the physics question. If the truck has a 1,000 mile range, with a 25 mile all electric component, and the batteries are recharged to be able to go 975 miles (1,000-25, in theory) by the onboard engine, wouldn't the onboard engine have to be powerful enough to propel the truck 975 miles? I left out the positive effects of regenerative braking, so there is some gain there. But the overall energy needed to travel 1,000 miles is the same regardless of the method of power generation.
So is all this effort just to get the gain from regenerative braking plus the feel-good effects of a 25 mile all electric range? I haven't seen the estimated cost of a truck like this, but I would guess it would be about double the cost of a conventional diesel truck.