Anaxagoras wrote:Someone should take a closer look at this to figure out where the marketing and hype ends and what this actually means compared to other trucks on the market.
I mean, first of all: "Nikola Motors" What a blatant copycat of Tesla Motors.
I'm sure they use the term "electric" rather than hybrid or alternative fuel as a marketing decision. They want people to think of Tesla for trucks.
From their site
https://nikolamotor.com/
It appears they are in the business of taking pre-orders. They've never actually made anything other than pony content for shallow tech and environmental sites.
Doing the math, I get
150 MJ/gal = actual energy in diesel (google)
.5 = Max theoretical efficiency of a diesel engine
75 MJ/gal = energy used over that actual mile (150 x .5)
7 = mpg for a typical fully loaded semi (google)
11 MJ/mi = energy used over a typical mile (75/7)
3.6 MJ/kwh = joules to kwh conversion (google)
3 kwh/mi = kwh required to move the truck one typical mile (11/3.6)
350 kwh = energy in the fully charged aforementioned battery.
.85 = rough efficiency of a battery and all electric drive
300 kwh = useful energy in same said batter (350 x .85)
100 miles to a charge. (300/3 )
So, one and a half hours of highway driving.
yor welcome