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Early Electric Trucks


Subdeacon Joe

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Jfuthffilsyt Ssp1aa3 afoogtns o4:irse56nd neAcSM  · 
 
1912 C-T Electric Truck 
Commercial Truck company of Philadelphia built 5-ton electric trucks as far back as 1912.
A couple were owned by Curtis Publishing Company, which printed and distributed the Lady's Home Journal, the Saturday Evening Post, The American Home, The Country Gentleman, Holiday, and Jack and Jill.
The company maintained a fleet of 22 Commercial Trucks, built nearby, to haul coal and rolls of printing paper to their plant, and to distribute the publications to the post office and to local newsstands.
The Model A 10 trucks were rated at 5 tons, but records show they regularly hauled 10 tons of newsprint and magazines.
There was no gearbox. Instead, the trucks had a second wheel below the steering wheel on the column for forward and reverse control. Drivers turned it clockwise for forward, or counterclockwise for reverse. With mechanical brakes on only the rear wheels, giving the truck some reverse power was also helpful for stopping. Drivers sat up front, high above the headlights.
Bodies were made of Red Oak, and the trucks initially had an open cab with a convertible top shielding the driver. Later, removable steel cabs were made by a local body shop. Each truck weighs 15,700 pounds.
The trucks employed four-wheel drive, using a single 16-hp GE electric motor behind each wooden wheel with its solid rubber tire. Top speed was 12 mph empty—2 mph above the legal limit in 1912— and 8 mph fully loaded.
These A 10 Standards, with a 132-inch wheelbase, ran on nine 500-pound 5-ft. long, lead-acid batteries producing 10 volts and 382 amps. They were charged six hours a day while being loaded or unloaded. Little seems to be known about the range of the trucks with these batteries, but they can also be driven with modern 12-volt automotive starter batteries.
The original batteries could also be exchanged, and Curtis would swap in new, charged batteries before it sent the trucks out on their daily rounds. After 10 years, the batteries could be rebuilt and reused. The C-T trucks remained in service with Curtis Publishing for 50 years, until 1962.
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Gas, steam, electric and diesel trucks were in use around the turn of the 20th century. Once the US highway system started allowing long haul connections between cities diesel power units won out over the others for cost and range capabilities. 

 

What's old is new again.

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Spark ignited (gasoline fueled) engines predominated in medium duty applications until the 1970's Arab oil embargo.  Then the premium paid for a diesel engine was was offset by the lower $ per mile fuel cost & longer life.  Gasoline engines disappeared in school bus & solid waste collection fleets in a few years.

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I read that in 1908, when H Ford introduced the Model T, there were 100 combustion engine car companies, 100 electric and 50 other (steam, etc) in the USA.  

H Ford and T Edison said around 1920 that all autos would eventually be electric.  Edison was working on submarine batteries at the time.

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Electric works for local hauling. You get full torque from first motor revolution. With ICE you need to hit the power band to get good response

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says something about that old trial and error and accepting what the populace want as opposed to what the government wants to imposed - let the development take its course , it will all work out in good time and when that time is right , 

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I imagine having electric cars in an age when electrical power to homes was often hit or miss. Power might or might not be on and when it’s not it might be days before being restored. 
 

And now here we are over 100 years later in California where electric cars are popular and actually being mandated in a few years and in the summer the power can often be hit or miss and when it’s off it can be off for days…

 

Irony and Stupidity go hand in hand sometimes. 

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I'm trying to imagine an electric vehicle travelling in Northern Ontario, where we have to note how much gas or diesel is in our tanks when we travel the roads, with no fueling stations, cell service or electricity for hundreds of miles.

say-no-to-gasoling-go-100-electric-electric-cars-47061141.png

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On my way to the Dr.'s appointment yesterday, I actually saw one of those Mustang Mach E's. To me, it's not a real Mustang, just an SUV playing off the Mustang name. I've seen a total of maybe 5 electric cars around here, PERIOD! And , NO charging stations. I've seen one CNG station.:angry::blush:

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As a Cub Scout we visited Thomas Edison’s Lab in, you guessed it, Edison, NJ. They have on display many interesting items from his research into various technologies. One item that sat sort of out of the way was Mrs. Edison’s electric car. The story attached to this early ecological wonder was that, it was very often towed home with flat batteries, as Mrs. Edison could never seem to remember to charge the car when at home. 
 

No one in the new wave of ecological warriors seems to learn from history.

What’s that old saw? 
“Those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it.”  ;)
 

Just goes to show “There is nothing new under the sun.”  :D

 

CJ

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5 hours ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

I'm trying to imagine an electric vehicle travelling in Northern Ontario,

 

Or Texas,  Nevada,  Montana, Wyoming. 

 

I  tried to map out a trip in our Nissan Leaf from Santa Rosa California to Lexington Kentucky.   With a 100% charge we have a theoretical range of about 170 miles.   I don't know what the long uphill through the Sierra will do to that.  I think that there are enough fast charge stations so the longest stretch is about 100 miles.   Need to take 70 rather than I-80 out of Salt Lake. 

 

The biggest issue is that it takes about 45 minutes to go from 25 percent to full charge.   So about every 2 hours we would have to stop for about an hour. 

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In Missouri for $5 you can go to a state park and use any unused RV power pole for one hour if you have an electric vehicle. 

 I know of a couple state parks just off major highways

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Went out to charge this morning.   40% to 85%, half an hour,  $7.  I  could have used the Level 1, plug into 110 home current  and taken all day to charge for maybe a bucks worth of home current,  but we still have $200+ on the EVgo account courtesy of Nissan so I might as well use it.   That account is only good until 24 March,  2022 and I don't want anything left in it.

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This is why I would not want an all-electric vehicle. I can certainly see owning a hybrid in the future.

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52 minutes ago, DeaconKC said:

This is why I would not want an all-electric vehicle. I can certainly see owning a hybrid in the future.

 

Yep. It can be a pain. And definitely takes planning and a different mindset.  But you can say the same about the internal combustion engine transportation in the early years.  

 

My opinion is that until there are enough affordable EVs with honest, real world ranges of 300 miles (which would be sticker mileage of about 380), and good sized fast charger stations at reasonable distances they won't catch on in significant numbers.

We got our Leaf because it was more affordable than dropping 5 grand or more into repairs on a 20 year old Tundra.  It's a good commute vehicle for me, it's comfortable for my wife to ride in, and the savings in gasoline makes about 3/4 of the monthly payment. 

 

 

39 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

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When I took the test drive the salesman asked why I was considering an EV, going green,  money, something else.   I told him money because I have no delusion about EVs being some sort of panacea to "save the planet. "  Heresy, that, here in so very woke Sonoma County. 

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Funny, I am going back to ice vehicles after owning a phev and EV.  Put over 130,000 miles on those two vehicles.  I like driving an ev, but range and charging have not  progressed much in the last 4 years.  I at the point where my EV no longer meets my range needs and no replacements have been released with enough range (300 miles plus rated) and awd at a reasonable price (sub $50k).    Imho we need another battery breakthrough to really make EV’s viable for everyone. 

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1 hour ago, Still hand Bill said:

no replacements have been released with enough range (300 miles plus rated) and awd at a reasonable price (sub $50k).    Imho we need another battery breakthrough to really make EV’s viable for everyone

 

And some sort of adapter,  with built-in electronics so CHAdeMO  and Tesla chargers can be used by everyone.  Right now there are adapters so Tesla can use CHAdeMO, and allow Teslas to talk to the chargers, but not the other way.

16 minutes ago, Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795 said:

Out west the power situation looks awfully dicey what with rolling black outs/brown  outs. And then they want you to put  extra strain of the grid charging EV's.:rolleyes::blink::blush:

 

Yep.  "We are goingtosave the planet by forcing all cars and home appliances to be electric!"  "We have to save ourselves by not using electricity!"

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Don't want no 'lectric car or truck. I ran outta gas at the range once. Had about half a can of Coleman fuel in the back of the truck. Knowing that Coleman Fuel is essentially unleaded gas, poured it in and it ran like a top back to town. Try that with the 'lectric. Maybe I'm living in a bubble, but I haven't noticed any electricity cans anywhere.

JHC ;)

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Brave are the Early Adopters.
Spines of steel, have those who are willing to tackle Version 1.0.0 products.

I understand the mining of raw materials (blue cobalt?) for these batteries is highly dangerous.
I'm also told that expired batteries are highly toxic and require special disposal methods....
And that millions of these will be expired in the next decade.

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M y paternal grandmother learned to drive with a Brush electric on the South side of Chicago. Her dad, my great grandfather, got out of it, jumped on a streetcar, and left her to learn to drive it home. It had forward and reverse and a speed controller. That was 1905 drivers training.

 

My maternal grandfather used to call us: "Useless as a Stoughton bottle". It was years before I learned that a Stoughton bottle was the artificial flower vase manufactured in Stoughton, England that was on either side of the inside of an electric car.

 

I live in rural Idaho on the British Columbia border. There are NO electrics here. Normal trips are beyond the range of today's electrics not to speak of round trips. There are no charging stations on the mountains nor anywhere else. Even a hybrid would be problematic. There aren't even any gas stations up here!

 

We have to follow the Boy Scout motto: "Be prepared."

 

Lefty big city political creeps are clueless about rural Westerners.

 

.

 

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