XOS Electric Trucks | Hacker News Reader

XOS Electric Trucks

xostrucks.com

43 pointsdanboarder20 comments

I don't follow the industry, so would appreciate some background.

1. Are these in actual use anywhere? All of their advertised models?

2. Are there any other US manufacturers of electric trucks (Aside from Tesla, which will start production someday)? How about non US?

3. I have always heard that US safety standards are very expensive to meet (things like crash testing every X cars), and that that keeps out a lot of European brands. Does that work the same for trucks?

EDIT: In their blog they refer to 15 trucks of one model being delivered to FedEx. Still not sure if that mean anything other than 15 of one model have been produced.

For (2), in Canada/Quebec, Lion Electric produces electric buses and urban trucks:

https://thelionelectric.com/en

I don't follow closely, but they recently opened an assembly plant in Illinois.

Not trucks, but Montreal public transit (STM) has fully electric buses. A mix of NovaBus (Volvo) and New Flyer. They've been testing them for a few years and expanding.

Nice, i've seen one of those school buses drop kids near my home the other day. The blue bumper is quite distinctive.

The suspension was a bit noisy. Not sure if it's due to the weight of the batteries or the crappy Montreal streets.

On 2, I don't think there are any commercial truck manufacturers in the US that don't offer electric models.

Some of this stuff doesn't add up... For example, the specs show:

May Payload: 54,000 - 56,000 lbs

GVWR: 36,200 - 53,200 lbs

Charge Time: 1.5 hour DC / 4 hour L2

Charge Rating: 350kW (DC) / 22 kW (AC)

1.5hrs at 350kw might at best imply a battery capacity of ~500kwh, but then the second figure (4hrs @ 22kw) only gives 88kwh? Maybe its a typo but the same specs are listed for the stepvan and the hdxt truck.

Class 8 trucks have a legal weight limit of 80,000 lbs. Assuming the weight listed is for the truck only (without trailer), even at the lowest 36k weight that would imply the max payload is 44k lbs. Also I don't understand why the weight varies between 36k to 53k. Assuming the variance is due to battery configuration, 17k lbs for ~500kwh seems excessively heavy (a Tesla S 100kwh battery is only ~1200 lbs). Maybe they're using a different chemistry but that would jack up the unladen weight and reduce payload.

Then there's the complete lack of any pricing info. It would seem they are taking existing truck designs and doing an electric conversion. Those slitty headlights make it look cool but I suspect they aren't DOT approved.

I don’t know about towing “the entire island of Fiji”, but the torque figure for that semi is insane.

The average semi has 1000lb-ft, mining trucks have 10k. And that’s their peak. The XOS semi has 35k (!)

That's because they are measuring Torque at the hubs which gives these insane numbers. If you "convert" the torque, it's much more realistic.

Seems misleading since they are quoting wheel torque which is after gearing.

A semi with 1850 ft lbs engine torque with a 13:1 first gear and 3:1 drive axle will put 72150 ft lbs to the wheel.

Nobody quotes wheel torque because you can get any wheel torque you want through gearing.

Do electric drive trains have gearing? Can't the applied torque be regulated electrically?

Yes there is usually a single speed gear case with gear reduction to increase wheel torque. Sometimes you will see multi-speed transmission on EV's but it is not as necessary since electric motors put out maximum torque at 0 rpm and spin up to 20,000 rpm.

The Tesla semi for instance has 4 model 3 motors putting out 307 ft lbs each with a single speed gearbox of 23:1 on the front drive and 15:1 on the rear drive allowing a kind of electronically controlled two speed system. So the front drive can put down 307 * 2 * 23 = 14122 ft lbs while the rear can put down 307 * 2 * 15 = 9210 ft lbs for a total of 23332 at the wheels.

The main point to remember is torque can be increased by gearing while power cannot, and measuring torque at the wheels seems impressive but doesn't tell you much, you can get a lawnmower engine to put huge torque numbers at the wheels with the right gearing and most EV have gear reduction except maybe hub motors even then they might use planetary reduction.

Yeah diesel electric trains are also in that 35k lb-ft range. Torque is a huge advantage electric motors have over ICE which makes them great in these types of applications.

At those numbers the limitation is not the engine tech but the strength of the drivetrain. Most any electric motor can snap an axle if not regulated properly.

Most of the largest mining trucks are already electric drive, have been for many years, with an IC generator powering an electric motor. That is easier at scale than building a massive transmission.

Something will surely give. At what point is wheel spinning or turning the hubs inside the tyres likely? I know nothing about trucks.

Neat.

200km range .. too short for personal use. How long till we have an 800km range ?

In India, cities are much smaller if you go outside of metro cities.

I own a scooter I bought 2.5 years ago. Had a 1kwh battery with a advertised 50km range. After over 25k usage, the charge holds good for about 35km.

My daily commute is like 15 in a day. 20-25 at best.

Cars are starting to be sold but they are still in its infancy. In a few years, I might buy a 200km range car which should last me a week+ of daily usage.

For people who only live in the city, 200km seems enough. Unless you have to go long distances every often.

I could say 200-300km is a good mileage for Indian roads and places because people don't go on 1000+km road trips to need a car that can do that.

Maybe in the us because of long distances that is too little but here, the cost of a 800km vs 200km is a huge factor

A lot of commercial truck usage is local deliveries from places like distribution centers to retail locations or from train yard to local manufacturing plant.

> How long till we have an 800km range ?

Or even better, do this: https://www.worldhighways.com/wh12/news/sweden-create-perman...

That gives you unlimited range.

Nifty.

> Delivering Right Now.

> Enabling Electric Fleets. Right Now.

Great, how much and where do I buy it? Got an order page? When is my delivery date?

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