A 45 ton truck… with no gas tank!

2020 is expected to be the year of the electric vehicle, a turning point where EVs become a mainstream option for consumers. Every car company has announced an electric or electric hybrid option for 2020. With a simpler engine, far less maintenance, and a lower cost for fuel, electric will make sense for the majority of car owners. After a century of innovation, the gasoline engine hasn’t got a lot of room for improvement, but electric vehicles will get better and better over the next few decades.

Some EVs today cost a bit more but will save money over the vehicles lifetime. In another year or two, even the base price will be lower, making EVs a slam dunk winner. Of course, there are a few other trends that will also favor the use of EVs.

For example, 2020 will also be the year that the Sedan Dies! Sedan style vehicles are just not selling. Every car company is phasing them out. Not just individual models, all sedans. No more produced, no more developed. GONE! Consumer vehicles will primarily be SUVs and pickup trucks. And maybe something new?

Electric vehicles provide new options for designing a car. For example, you can place motors in the wheel hubs. This makes it simpler to deliver 4-wheel drive. Plus if any single motor fails, the car’s software can rebalance the power (and steering) and off you go. Without a gas engine under the hood, everything past the dashboard can go.

A new design could shorten the car profile by several feet, making for a lighter and more efficient vehicle. Alternatively, the dashboard could be moved to the front edge of the car, expanding the passenger compartment by 50%. Move dashboard instruments onto the windshield and the front of the car could be one big window. Make the car self-driving and you don’t need a driver’s seat.

A more conservative design could use moveable seating, allowing you to convert from a traditional layout (driver’s seat facing forward) to a “mobile office” (with all passengers facing each other), by pressing a button. Changing the configuration would be as easy as changing the adjustment features on your seat.

New options and efficiencies mean big changes for the car industry. Even bigger changes are likely for niche vehicle. Consider the mining industry, with their super-sized trucks and specialty vehicles. For example, coal mining is basically the science of blowing the tops off of mountains, digging up the coals seams, and then getting the coal to where it will be used. Usually, there is a road going up the mountain and a lot of very big trucks taking the coal back down the mountain, or to the nearest coal trains.

Interestingly, mining roads are often privately owned. These single-use roads have simplified rules compared to public roads. Also, private roads are not subject to the regulations public roads operate under. It is much easier for private road owners to introduce self-driving vehicles.

Once the coal seam is exposed, god-awful big empty trucks go up the mountain, and then god-awful big truck full of coal go back down the mountain. Pretty simple, right? Because the truck is big and coal is heavy, a lot of gas is burned moving coal around. However, when you change to an EV (a HUGE EV) you no longer need any fuel.

I don’t just mean you don’t need to buy gas. Nor do I mean that some big solar or wind farm provides the power. What I mean is that by driving up and down the mountain you create your own power. Did I hear, “Whaaaaaaat?” Allow me to explain.

Look at a simple electric vehicle, such as an electric bicycle. Most e-bikes have their motor in the hub of the rear wheel… just like putting motors in the wheels of a car. If you apply (electric) power to the motor the wheel turns. Apply more power and the wheel turns faster. But if you manually turn the wheel, the motor becomes a generator and the motion of the wheel generates power.

Sounds like a useful feature! And it is! On an electric bike (or any EV) this is often used to recharge the battery. Tinker with this and you have a “regenerative brake”.  You can increase the resistance so that every turn of the wheel generates more and more power, which creates greater braking power.

Our titan of an EV, the Elektro Dumper (or eDumper), has regenerative brakes. Great big ones! On day one, you start with a full charge, heading up the hill empty (a mere 45 tons). Every site will be different, but the battery will probably still have 80% of the charge left at the top of the mountain. It only takes a few minutes to load 65-tons of coal. The truck then heads downhill, with brakes (Regenerative brakes) on full all the way down. As long as the eDumper can drive downhill with a full load, no recharging is needed… ever.

According to the manufacturer, Kuhn Schweitz, the greater weight on the way down the hill not only recharges the batteries, but each eDumper will produce megawatts of surplus power every year that can be sold back to the power grid. No fuel and it makes money while you drive, by generating excess electricity. All the while still doing the same job of moving coal around as a gas-powered truck. That is a GAME CHANGER!

The switch to EVs will revolutionize Detroit… Ummm Kansas? Ahhhh… Tennessee? Well, wherever we build cars today will be revolutionized. Temporarily at least, a lot of new factories will be built. But a surge in EVs will mean the sunset of the petroleum industry. And a huge change for Agriculture, since 10% of the “gasoline” you buy at the pump is actually Ethanol (alcohol, mostly made from corn).

Of course, Millenials are the biggest wildcard of all. They want a small carbon footprint, they don’t like cars, many don’t even want to drive. What Millennials do want is, bicycles! Manual, foldable, rented or electric… bicycles are everywhere. Trendsetters and entrepreneurs are trying electric scooters, with mixed results. And ride-sharing services like UBER are converting car owners into ex-car owners.

The eDumper is just one example of how electric (and self-driving) vehicles will gain a foothold in America, and then become integrated into day to day life. Driving on a private road is simpler than driving in the middle of a city or on a crowded highway, but each step brings new car technology closer to everyday use. Battery production will ramp up, batteries will become smaller, and prices will fall quickly. Batteries are one of the most expensive components of an EV. Lower prices will catapult the EV ahead of its gas-guzzling competitors.

What about you? Thinking about buying an EV? Waiting for a self-driving car? Giving up on owning a car and just getting an UBER account? Tell us what you think!