Giving the 4xe conversion some serious thought

[DAVECS1]

Everytime I drive my wife's 4xe, I am so impressed with that power plant. Nothing is stressed, it runs on 89 octane. It is smooth as silk, it has so much torque it pops into 8th and stays there. Oh and it is dead quiet. The get up and go is downright impressive.

Found a couple of these. I could rebuild the jeep for my daughter to use when she gets her license.

Sponsored

 

[RodRecket]

That'd be interesting to see... I wonder how much the extra weight (700ish lbs) will effect payload and related numbers as well as your current suspension set up. Especially since the Diesel guys have noted bottoming out their suspension with that added weight

 

[DAVECS1]

May have to wrangle up some new coils. Probably no worse than an overlanding rig, but yeah.

 

[DocMike]

subbing this

 

[RodRecket]

May have to wrangle up some new coils. Probably no worse than an overlanding rig, but yeah.

It's pronounced overloading

 

[dcmdon]

I saw the title and thought "That guy is a fool, its too complicated".

Then I saw it was you and thought. Hmm. I'd really like to see how that works. Ha.

 

[DAVECS1]

I saw the title and thought "That guy is a fool, its too complicated".

Then I saw it was you and thought. Hmm. I'd really like to see how that works. Ha.

Lol, oh electric drive is not that complicated. I had a powered eraser in grade school, I made out of a salvaged stomper.

 

[booneja]

following this thread now to see how it goes. I commute 29 miles one way to work, but do not want to trade my JT for something more efficient, unless this might work, lol

or wait and see what 2024 and beyond brings off the FCA assembly line wrt PEV or EV JT's, lol

 

[dcmdon]

Lol, oh electric drive is not that complicated. I had a powered eraser in grade school, I made out of a salvaged stomper.

Electric drive is super simple. What is not simple is integrating all of the control systems in a 4xe with the gladiator.

But then again, didn't you say you were an embedded systems engineer in your real life?

Like I said, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

 

[Fcmalie]

following this thread now to see how it goes. I commute 29 miles one way to work, but do not want to trade my JT for something more efficient, unless this might work, lol

or wait and see what 2024 and beyond brings off the FCA assembly line wrt PEV or EV JT's, lol

They are claiming an electrified version of every vehicle by 2030 I think? Either full ev or phev. I will lean hybrid until towing ability is better for full electric.

 

[dcmdon]

They are claiming an electrified version of every vehicle by 2030 I think? Either full ev or phev. I will lean hybrid until towing ability is better for full electric.

PHEV is where its at if they can make it reliable. Great power, great fuel economy, great for towing, can b4e used as a pure EV in town.

 

[Fcmalie]

PHEV is where its at if they can make it reliable. Great power, great fuel economy, great for towing, can b4e used as a pure EV in town.

Agreed it is the current winner. Waiting to see if Ford actually produces their removable range extender they patented. Full BEV plus an optional range extender for towing would also be amazing.

 

[BaliMawr]

Agreed it is the current winner. Waiting to see if Ford actually produces their removable range extender they patented. Full BEV plus an optional range extender for towing would also be amazing.

Towing was the clincher for me. But I also like the size of the Gladiator better than that of the f-150.

 

[dcmdon]

Agreed it is the current winner. Waiting to see if Ford actually produces their removable range extender they patented. Full BEV plus an optional range extender for towing would also be amazing.

That would be great, but lets do some back of the napkin math.

A Tesla Model 3 uses about .3 kWh per mile. So if we figure a bare F150 uses 1.0 kWh/mile. Pulling a 10,000 lb trailer will consume a total of roughly 2kWh/mile.

If we assume 60 mph. That is 120 kWh / hr. Or 120 kilowatts of electricity necessary to maintain 60 mph. (120 kw converts directly to 163 hp). So that seems a high, but lets run with it.

(sorry, but you are getting stream of consciousness)

That means that your range extender needs to be able to make 163 hp continuously in order for a vehicle like this to pull a 10,000 lb trailer indefinitely.

Sure you could use something much smaller and run it continuously to reduce the rate of drain.

But what I'm getting at is that for an electric vehicle to be a real tow vehicle that can tow for hours at a time, requires a big, expensive, heavy range extender.

We aren't talking about a 38 hp, 650 cc twin, like the BMW i3 has. We're talking about at least a 2000 cc turbo 3 or 4. We're talking $15,000.

Of course the real answer is that at some point in the future, you will be able to pull up to a charging station and dump 100 kWh down to your vehicle in 5 minutes. Of course to do that the charging station would need to be able to supply 1.2 MEGAWATTS of power.

So significant electrical infrastructure improvements will need to be made. They are being made now, but it will take some time. So now we're back to the PHEV.

 

[Fcmalie]

That would be great, but lets do some back of the napkin math.

A Tesla Model 3 uses about .3 kWh per mile. So if we figure a bare F150 uses 1.0 kWh/mile. Pulling a 10,000 lb trailer will consume a total of roughly 2kWh/mile.

If we assume 60 mph. That is 120 kWh / hr. Or 120 kilowatts of electricity necessary to maintain 60 mph. (120 kw converts directly to 163 hp). So that seems a high, but lets run with it.

(sorry, but you are getting stream of consciousness)

That means that your range extender needs to be able to make 163 hp continuously in order for a vehicle like this to pull a 10,000 lb trailer indefinitely.

Sure you could use something much smaller and run it continuously to reduce the rate of drain.

But what I'm getting at is that for an electric vehicle to be a real tow vehicle that can tow for hours at a time, requires a big, expensive, heavy range extender.

We aren't talking about a 38 hp, 650 cc twin, like the BMW i3 has. We're talking about at least a 2000 cc turbo 3 or 4. We're talking $15,000.

Of course the real answer is that at some point in the future, you will be able to pull up to a charging station and dump 100 kWh down to your vehicle in 5 minutes. Of course to do that the charging station would need to be able to supply 1.2 MEGAWATTS of power.

So significant electrical infrastructure improvements will need to be made. They are being made now, but it will take some time. So now we're back to the PHEV.

I guess it's a good thing I'm not looking to tow more than 6,000lbs at 55mph. I also don't need it to run indefinitely, since I doubt I would make a 6 hour drive without a few extended stops. I have 2 kids under 3. For me if the range extender brought back 50-100 miles of range it would be perfect. But I know that doesn't work for everyone.

Sponsored