Thoughts on suspension / lift on future EV rigs

As you get more company’s pushing them and profiting it’s just a matter of time.

20 year ago we where still typing on beige boxes, now I have like 1000 times more computer power in this phone I’m typing from.

This will also hopefully cause our electrical infrastructure to improve, its lacking in a lot of ways.

The Tesla powered side by side was wicked quick!! Scary fast! There are a bunch of videos on YouTube.
 
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13 states have passed laws to make all cars sold be EV by 2030-2035. That only 10 years… small time for R&D. Popularity of EV doesn’t matter… it’s coming. As infrastructure builds so will demand. If Savvy and Rockjock don’t, someone else will

This is a very complicated thing to discuss.

Those states will bump that if necessary and I don't see there being infrastructure in place to support all of the vehicles and trucks commuting on the road that need to stop to charge up.

The quick and dirty math tells us that it takes about 5-15 minutes to fill up a standard vehicle with gas/diesel. It takes hours to charge up a battery. Even if it took 30-45 minutes that's still way too long. Commerce would suffer and the economy would suffer. There would be stacks and stacks of ppl waiting and that's just not practical. If we use faster chargers, are we confident that the tools will be sustainable or will many chargers prove to be unreliable?

Not to mention that private companies in those states will have a say regarding the implementation of policy, and so will the private citizens of those states who can't afford a new EV. Politicians don't like losing their office seat and you can bet someone will be running marketing ads trying to take it from them, so they don't get to just do what they want without recourse. Those states would likely have to tax the very people/entities that they wish to impose regulations on in order to pay for the infrastructure. Good luck. I'd imagine there will be some legit Due Process and Commerce Clause arguments taken to SCOTUS over that shit.

Also, let's imagine a world where we have battery-changing stations instead of charging stations. Let's say they can even swap out your battery in 15-20 minutes. Sounds great. Except, there needs to be massive and standardized infrastructure for this to become operational let alone the standard (in the next ten years!). Then ask yourself who's gonna pay for that to be set up and who's gonna foot the bill for car companies to keep making current sales yet expand for the future. Bottom line is that legit innovation is great, but rushed innovation is no innovation at all. It's stupidity signed by someone with a pen who's ignorant about tech and how the world actually works. Or they don't actually care and just want it to sound good so they can get votes (it's pretty easy to get votes by talking about a feel-good dream, but later detailing how to accomplish the dream may bring harsh criticism).

Bottom line is that we are nowhere near a 1:1 move to EVs in a practical sense and it takes little effort to figure that out. We have many hurdles to overcome on this subject that needs to be done in a seamless manner for the economy to not suffer. I believe we will get there, I just think it's laughable that we think we will be there in a decade simply because some folks with a pen said "yea let's do that."

There needs to be a major breakthrough in order for things to accelerate, and I believe that's why the US was funding Tesla. The gov't could give a fuck about a car. The US was investing in a hopeful breakthrough in battery tech. That's my opinion based on the little I know.

Disclaimer: I know nothing.
 
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This is a very complicated thing to discuss.

Those states will bump that if necessary and I don't see there being infrastructure in place to support all of the vehicles and trucks commuting on the road that need to stop to charge up.

The quick and dirty math tells us that it takes about 5-15 minutes to fill up a standard vehicle with gas/diesel. It takes hours to charge up a battery. Even if it took 30-45 minutes that's still way too long. Commerce would suffer and the economy would suffer. There would be stacks and stacks of ppl waiting and that's just not practical. If we use faster chargers, are we confident that the tools will be sustainable or will many chargers prove to be unreliable?

Not to mention that private companies in those states will have a say regarding the implementation of policy, and so will the private citizens of those states who can't afford a new EV. Politicians don't like losing their office seat and you can bet someone will be running marketing ads trying to take it from them, so they don't get to just do what they want without recourse. Those states would likely have to tax the very people/entities that they wish to impose regulations on in order to pay for the infrastructure. Good luck. I'd imagine there will be some legit Due Process and Commerce Clause arguments taken to SCOTUS over that shit.

Also, let's imagine a world where we have battery-changing stations instead of charging stations. Let's say they can even swap out your battery in 15-20 minutes. Sounds great. Except, there needs to be massive and standardized infrastructure for this to become operational let alone the standard (in the next ten years!). Then ask yourself who's gonna pay for that to be set up and who's gonna foot the bill for car companies to keep making current sales yet expand for the future. Bottom line is that legit innovation is great, but rushed innovation is no innovation at all. It's stupidity signed by someone with a pen who's ignorant about tech and how the world actually works. Or they don't actually care and just want it to sound good so they can get votes (it's pretty easy to get votes by talking about a feel-good dream, but later detailing how to accomplish the dream may bring harsh criticism).

Bottom line is that we are nowhere near a 1:1 move to EVs in a practical sense and it takes little effort to figure that out. We have many hurdles to overcome on this subject that needs to be done in a seamless manner for the economy to not suffer. I believe we will get there, I just think it's laughable that we think we will be there in a decade simply because some folks with a pen said "yea let's do that."

There needs to be a major breakthrough in order for things to accelerate, and I believe that's why the US was funding Tesla. The gov't could give a fuck about a car. The US was investing in a hopeful breakthrough in battery tech. That's my opinion based on the little I know.

Disclaimer: I know nothing.

This group is good about avoiding politics so I’m going to stay as far away from that as I can. The fact is 13 states have mandated it. I live in a progressive state… but we don’t have the mandate here. Most grocery stores have charging stations, ski resorts have them, there was just a bill
Passed to build them all along I-70 (main shipping lane across the Rockies). At this point it’s not an “if” it’s coming… it is coming. Like it or dislike it the powers that be have decided this is what’s happening. Car manufacturers are already moving that way. I see Rivians (electric trucks) on the trail constantly, Jeep even made a hybrid. The Op asked about people building lifts ect. A smart company would get in on it before the market is saturated. Necessity creates demand. Reach in your pocket and look at what your phone can do now that it couldn’t 20 years ago. Everything you described are hurtles that hopefully will be figured out
 
I'm rather familiar with vehicles, and I understand the various types of suspensions and how they work, but for some reason I'm having trouble visualizing why a unibody vehicle would present problems above and beyond what a sub or full frame vehicle would encounter when changing the suspension.
You need somewhere to attach components like control arms.
 
This group is good about avoiding politics so I’m going to stay as far away from that as I can. The fact is 13 states have mandated it. I live in a progressive state… but we don’t have the mandate here. Most grocery stores have charging stations, ski resorts have them, there was just a bill
Passed to build them all along I-70 (main shipping lane across the Rockies). At this point it’s not an “if” it’s coming… it is coming. Like it or dislike it the powers that be have decided this is what’s happening. Car manufacturers are already moving that way. I see Rivians (electric trucks) on the trail constantly, Jeep even made a hybrid. The Op asked about people building lifts ect. A smart company would get in on it before the market is saturated. Necessity creates demand. Reach in your pocket and look at what your phone can do now that it couldn’t 20 years ago. Everything you described are hurtles that hopefully will be figured out

I wasn't discussing left/right politics btw. The focus is on practicality. I too hope the hurdles are overcome and I also expect it to eventually happen. I don't mind if it's done correctly, and the existence of charging stations for a minority niche group is far different than what will need to exist to service the majority.

I understand what you are trying to get at with phones, but the infrastructure for charging phones was already there (i.e., we can charge old phones and new phones just the same). This will be a massive undertaking and we need to get it right. I'm not against it. I'm against it being rushed and ignorantly implemented. Super complex and I also hope we overcome the hurdles. All is good :)
 
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Are you talking about a vehicle with a MacPherson strut setup?
In talking about any solid front axle configuration that requires components to be bolted to the frame. Unibody construction is nothing but a combo of mild steel and high strength steel panels spot welded together.
 
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In talking about any solid front axle configuration that requires components to be bolted to the frame. Unibody construction is nothing but a combo of mild steel and high strength steel panels spot welded together.

I see what you're saying now.
 
20 year ago we where still typing on beige boxes, now I have like 1000 times more computer power in this phone I’m typing from.

Yea man, the invention of transistors and the silicon chip allowed for microprocessors/nanoprocessors to later be invented. Changed the world.
 
Yea man, the invention of transistors and the silicon chip allowed for microprocessors/nanoprocessors to later be invented. Changed the world.

I think that is what people aren’t fully understanding. Tech doesn’t move in a linear manner, it compounds.

We are in a for ride I believe, advancements are being made in so many fields, AI, robots, science. At some point it will convene, aka spike theory.

Battery tech has come along way in the past decade, and will just speed up in the future.

In my case, an EV makes alot of sense. At least for a daily commuter. I drive 50-100 miles everyday. I would just charge at home, very rarely would I need to use a charging station.

I currently have a F250 6.2 that gets a nice 12mpg. I still need the truck, as I tow a boat and my jeep… but if I could retire it just for those needs and have a EV for daily commuting it makes a lot of sense.

There are alot of hurdles, but once you start having companies pouring billions and billions into this market, a lot of those hurdles will be overcome.
 
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I think that is what people aren’t fully understanding. Tech doesn’t move in a linear manner, it compounds.

We are in a for ride I believe, advancements are being made in so many fields, AI, robots, science. At some point it will convene, aka spike theory.

Battery tech has come along way in the past decade, and will just speed up in the future.

In my case, an EV makes alot of sense. At least for a daily commuter. I drive 50-100 miles everyday. I would just charge at home, very rarely would I need to use a charging station.

I currently have a F250 6.2 that gets a nice 12mpg. I still need the truck, as I tow a boat and my jeep… but if I could retire it just for those needs and have a EV for daily commuting it makes a lot of sense.

There are alot of hurdles, but once you start having companies pouring billions and billions into this market, a lot of those hurdles will be overcome.

I agree that the landscape will change as a result of compounded contributions. It will take time for those things to come together in order to serve on a massive scale. Battery tech has come a long way, but it's still not there yet. I'm super hopeful for a society-changing breakthrough.

Having an EV makes good sense in your case and for people who can conveniently plug their car into a source while at work or overnight.

With that said, my eyes are more focused on commercial vehicles that transport goods to and from different regions of the US under critical time constraints.

Edit: Words
 
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In my case, an EV makes alot of sense. At least for a daily commuter. I drive 50-100 miles everyday. I would just charge at home, very rarely would I need to use a charging station.
I currently have a F250 6.2 that gets a nice 12mpg. I still need the truck, as I tow a boat and my jeep… but if I could retire it just for those needs and have a EV for daily commuting it makes a lot of sense.

That's a very easy problem to solve now, with no expensive, drastically depreciating EV necessary. Simply buy a 10 year old Civic/Camry/etc. It'll cost you about 5-10K, not 100K. In current fuel saving, the break even point is about ~3 years. Why have you not done this yet?

How long do you think the break even point would be with an EV? One or two decades? And would the EV still function at the end, or would it be like every other old electronic device sitting in the back of a drawer waiting for it's time in the trash? :unsure:
 
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That's a very easy problem to solve now, with no expensive, drastically depreciating EV necessary. Simply buy a 10 year old Civic/Camry/etc. It'll cost you about 5-10K, not 100K. In current fuel saving, the break even point is about ~3 years. Why have you not done this yet?

How long do you think the break even point would be with an EV? One or two decades? And would the EV still function at the end, or would it be like every other old electronic device sitting in the back of a drawer waiting for it's time in the trash? :unsure:

Yea man, in today's market I would purchase a used Prius or Corrolla again for commuting long before I'd purchase an EV. The math doesn't check out for me.
 
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EV offroad?
Sound like a good way to burn down the forest after a creek crossing.
EV's are a around town vehicle.
Every time I go thru Primm NV the Tesla Charging area is packed with Tesla's getting a charge.
They can not make it from LA to Vegas on a charge in real life conditions.
Not Primm but the Tesla station in Barstow.

 
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It sucks that so may people have shit reading comprehension an flood every EV discussion with off-topic rants. Back to your question:

Yes EV has a ton to offer for rock crawling! Look at the R/C market rock crawlers are all electric and for good reason.

MOA solid axels would be an awesome aftermarket offering!

Independent suspension absolutely can work but is harder to modify and easier to "get wrong." Portals are sweet but expensive. They do have a place but are out of reach for many. As most EVs use independent suspension if you want to lift past the CV joint limit you're looking at drop brackets. These should be relatively affordable if there's enough demand.

Look at a tesla drive unit. It'd be easy to space the whole thing down in order to lift the car.
s-l1600.jpg
 
if there's enough demand.

Yep, that's one of the first major hurdles. As I've pointed out throughout this thread, off-road EVs are a niche market, inside a niche market.

MOA solid axels would be an awesome aftermarket offering!

This ^ is the only thing I can currently see as being feasible in an effective, custom off-road setup (not an EV as currently produced), and there would still be other significant issues to address.

Yes EV has a ton to offer for rock crawling! Look at the R/C market rock crawlers are all electric and for good reason.

EVs are toys, I agree.
 
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