Electric Crate Motors

I go back to the existence of the transmission. What is it for? Why is there a need to shift gears?
I decided the answer is that a transmission is both unnecessary and a huge energy drain. Replace the transmission with a gear reduction box to set the final street/mild off-road drive ratio then install a ... crap can't remember the name ... uncoupled(?) Atlas transfer case to get power to the front diff for 4WD and change the gear ratio for efficient crawling.
 
A few weeks ago I toyed with the idea of building an EV Jeep and went down the rabbit hole. Conclusion - not yet feasible unless you are able to salvage, design, and or build a cutting edge 400V to 800V system using a platform other than a LJ. I figure the efficiency for a Jeep is only about 500 WH/M so to reliably travel 150 miles you want about 619 Ah capacity. The best us mortals will do off the shelf is around 160V 28,800 wh for an actual 80% range of 46 miles. That's without regen but it doesn't matter because those battery modules would weigh over 600 lbs.
that's more calculations than my brain can handle :ROFLMAO:
 
that's more calculations than my brain can handle :ROFLMAO:
Me too. I had to learn about that stuff and create a spreadsheet and went so far as to select all the components. Was interesting but kind of disheartening when I couldn't figure out how to lay down $15K to $40K for parts to build what I want.
 
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that's more calculations than my brain can handle :ROFLMAO:

The best batteries today have an energy density of about 110 Wh/lb. Compare that to gasoline which is about 5500 Wh/lb. Admittedly, electric motors are about 3 or maybe 4 times more efficient than ICE but that still leaves a factor of roughly 15 disadvantage for electrics.

In my other life (aviation) there are some absolutely ridiculous claims being made about electric airplanes that will carry lots of people at high speed for great distances. These claims defy physics. We are a very long way from this being possible.
 
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