Electric powered overland vehicle

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XC70_OVERLANDER

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I was wondering what your option in fully electric powers vehicle is?

Do you think this could work for harsh environment? There are some big player with fully electric powers trucks. I came across the ne concept of Rivian (Rivian - Electric Adventure Vehicles ) wich looks super cool to me.
But makes it sense?
Maybe one day when solar power panels are efficient enough to power the pickup while exploring sunny regions. But what’s about winter overlanding?
 

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K12

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I was looking at the f-150 Lightning before i got the HQ19. What turned me off of electric vehicles in general is that there is only about 300 miles on a single charge, with the extended battery (for the F-150). After you put on the weight of a rack, tent and all the gear, food, etc., that now goes down. Not to mention the terrain that is traveled will also bring that down. Where I am and like to go there are not chargining stations for quite some distance. My decision was based on the ability to always take fuel cans with me to refuel if need be.... and there really is not a solution if your electric vehicle runs out of charge.

In the future if there is a feasible way to keep a charge or have an emergency charge it wiuld be more viable, but personally im not comfortable with the options for electric vehicles as they are right now.

I have heard great things about the electric dual sport motorcycles though. and can charge those decently off a solar setup from what I have heard.
 
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MazeVX

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Electric Overland suffers from the same problems as all ev... Completely unpredictable battery life, lack of range in general and charging.
On the road you may limp to a charger and spend the rest of your day charging but that's just not possible in the wild, when things don't go to plan and your battery dies 200km earlier (wich is quite typical in reality) your f*cked.
Doing a, realistic, 2,5h stop every 400km to recharge doesn't get you anywhere and when it's tourist season, good luck finding a free charger.
As long as we haven't developed some "science fiction like" energy cell it's just not realistic, not to mention the environmental damage caused by uncontrolled Lithium production...
Ev's are a nice dream but with our current stage of development they belong to the city.
 

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I'm not a fan of electric cars for a variety of reasons, but I won't even get into that here. The combination of electric mobility and overlanding is certainly exciting.

Recently, there was a very interesting experiment, or rather a practical test, carried out by a German manufacturer of overlanding equipment. The vehicle used was a Nissan eNV200. This was equipped camping-like and then it went on the test tour. The route led from southern Germany to Sweden and interesting knowledge was gained. For example, that the theoretical range was rarely utilized, because the overlanders were relaxed and rarely drove more than 200 kilometers per day. Instead, they preferred to see great things along the way, sightseeing and hiking tours and walks, etc. The vehicle was mostly charged overnight at campsites. And also during the day at charging stations along the road. The charging time was then spent with sightseeing and the like. It was never a problem to find a charging possibility on that trip. Overall, it was a very relaxed trip and it worked quite well.
 

MazeVX

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I'm not a fan of electric cars for a variety of reasons, but I won't even get into that here. The combination of electric mobility and overlanding is certainly exciting.

Recently, there was a very interesting experiment, or rather a practical test, carried out by a German manufacturer of overlanding equipment. The vehicle used was a Nissan eNV200. This was equipped camping-like and then it went on the test tour. The route led from southern Germany to Sweden and interesting knowledge was gained. For example, that the theoretical range was rarely utilized, because the overlanders were relaxed and rarely drove more than 200 kilometers per day. Instead, they preferred to see great things along the way, sightseeing and hiking tours and walks, etc. The vehicle was mostly charged overnight at campsites. And also during the day at charging stations along the road. The charging time was then spent with sightseeing and the like. It was never a problem to find a charging possibility on that trip. Overall, it was a very relaxed trip and it worked quite well.
The question is, do you really want to travel that way?
What if you intend to arrive at a destination?
Do you really want your vehicle dictate the way you do something?

In my opinion, that's completely bs... It's trying to convince people that something that is really really bad with a massive negative impact on your freedom has a positive side.
Politically motivated propaganda.
 

rtexpeditions

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I own my vehicle for the purpose of travelling to the most remote places, currently in Australia, but hopefully beyond that in the coming years.
Having to travel via urban centres every few hundred miles or stay at campgrounds with electricity just to charge batteries isn't part of that plan.
Australia is a vast country with long distances with nothing in between. Yes, you travel between charging points, but you have to take the shortest route (the highway), no outback exploration there.
There are remote refuelling locations, scattered through the outback, where you can buy fuel but as they are off the grid, and electricity is sparse and expensive, they are never likely to offer EV charging stations. I'm figuring that would be the same for a lot of remote places in the world.
 

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In this context, I came across another interesting experimental trip. 15,000km through Europe, to the North Cape and Spain. The whole thing on an electric motorcycle. The guy who did it is on Instagram

For anyone really interested in the subject, his experiences from the road about costs, charging frequency, waiting times, helpful apps, etc. are interesting.
 
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XC70_OVERLANDER

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In this context, I came across another interesting experimental trip. 15,000km through Europe, to the North Cape and Spain. The whole thing on an electric motorcycle. The guy who did it is on instagram: Login • Instagram

For anyone really interested in the subject, his experiences from the road about costs, charging frequency, waiting times, helpful apps, etc. are interesting.
Thanks for sharing.
 

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I'll be taking delivery of my Rivian R1T this week and already have a few trips planned. I still love my Tacoma and will still use it for some longer trips until the infrastructure catches up but I'm excited at the potential it brings. I know some worry about range but just like an ICE, with a little planning, you should be fine. And while you can't carry extra electrons, you can tow charge in a pinch.
 
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I'll be taking delivery of my Rivian R1T this week and already have a few trips planned. I still love my Tacoma and will still use it for some longer trips until the infrastructure catches up but I'm excited at the potential it brings. I know some worry about range but just like an ICE, with a little planning, you should be fine. And while you can't carry extra electrons, you can tow charge in a pinch.
You can also carry a generator if need be. Not the most efficient set up, but it can extend range. I am curious as to how much difference solar panel could make for range, and if it is even possible to charge from them directly.
 

DosTacos

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I'll be taking delivery of my Rivian R1T this week and already have a few trips planned. I still love my Tacoma and will still use it for some longer trips until the infrastructure catches up but I'm excited at the potential it brings. I know some worry about range but just like an ICE, with a little planning, you should be fine. And while you can't carry extra electrons, you can tow charge in a pinch.
You can also carry a generator if need be. Not the most efficient set up, but it can extend range. I am curious as to how much difference solar panel could make for range, and if it is even possible to charge from them directly.
Yeah, a generator could work. Solar would require way too many panels to be feasible. I'm not really worried about range. I'm rarely more than 150miles from some form of power. Even in the far reaches of Big Bend I can find an RV park with power.
 

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I think EV has a long way to go for Overlanding. I think my next truck witll be the F-150 Hybrid, estimated range with the Hybrid engine is 700 miles, even weighed down with all your Overlanding gear and offroading you're probably still going to have around a 600 mile range. Not to mention it comes with a 35 kwh battery you can use to power everything. I really think Hybrid is the way to go right now, maybe if solar gets more efficient in the future EV will be the way to go.
 
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DosTacos

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I think EV has a long way to go for Overlanding. I think my next truck witll be the F-150 Hybrid, estimated range with the Hybrid engine is 700 miles, even weighed down with all your Overlanding gear and offroading you're probably still going to have around a 600 mile range. Not to mention it comes with a 35 kwh battery you can use to power everything. I really think Hybrid is the way to go right now, maybe if solar gets more efficient in the future EV will be the way to go.
Yeah, looked at doing this also. What I came to was hybrid vehicles add a ton of additional failure points. The ICE trucks have more than 10,000 components whereas EV is around 400. That reduces failure points. In hybrid architecture, you combine the two and increase complexity. Also, electric doesn't suffer from the added load like an ICE does. It can have additional weight without impacting range. I agree with the infrastructure still has a ways to go. Until then, regenerative braking will produce 10x more power than solar simply by letting the vehicle coast downhill. The electric motors work in reverse and become generators adding power back to the battery thru regenerate breaking. But if you see me on the trail needing juice, give a brother a pull
 

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It can have additional weight without impacting range.
Wrong. It takes more energy to move a heavier vehicle, no matter the vehicle type. You get some portion of that back on a long downhill, but going over rocks and boulders, regen doesn't have time to kick in.
 

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Electric vehicles are a wonderful technology (or more correctly technologies) to be sure - though not without their own set of issues - and they definitely have their place in our society. Currently that place is near larger population centers that have the infrastructure to support them. If your form of overlanding keeps you near charging stations then more power to you (pun intended). It amazes me that some would consider taking an electric vehicle to more rural places which cannot support them and then expect someone who was prepared to tow them out - especially while applying regenerative braking and increasing the wear and tear and resource consumption of someone who actually prepared and acted as a good samaritan.

Overland Bound Founding Principles snippet
Be prepared
Safety First. The trip defines the requirements. Be aware of the requirements of any journey and prepare. We prefer epic tales of adventure without the tragedy, and keep the rubber side down.

Help each other
That’s what community is all about. It takes a village. When traveling the world, or off grid, human kindness is a valuable asset that could mean survival. Take it seriously.

Totally agree with "Help each other" but "Come on man" helping yourself out and being prepared needs to be a part of your "calculus".