Future Jeeps for 2017

[Tyvokka]

The hell with it!

http://www.streetlegaltv.com/news/he...kee-and-truck/

SAS, Selectable lockers, Atlas II 4 Speed, 35s.... That'll do

[Hamsteh]

I love my XJ. I love the cast block, cast head and non-crossflow dynamics, that big juicy displacement and those six cylinders of raw power!

Isn't it strange though, that there are 4 cylinder engines out there that produce many times as much power and torque at a quarter of the consumption?

- It's almost like the technology is constantly improving, and my 4.0L is an outdated dinosaur.

Guess what? Electric engines are getting better too. Energy storage is getting better. Hybrid technologies, while little more than a stop-gap, are getting better.

Why are they not mainstream? Because oil is cheap and easy, it's duct tape and selleys, and until now we've not had any decent reason to ditch it.

The IC Engine is dead, and that's scary but inevitable, but shouting abuse at its successor and those who support the inevitable progression of technology does not help anyone. All it does is make you look like the old fella on his horse shouting that he'll never trust a horseless-carriage.

[bleetnblurt]

Originally Posted by Hamsteh

I love my XJ. I love the cast block, cast head and non-crossflow dynamics, that big juicy displacement and those six cylinders of raw power!

Isn't it strange though, that there are 4 cylinder engines out there that produce many times as much power and torque at a quarter of the consumption?

- It's almost like the technology is constantly improving, and my 4.0L is an outdated dinosaur.

Guess what? Electric engines are getting better too. Energy storage is getting better. Hybrid technologies, while little more than a stop-gap, are getting better.

Why are they not mainstream? Because oil is cheap and easy, it's duct tape and selleys, and until now we've not had any decent reason to ditch it.

The IC Engine is dead, and that's scary but inevitable, but shouting abuse at its successor and those who support the inevitable progression of technology does not help anyone. All it does is make you look like the old fella on his horse shouting that he'll never trust a horseless-carriage.

so what you are saying is that you expect everyone to buy one to support the cost of it until they improve it and make it affordable for everyone ?
should I just buy one cell at the cost of min of $3000 or should I wait till they decide to make it affordable ..........after all don't some want people to eat grass ?

[Hamsteh]

Originally Posted by bleetnblurt

so what you are saying is that you expect everyone to buy one to support the cost of it until they improve it and make it affordable for everyone ?
should I just buy one cell at the cost of min of $3000 or should I wait till they decide to make it affordable ..........after all don't some want people to eat grass ?

Nah not at all, I don't think everyone should buy a $110,000 vehicle by any means. What I do think though, is that people need to get over calling everybody who sees a future in this drive technology as "greeny yuppies" and talking about "real diesel 4wds". It's just all getting a bit old.

[Faux Bogan]

Imagine having an motor at each wheel and not having any axles between wheels or diffs reducing clearance. The flex and clearance would be insane! You wouldn't even need uni's, so the front and rear would be equally tough. Still weird it's electric though...

Sent from my SM-G920I using Aussie Jeep Offroad mobile app

[photomark]

In all honesty I think hybrid power still has a bit to go before it would be practical for Australian off road use.

Electric power does have many advantages over an internal combustion engine, for any given size of motor an electric motor is capable of supplying well over twice the power and torque however the problem is carrying a fuel supply and in the case of electric it is batteries and lots of them and they are heavy and bulky and not as simple to top up, they are also frighteningly expensive and have a very short life span. A bank of these batteries also poses a safety risk and is potentially a lot more dangerous than a tank of petrol.
If you truly want an electric motor with high torque then it will also need a high voltage power supply, the higher the voltage the more torque the motor will have.

Having a small petrol motor to charge the batteries would not work, if you have an electric motor that is outputting 200KW then you will need a petrol motor with that and a bit more to drive the generator to keep the batteries charged, I am sure you all feel how an alternator loads up when you put all the lights on and a simple calculation can tell you how much power it is taking to drive that alternator 12 volts X 100 amps = 1.2Kw but because an alternator is not 100% efficient it is probably closer to 1.5Kw of power that alternator is taking out of your motor to keep your battery charged, I admit I do not know any one who has over 1000 watts of lights on there car but once you start to run other accessories it does not take much to load up 100 amps on an alternator.
With electric you cannot just carry extra fuel, all you can do is carry extra batteries that you still have to carry even when flat.
On a smaller scale I play around with RC planes and Helis, one of my planes has a 66cc petrol motor on it and I can get around 90 mins of flight from 1.5 liters of fuel that weighs a bit over a Kg, to get that plane of the ground with electric would take around 6 Kgs of batteries and would give me only 10 mins of sluggish flight time and cost over $1000 in one set of batteries.

For a hybrid off road vehicle you would mostly just be carrying around a dead and redundant electric power system because it is flat.
Carrying around some sort of generator is not the answer either as it would have to be a large one if you want to charge up in a day and it will still cost you just as much to run that generator.

It is really not that easy or practical with current tech but it is improving and eventually electric will out do internal combustion but that is a long way yet.

Great for small city runabouts that are always close to a power socket though or the off roader who is never more than 30 mins from home.

[photomark]

Originally Posted by Faux Bogan

Imagine having an motor at each wheel and not having any axles between wheels or diffs reducing clearance. The flex and clearance would be insane! You wouldn't even need uni's, so the front and rear would be equally tough. Still weird it's electric though...

Sent from my SM-G920I using Aussie Jeep Offroad mobile app

There have been cars and other vehicles made like that but it is done mostly with a hydraulic motor at each wheel with the main engine just driving a hydraulic pump. In an old movie from the 60s The Great Race there is a car that has this and it did work.

The moon buggy is another good example and it is electric for obvious reasons and is 6x6 drive and I doubt there is a Jeep made that could go where that could go, of course if I spent a mill on my Jeep I would expect it to go to the moon as well.

But yes you are right, a motor on each wheel is the ultimate in traction and control