Let the EV world tremble!
Interesting. I wonder why they didn't go with a motor on each wheel?
Toyman01 wrote: Interesting. I wonder why they didn't go with a motor on each wheel?
I imagine it saves them from having to redesign the entire drivetrain and suspension.
An electric monster truck makes sense when you consider how many events they have inside domed stadiums, but the fans go there to hear the noise and smell the exhaust.
Because then they would have to reinvent the wheel (literally) This way they can simply replace the engine with batteries, and don't have to change anything else. Adding motors to the wheels would add to the truck's sprung weight, and would make it handle different, and thus require different shock valving and so on and so on.
I think this is more of a sponsorship deal than anything. If it doesn't work out, they can always reconfigure the truck and use it as a traditional monster truck.
Little bit of trivia, the chassis under this truck was built in England.
So this is for crushing Leafs and Volts and whatnot, right?
Toyman01 wrote: Interesting. I wonder why they didn't go with a motor on each wheel?
Wheels come off all the time. It would get expensive if you messed up a motor each time you did that. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the stadium trucks don't even put brakes on the wheels for that reason. (Brakes grab the drive shaft IIRC)
I am a little sad they didn't put enough power in that truck to be relevant. They have what would have been a good drag race setup 3 years ago (in a 2500lb car). For an electric performance vehicle to be exciting it is going to need to be faster than the ICE counterparts. Slower AND missing the roar and flames of a giant ICE is going to get it laughed out of the stadium.
JoeyM wrote: Wheels come off all the time. It would get expensive if you messed up a motor each time you did that. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the stadium trucks don't even put brakes on the wheels for that reason. (Brakes grab the drive shaft IIRC)
Pretty much. A lot of them use "pinion brakes" that operate on either the diff input or some special shaft on the opposite end of the diff. Pretty common on rock crawlers too, but I thought the primary reason for it was to save space at the wheels and let you run less rim and more tire.
Sheez, what's this world coming to.
Yeah monster trucks are all about showmanship and electric motors are pretty short on it...it may make sense technically but it seems really wrong in this application.
I'll have to go check that out tomorrow. Maybe Bob will let me get close. Doubtful, but possible.
It has a huge electric motor mounted where the normal dino burner would be. I got to look around it at SEMA. Stack of batteries mounted right above each axle.
I think it is going to eerie at the stadium.. all silent except for the corpses of dead cars being crushed
::Hijack::
So, being a Ford sponsored truck, why did they crush Fords? you'd think they'd at least crush some Chevy's or imports or something.
::end hijack::
On topic. It would be downright boring without all the noise and smells associated with Monster truck shows. I would just fall asleep. Hearing how they modulate the throttle when freestyling or "racing" is part of the fun for me. Granted, I haven't been to a show since I was a kid. I do have a poster of myself sitting in BF6 :)
CGLockRacer wrote: ::Hijack:: So, being a Ford sponsored truck, why did they crush Fords? you'd think they'd at least crush some Chevy's or imports or something. ::end hijack:: On topic. It would be downright boring without all the noise and smells associated with Monster truck shows. I would just fall asleep. Hearing how they modulate the throttle when freestyling or "racing" is part of the fun for me. Granted, I haven't been to a show since I was a kid. I do have a poster of myself sitting in BF6 :)
Guess it doesn't matter now. One of the last Bigfoot trucks built was a Chevy.
mad_machine wrote: I think it is going to eerie at the stadium.. all silent except for the corpses of dead cars being crushed
it will be different, but not silent. if you've done the electric go-carts or seen video of something like the electric drag bike, they do make noise, just not 1000 hp big block kind of noise
After the Ford plant across the street from the Bigfoot shop shut down, Ford dropped the sponsorship. Bob builds whatever he wants now.
Sounds like the compactor at the local scrap yard . . .
Bigfoot 20 sounds like an RC car orgy.
http://youtu.be/U41fJ-pd2vE
I dunno, if it shoots freakin lightening bolts or something, that might hold my attention.
Yeah it has a nice gear whine to it like a big RC car...I wanna see it do some cyclone donuts!
And to think of all the venues to have an electric vehicle racing, its ...monster trucks.
Appleseed wrote: And to think of all the venues to have an electric vehicle racing, its ...monster trucks.
Well, Bob doesn't partake in the scripted Monster Jam events. Once they started scripting them, he was out, so Bigfoot 20 will probably do some auto shows, solo shows, and Bigfoot sponsored events. Maybe some other such things. I don't know how many races this will partake in, but I'm interested to see them.
BoostedBrandon wrote: Because then they would have to reinvent the wheel (literally) This way they can simply replace the engine with batteries, and don't have to change anything else. Adding motors to the wheels would add to the truck's sprung weight, and would make it handle different, and thus require different shock valving and so on and so on.
IIRC, a modern monster truck is HALF sprung weight.
Think about that when you see them flying...
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