How far are we from a full electric and/or hybrid Ranger?

[KNI]

Where's the development of hydrogen vehicles at. It seems like a suppressed technology. I see they are developing the technology for large Semi's. Are synthetic fuels cleaner.

Synthetic fuels are nearly clean energy when renewable electricity and carbon source is used. There are already companies and products which allow carbon conversion to gasoline, diesel or what else. Practically you just need a carbon source and hydrogen to do it. Carbon source can be plant based, coal based or co2 capture (either process or direct air).

Easiest option is the Fischer–Tropsch process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer–Tropsch_process

In Finland there's at least three competing products. Two of them utilize pulp waste for diesel generation and one takes co2 and water vapor out of air and just adds electricity to create gasoline. Problem with these is that they're all net negative, expensive and generate NOx like any other combustion. Benefits are that all these synthetic fuels are free of lead, sulphur, arsen, etc.

Easiest, cost and environment effective synthetic fuel is bio-diesel made from vegetable oil and methanol. You plant oil & sugar plants, harvest, press oil and collect the sugar. Then you make methanol from the sugar, pour it on the oil and collect the diesel from the formed layer. Easy, cheap and definitely banned by the government due to lost tax revenue.

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[slm]

Synthetic fuels are nearly clean energy when renewable electricity and carbon source is used. There are already companies and products which allow carbon conversion to gasoline, diesel or what else. Practically you just need a carbon source and hydrogen to do it. Carbon source can be plant based, coal based or co2 capture (either process or direct air).

Easiest option is the Fischer–Tropsch process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer–Tropsch_process

In Finland there's at least three competing products. Two of them utilize pulp waste for diesel generation and one takes co2 and water vapor out of air and just adds electricity to create gasoline. Problem with these is that they're all net negative, expensive and generate NOx like any other combustion. Benefits are that all these synthetic fuels are free of lead, sulphur, arsen, etc.

Easiest, cost and environment effective synthetic fuel is bio-diesel made from vegetable oil and methanol. You plant oil & sugar plants, harvest, press oil and collect the sugar. Then you make methanol from the sugar, pour it on the oil and collect the diesel from the formed layer. Easy, cheap and definitely banned by the government due to lost tax revenue.

Those were good question @Scooter asked. My understanding about diesel though is it still emits quite a bit of soot so less green house gases but more emissions that affect general air quality (please correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[Cmar]

They have already built one, but it must have been a flop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Ranger_EV

Not surprised, batteries were lead/acid, or NiCad. Didn't have the advantage of lithium.

 

[Cmar]

One of our idiotic state governments over here actually decided to put a tax on electric vehicles, because they didn't pay fuel excise.
That's right they have actually tried to discourage e-vehicle uptake even though fuel excise is a federal tax, and has nothing to do with state taxes.
So now not only do they cost more to buy - meaning you already pay proportionately more GST on purchase, you will have to still pay normal state vehicle vehicle registration and insurance, and pay for the power to charge them, + a per kilometer levy.

When I was in China a couple of years ago (pre-Covid) there were a number of states there that would register and insure your e-vehicle for FREE for the first five years and reduced rate after, to encourage uptake. I saw it myself, all the e-cars had a special green number plate.

Interesting fact did you know that in China they use Western numbers and letters on their number plates?
When I asked about that I was told that apparently Chinese characters are too hard to read from a distance.

 

[VAMike]

Synthetic fuels are nearly clean energy when renewable electricity and carbon source is used. There are already companies and products which allow carbon conversion to gasoline, diesel or what else. Practically you just need a carbon source and hydrogen to do it. Carbon source can be plant based, coal based or co2 capture (either process or direct air).

Easiest option is the Fischer–Tropsch process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer–Tropsch_process

Yeah, a process that's been around for a hundred years. In all that time, nobody's figured out how to do it efficiently and at high volume.

 

[Cmar]

Yeah, a process that's been around for a hundred years. In all that time, nobody's figured out how to do it efficiently and at high volume.

Yes commercial Bio Diesel plants using salvaged waste oil from restaurants and tallow from meat plants did good business here in the early 2000's during the oil price hikes. Sadly when OPEC realised they were just killing themselves and dropped their prices again most of them went out of business or wound back production.

 

[KNI]

Yes commercial Bio Diesel plants using salvaged waste oil from restaurants and tallow from meat plants did good business here in the early 2000's during the oil price hikes. Sadly when OPEC realised they were just killing themselves and dropped their prices again most of them went out of business or wound back production.

In EU there's a government subsidies which keep them afloat. 14% of the fuel mix at the pump must be bio component. Plan is to raise it to 30% at 2030. In Finland we already raised it to 20% at 2020.

Practically it means that currently ..

• for gasoline it's 10% is bio-ethanol and 4% is bio-gasoline made from palm oil
• for diesel it's 14% of bio-diesel

It's just too costly to compete at current oil prices without subsidies.

 

[VAMike]

Yes commercial Bio Diesel plants using salvaged waste oil from restaurants and tallow from meat plants did good business here in the early 2000's during the oil price hikes. Sadly when OPEC realised they were just killing themselves and dropped their prices again most of them went out of business or wound back production.

there's not enough waste oil in the world to make a dent in the world's energy needs; that was always just a feel-good effort. scaled-up efforts require a dedicated source of inputs, with Brazil's sugarcane ethanol probably being the most effective. for most of the planet the water requirement makes a similar level of agricultural inputs unrealistic.

 

[myothercarizahearse]

1998
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Ranger_EV

check the documentary "Who killed the electric car?"

 

[DeathRanger]

1998
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Ranger_EV

check the documentary "Who killed the electric car?"

Imagine where GM would be today if they didn't kill the EV and continued R&D. I'd bet they wouldn't be having the current Bolt battery issues if they had kept with it. With Bolt battery issues, they'll prob try and kill the electric car again. but this time GM will be the one that fails.

 

[VAMike]

Imagine where GM would be today if they didn't kill the EV and continued R&D.

There's only so much R&D money, and only so much that management can focus on. The hardest thing in the world for an old company to do is kill off a legacy product and focus on something new--most companies can't do it, and eventually die.

 

[Cmar]

In EU there's a government subsidies which keep them afloat. 14% of the fuel mix at the pump must be bio component. Plan is to raise it to 30% at 2030. In Finland we already raised it to 20% at 2020.

Practically it means that currently ..

• for gasoline it's 10% is bio-ethanol and 4% is bio-gasoline made from palm oil
• for diesel it's 14% of bio-diesel

It's just too costly to compete at current oil prices without subsidies.

Similar here, as my state is a major sugar producer most 91 grade fuel contains up to 10% ethanol produced from sugar refinery waste. You can also buy 91 without ethanol. Ironically that much ethanol makes it close to 95 RON which is more expensive! Diesel is currently at 5-10% biodiesel. I believe that it has been 5% for many years as the oil companies used biodiesel as a lubricity additive after ultra low sulphur diesel was introduced.

 

[Scooter]

Government and Corporations will get there money out of you on electric vehicles. You will see the incentives and reduced cost of electricity disappear. Bring on the increased taxes.

 

[DeathRanger]

You can buy a Ranger EV, just not from Ford.

https://ranger.polaris.com/en-us/ranger-ev/
https://quietkat.com/products/2021-ranger-e-bike

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