advantages of off roading electric vehicles

[RonD]

I doubt you could remove a skid plate and patch the BOTTOM of a gas tank fast enough to save any gas

The very little I know about EV battery packs would lead me to believe a damaged cell or 5 or 10, wouldn't cause 0 volts, capacity would be limited for sure
It wouldn't make sense not to plan for cells failing early in a multi-cell battery pack, so sections of the battery packs should be able to be "cut off" so not a power drain, limiting overall capacity but won't disable the EV

Any vehicle, EV or ICE, could be fully disabled from "intrusion" from under the chassis

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I doubt you could remove a skid plate and patch the BOTTOM of a gas tank fast enough to save any gas

The very little I know about EV battery packs would lead me to believe a damaged cell or 5 or 10, wouldn't cause 0 volts, capacity would be limited for sure
It wouldn't make sense not to plan for cells failing early in a multi-cell battery pack, so sections of the battery packs should be able to be "cut off" so not a power drain, limiting overall capacity but won't disable the EV

Any vehicle, EV or ICE, could be fully disabled from "intrusion" from under the chassis

True....but you could remove the skid plate, patch it, then refill 5 gallons from the can in the bed...or siphon it from your buddies rig...or whatever.

Im betting a damaged cell or whatever on an EV battery pack would play hell with electronics to the point it would pry shut down...not to mention whatever they use for acid in those things is going to be way nastyier then getting soaked in gas

 

[oldgeek]

One damaged cell in a lithium ion battery pack poses a real fire risk.

 

[RonD]

As does a hole in a gas tank

 

[oldgeek]

As does a hole in a gas tank

Aye, but a quick grab of the fire extinguisher can usually get a fire under control and the vehicle can be repaired. Usually.

Once a lithium ion battery pack catches fire...

 

[superj]

I have a Taylor Dunn 3 wheeled material mover which I believe needs a new controller. I hear the relays clicking but it wont go.

Unfortunately it seems controllers for TD are discontinued, rare and expensive, and the trick is to retrofit an EZ go controllers. Sounds simple enough yet electrical is not my forte, so its sitting on the back burner of the projects list.

you can go old school and get some 80s ezgo or club car resistors and wire your three wheeler like one of those.

E-Z-GO Resistor Assembly (Fits 1970-1984) | BuggiesUnlimited.com

thats the resistor assembly. you might have to change your pedal too though. i cannot remember the differences in how the pedals move though

EZGO-Club Car-Columbia-Harley Davidson - PB-6 Pot Box with Switch (buggiesunlimited.com)

that looks like it can be used on many years of ex-go so it should work with the resistor assembly above. your charging system should work the same so it shouldn't need to be changed.

but, check the motor resistance. you might just have to replace the forward and reverse brushes. we used to change those all the time on slightly older carts. very rarely was it a controller or an armature needing to be surfaced

 

[don4331]

True....but you could remove the skid plate, patch it, then refill 5 gallons from the can in the bed...or siphon it from your buddies rig...or whatever.

Im betting a damaged cell or whatever on an EV battery pack would play hell with electronics to the point it would pry shut down...not to mention whatever they use for acid in those things is going to be way nastyier then getting soaked in gas

One damaged cell in a lithium ion battery pack poses a real fire risk.

One damaged cell won't shut down the vehicle. As @RonD stated the battery pack is set up with multiple "sections". Damage to one section will result in capacity loss, but not complete failure. And Lithium ion batteries are for all intents "dry cell" so nothing to leak. So, gasoline is way nastier than batteries.

Gasoline fires per 100k sales - 1,529 ; Electric fires per 100k sales - 25. So, you are 60X more likely to have your ICE car burn down than EV (Hybrids are 2X worse then ICE).

The bigger risk is when you recharge: If the software hasn't disabled the damaged section, it is possible to overcharge. And it is the over charging that starts the run away thermal event.

 

[RonD]

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example." - Mark Twain

 

[oldgeek]

Runaway thermal events come basically from shorting out within cells (putting it very simply). That can happen at any time, especially if a cell gets damaged. There are incidents of phones, scooters and other Lithium Ion powered devices catching fire just sitting there.

Then there is the nightmare of trying to put out an EV fire. A fire that has often started again once the fire crew thought it was out. It takes about 20K gallons of water to put one out, just to start again.