It is inevitable.
This forum was created after talking to
EVolveRacing around the campfire at KoH. Looking forward to seeing their build shared here and hopefully we get a few more Offroad or racing rigs in here….. not your man bun expresso fetchers
I'm glad you had a chance to meet them at KOH. I spent more time with Keith and Melissa during KOH week than any other team. They are awesome people and put a ton of thought and ingenuity into building their rig.
My interest is in development of my high voltage steering pump system, for which the EVolve truck is one of my first two operational systems. The other being Dave Cole's Hypercraft spec EV car. More details on that will be showcased here when ready.
The possibilities that EV tech is just now opening up is what excites me the most. I don't see it as a novelty nor do I see a reason to shun it just based on what our infrastructure looks like today. 100 years ago there was not a gas station on every street corner. I also don't see it as the end all be all answer to the future of humanity. The key to a successful future is diversification, whether that be transportation, energy, water, or food. EV's will never be the answer for everybody in every application, but the benefits it presents are worth pursuing for applications where EV's do make sense.
From my perspective, EV tech allows me to design a powerful and efficient hydraulic system with none of the challenges that a traditional high-powered steering system presents:
Belt alignment issues... not applicable
Pump speed range (low flow at idle, smoking the pump at rev limiter)... not applicable
Managing waste energy/heat due to excessive pressure relief/flow regulation... Not applicable
Instead I get to play with flow on demand at any time regardless of vehicle/motor speed, digital pressure/torque limiting, and my biggest challenge is tuning pump operational characteristics to get satisfactory response with minimal energy waste. My worst case scenario fail state is I simply run the pump full speed to get steering response as if from a conventional pump at higher rpm.
If I could make even my 2.5kW system in 12VDC it would be a game changer but at the end of the day the fundamental limitation is the horsepower that it takes to steer an offroad vehicle. To get that power out of a 12V pump it would need to be able to draw 200+ amps at exceptionally high duty cycle but with an 800VDC pump in a high voltage EV, it takes just 3.5 amps to get 2.5kW. For comparison, the common 12V Volvo or Jeep EPS pumps draw around 65 amps peak so around 0.8kW which is a fraction of my "small" pump unit and they aren't known to maintain that sort of output for extended periods due to overheating. The two just aren't even in the same realm anymore.
Driveline tech opens up similar concepts of tunability that were never possible before. Think about tuning your motor controller to maintain wheel speed for a given throttle position which can reduce driveshaft/axleshaft shock load from whoops and jumps. Torque limiting could help reduce axle shaft breakage in the rocks. The possibilities are endless and we are just recently opening the door to performance tuning. This all is what makes me excited.