Bigfoot Monster Truck Goes Electric

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Now this would definitely be a defining turn of events in the Green Movement. When the undeniable macho symbol of powerful 4 X 4 ultimate destruction goes electric, the tide has definitely turned. If the Electric Bigfoot model ever sees actual competition, looks like they will have to add their own sound effects. Quietly crunching cars somehow loses that destructive edge. :D
 
All you would have to do is just throw more batteries at it until it could finish the very small rout they run.

As for the sound, this would be pure novelty, I doubt it would run anything other then a special "Electric vs. Electric" competition, the real Bigfoot would stay petro.
 
Well I suppose monster trucks aren't terribly disadvantaged by the short range and having to recharge overnight. Not really a monster truck guy but it seems to me the roaring engine is a big part of the show though and I'm not sure canned sound effects will go over well as a replacement.


Ok I see it now, the Sierra Club Monster Truck Rally comes to Candlestick Park this weekend! Half price parking for Prius, Leaf and Volt drivers with free bicycle racks! Watch the heroic big foot electric crush old polluting gas guzzlers, save the planet, recycle your old gas guzzler as Big Foot's next victim, YEEAAAAHHHH (Howard Dean style).
 
Well I suppose monster trucks aren't terribly disadvantaged by the short range and having to recharge overnight. Not really a monster truck guy but it seems to me the roaring engine is a big part of the show though and I'm not sure canned sound effects will go over well as a replacement.


Ok I see it now, the Sierra Club Monster Truck Rally comes to Candlestick Park this weekend! Half price parking for Prius, Leaf and Volt drivers with free bicycle racks! Watch the heroic big foot electric crush old polluting gas guzzlers, save the planet, recycle your old gas guzzler as Big Foot's next victim, YEEAAAAHHHH (Howard Dean style).

Meh. If you have the DC power source to do it there are batteries, that aren't terribly expensive that you could charge in 20 minutes and possibly less.
 
If anyone here runs current electric RC cars like I do, they know that newer technology with brushless motors and lipo batteries have insane acceleration, pretty much instant torque. Its all about gearing with these things.

On the other hand as a Monster Jam fan, a huge part of the show is feeling the stadium shake and rumble from those huge blown V8s. I get chills every time a monster truck mashes the throttle, the sound and feel is just incredible.
 
Well this is good in that it shows rednecks that you can still have your ridiculous trucks without destroying the planet! Very nice.
 
bigfoot is cool.. That white zombie is downright fucking impressive..
 
Well I suppose monster trucks aren't terribly disadvantaged by the short range and having to recharge overnight. Not really a monster truck guy but it seems to me the roaring engine is a big part of the show though and I'm not sure canned sound effects will go over well as a replacement.
reminds me of childhood where cousins had those monster truck RC cars, play with them for all of about 10-15 minutes, then they're done because it took like 4-6 hours to charge the batteries
 
A buncha hillbillies and rednecks would get acid burns, prolly.

sooo... no impact? ;-)


In the videos of the white zombie car, they pop and send electric sparks on the track. I'm guessing it happens frequently with drag racing.
 
sooo... no impact? ;-)


In the videos of the white zombie car, they pop and send electric sparks on the track. I'm guessing it happens frequently with drag racing.

I think they have that worked out, there was some...destructive testing...when they first converted to lithium.
 
What we really need is a reasonably priced medium to large SUV with comparable range to the gas ones we have now. I have three small kids, and none of the electric vehicles give me the space I need for things like strollers.

Now, for commuting, sure, an EV is an option, and the Prius C isn't that bad of a starting price. However, unless we have an SUV, it's going to be a battle to get it to go in. An over-sized RC-esque vehicle doesn't have the space.
 
And yet another vehicle that produced far more pollution in its creation then what it replaced will ever. Horray for misguided attempts at being green.
 
And yet another vehicle that produced far more pollution in its creation then what it replaced will ever. Horray for misguided attempts at being green.

True, but electric does have some technical advantages over gas engines, mainly torque which is a huge necessity when rotating massive tires at high speeds and up inclines.
 
And yet another vehicle that produced far more pollution in its creation then what it replaced will ever. Horray for misguided attempts at being green.


You do realize that all the reports showing that conclusion are total BS don't you? As a worst case an electric car over it's lifetime is only about 2-3x better from a pollution standpoint. Even when feeding it almost completely from a coal fired power plant. The studies that show otherwise use completely unrealistic figures for efficiency, copper usage, silicon usage, etc. And use horribly optimistic numbers for the ICE vehicle.

Here's a car that's going to be doing some ridiculous things next year when it should be pushing somewhere around 1500-2000hp with it's upgraded battery pack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyApVO8YSqE&feature=player_embedded
 
You do realize that all the reports showing that conclusion are total BS don't you? As a worst case an electric car over it's lifetime is only about 2-3x better from a pollution standpoint. Even when feeding it almost completely from a coal fired power plant. The studies that show otherwise use completely unrealistic figures for efficiency, copper usage, silicon usage, etc. And use horribly optimistic numbers for the ICE vehicle.

Here's a car that's going to be doing some ridiculous things next year when it should be pushing somewhere around 1500-2000hp with it's upgraded battery pack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyApVO8YSqE&feature=player_embedded
You are only factoring the electric power plant pollution which is miniscule compared to the power output of modern plants. The real issue comes from the mining of the rare earth metals used in the batteries. It's not exactly a clean process.
 
You are only factoring the electric power plant pollution which is miniscule compared to the power output of modern plants. The real issue comes from the mining of the rare earth metals used in the batteries. It's not exactly a clean process.

Can't a lot of the metals be recycled though?
 
You are only factoring the electric power plant pollution which is miniscule compared to the power output of modern plants. The real issue comes from the mining of the rare earth metals used in the batteries. It's not exactly a clean process.

There aren't much in the way of rare earth metals in the batteries or even in the motors that will likely be used, as an induction motor is cheaper and can spin at higher RPM's, than a PM motor. The batteries are mostly, by weight, copper and aluminum and will be recycled just like copper and aluminum is now, because they're valuable.
 
Kyle,

I'm a [H] for life, but seriously man... this is all politics and 0% cool. ZERO.

It itsn't cool at all. It's lame as hell. Monster trucks are noisy and crush things. This one just crushes things, and not as well as the noisy one.

Electric anything is just another "ME TOOOOOO!!!!!" moment to show how much they supposedly care.

Man... electric monster truck. My childhood has been ruined.
 
oh and carbon. The rest makes up a very small fraction of the battery. Be it iron phosphate, magnesium, lithium, or cobalt.
 
Can't a lot of the metals be recycled though?
Some can, some cannot. But the "green" issue with batteries has to do with the process of mining the rare earth metals, not the metals themselves. There are a bunch of toxic chemicals used to extract the metals from the earth. There are cleaner ways of doing it, but not cheaper. China is currently the largest producer, and they are very slow cleaning up their act.
 
Some can, some cannot. But the "green" issue with batteries has to do with the process of mining the rare earth metals, not the metals themselves. There are a bunch of toxic chemicals used to extract the metals from the earth. There are cleaner ways of doing it, but not cheaper. China is currently the largest producer, and they are very slow cleaning up their act.

I admit I don't really know anything about mining unless you count the 10 mins I wasted on it in WoW before I just went for gathering herbs and skinning dead stuff (yeah, I know...gory Skribbels :( ). It doesn't have to be a dirty process though, to mine the stuff right? And if there is a lot out of the ground already, can't we just mine it from old landfills by now?
 
There aren't much in the way of rare earth metals in the batteries or even in the motors that will likely be used, as an induction motor is cheaper and can spin at higher RPM's, than a PM motor. The batteries are mostly, by weight, copper and aluminum and will be recycled just like copper and aluminum is now, because they're valuable.

I realize that, I was just replying to the ridiculous comment about this truck being created for "green" reasons. I doubt that had anything to do with it TBH. I think the Bigfoot engineers were looking to add massive torque and instant on demand power to a monster truck. Good idea in theory, but it takes away from the vehicle's presence and makes less of a show.
 
Master [H];1039316464 said:
What we really need is a reasonably priced medium to large SUV with comparable range to the gas ones we have now. I have three small kids, and none of the electric vehicles give me the space I need for things like strollers.
You do realize that you are definitely not the target audience of these fuel efficient cars right?? :) No offense to your lifestyle but if you need lots of space, then you're out of running for the 'low weight' high MPG car market.

And yet another vehicle that produced far more pollution in its creation then what it replaced will ever. Horray for misguided attempts at being green.
Fairly certain this was in no way meant to be a "green" solution, if you know the Bigfoot line of trucks, they often just do shit just to see if it can be done

here being one prime example
bf5_400.jpg

pretty sure they didn't put these tires on it for the extra traction or anything
 
lol.. Alot hate on the "performance" EV's it sounds..

I know the growl of a engine is something that alot of us associate performance motorsports with.. Doesn't matter if it is Monster truck or a dirt bike they are all loud & that gets attention..

Myself I have been wishing for years that I could find an electric ATV or UTV for hunting. Even stock they are just damn loud.. So even though the shit discussed in this thread (EV moster trucks or dragsters) isn't going to get me into the woods without creating a racket next year, But the advancement in technology just brings it a little more closer..
 
I was doing some reading and it looks like they actually did a pretty crappy job. They could have made that thing the equal, or better, of anything else on the field, but they went with a relatively weak drive system and good quality, but shitty lead acid batteries.
 
Bigfoots must be an american thing. Is there an actual practical use for these things? How do they perform offroad?

If bigfoots are more for presentation and showmanshp rather than performance, then replacing a loud engine with a quiet one would be detrimental to the machine as a whole.

Just the thoughts of an outsider;)
 
They should put the motors and some of the batteries down on the axles for better weight distribution...
 
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