Care to elaborate?

well now why wouldn't the diesel electric be a good option for off-road use? I would think as sensitive as gasoline engines are to calibrations, timing, computer, ect. they would be more trouble than diesel electric.

In my J30 racing sailboat we have a yanmar 2GM 13 hp 2 cylinder diesel. It is old school, nothing electric other than an alternator and starter. Even if there is no electricity to start, throw the compression switch, get the attachment to crank it, get it spinning and throw the compression, and there you go. at approx 2000 RPMs we burn 0.4 GPH. that engine at 2000 RPMs can run one heluva generator. I agree Batteries technology needs to advance, but with a moderate level of protection they can work very well. Gel cell batteries that are used in the marine industry can be mounted any way you want, upside down, left, right, whatever. And are very resistant to vibration.

Another advantage of the diesel is its ability to be a multifuel engine. and When not in use be a very powerful generator.

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2003 limited 3.7L V6
Vader Edition

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3219059

store energy mechanically, via fluid hydraulics, use a hydraulic pump to take energy out, and put it back in.

No batteries to fail, only O rings.

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http://www.Colorado4Wheel.com
"Its not about what you can DO with your Jeep, its about where you can GO with your Jeep."
Knowledgeable - But Caustic

Go over and ask that same ? on Pirate,they'll laugh at you.

I soo need a decal that says

"My gas guzzling SUV will beat up your HYBRID"
or
"My gas guzzling SUV will CRUSH your HYBRID"

just can't make up my mind. . .

Oh and one more thing My KJ likes mud and water. . . Electronics DON'T. . .

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2004 KJ Columbia Edition.
89 XJ Budget Beast <------FOR SALE!!!!!! $2,500
02 Ram 5.9L 360

let them laugh. People laughed at the world not being flat...


Has anyone even given it a decent try? All I'm saying is that I would rule anything out, technology does advance, and will continue to. And last i checked, internal combustion engines, transmissions, diffs, and transfer cases don't take too kindly to mud and water inside them either.

If this has been working on boats that are in the water 24/7, and SALT WATER for that matter, I dont see how the sensitive electronics couldn't be waterproofed, a high grade potting will take care of most of the sensitive stuff, which could easily be placed high on the vehicle, and as long as they are submerged for a long period of time I don't see any problems...

an open mind never killed anyone. Yall may be right, It may fail miserably, but I would like to see a valient effort from a large company such as chrysler before I make any decisions.

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2003 limited 3.7L V6
Vader Edition

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3219059

It's not the fact that the electronics are not able to survive,it's the fact that very heavy and sensitive battery packs and weaker electric drive system would not be very good for anything besides a gravel road.Just imagine the spare parts you'd need to carry for a electric rock crawler ,plus the insane cost compared to gas versions.Look at most of the offroad mods being done to the more hardcore offroading vehicles,they are actually going backwards in tech as far as the powertrain,simplier is always better when you are miles from nowhere,cheaper to fix,easier to fix,and spare parts are cheaper/more availeable.Venturing off the pavement is highly risky enough but add in the fact you need to charge batteries every 100(or less) miles makes it a lose-lose situation unless you bring a very long extension cord.


Roll a TJ(or KJ) on a trail,90% of the time after you get it back on it's wheels that after some time you'll be able to start it up and continue.I'd say that rate would be cut to less then 25% with a electric vehicle,trying to protect that battery pack would be a nightmare,and those electric motors aren't to keen on those high shock loads that it would see either.


I'm not agaist electric cars(yes CARS),anything else is totally worthless at this monent or the forseeable future.Can't tow hardly anything,drive any good distance,or haul very much with a electric vehicle,goes for hybrids also(except the distance part).Your pretty much limited to the urban crawl and placing the Jeep emblem on one is a disgrace to the name in my opinion.

I agree that current tech is not very good for off road use. But think about some of the possibilities it opens up. Imagine having an electric motor in or near each wheel. Add the planetary hubs (like Bigfoot uses) to really get some torque from it. No more axle. Almost unlimited vertical wheel travel capability. Get some 4' coilovers and go to town... LOL.
And I Assure you that electric motors have the torque. As tjkj mentions, the area that needs to be developed is the battery. It's coming though.
Rescu2000

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2003 Liberty Sport 4X4
DIY Frankie Lift, BBS Rims, Aussie Locker Rear, DTT Front, Renegade Rack & Light Bar, Custom Front Bumper w/ Warn XD9000i, Custom Rear Bumper, JBA UCA's, Full Skids(Mopar, Kilby and Super skid), CRS Rock Rails, CB, EVIC, Nav, power dim mirror, (2) 8" subs under front seats. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2512777

For a hybrid to do what we do with our jeeps would take some major advances in technology to create and to me a jeep hybrid would just be way too expensive. . . breaking my jeep now already cost why would i take a jeep hybrid offroad? ? ?
If anything if jeep wants to create a hybrid do it with a patriot or a compass not a real jeep.

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2004 KJ Columbia Edition.
89 XJ Budget Beast <------FOR SALE!!!!!! $2,500
02 Ram 5.9L 360

You know that the military is looking to convert a lot of their vehicles over to diesel hybrids...

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2003 Liberty Sport 4X4
DIY Frankie Lift, BBS Rims, Aussie Locker Rear, DTT Front, Renegade Rack & Light Bar, Custom Front Bumper w/ Warn XD9000i, Custom Rear Bumper, JBA UCA's, Full Skids(Mopar, Kilby and Super skid), CRS Rock Rails, CB, EVIC, Nav, power dim mirror, (2) 8" subs under front seats. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2512777

Here is a pretty cool looking hybrid: http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/automotive_news/4217017.html

Here is an April article that mentions a concept Hybrid Jeep Renegade: http://ezinearticles.com/?Chrysler-Futu ... id=1088440

Good or bad, I think it's just a matter of time before we start seeing these things off road.

EDIT: Vertice already posted a better version of the Jeep article.

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Take the road less traveled.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/shadow-hybrid-vehicle-to-become-a-power-source-0569/

http://www.afcea.org/signal/articles/templates/SIGNAL_Article_Template.asp?articleid=91&zoneid=35

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2005 Liberty CRD, 245/75R16, OME CRD Springs front, OME HD rear

Maybe it is just me but that first one sure looks a lot like a modified Jeep. hmmm....I wonder if I could get that bumper for my KJ

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My Rig:
2008 Jeep Wrangler JKU
OME HD lift
35" tires (thus far)
plus a ton of other things. J.E.E.P.

Guys, I cannot imagine that anyone who has ever played with an I.C.-powered toy can preach about carbon footprints or wasting gas. If you have ever used a vehicle for purely recreational purposes, or continue to do so, the fact that you are causing uneccesary fuel usage and emissions seems to be a tad hypocritical to me.

Is it OK for me to use as much fuel as I can if I kill another fuel user to off-set my footprint? To say that you can cause any unnecessary emissions ( in their thinking) is OK because you offset your footprint other ways is crazy. That makes you the same as some idiot using enough energy in their home per month as 10 average Americans but then playing at being a greenie. Ok, Al? ( Note: any mention of the inventor of the internet has no connotation to his past politcal offices, but to his sham pseudoscience). Anyone who truly bought into this claim would buy not into off-sets and would believe that only eliminating all usage and emissions was the answer.

This carbon footprint crap will be a goner in a few years, just as the chicken littles who screamed "global warming" are now crying " climate change." No crap? The climate has been changing since before man was here to blame. Amazing.

Hybrids are a little footnote in automotive history that will hardly be remembered 10 years from now, except for the pain in the butt of getting rid of them.

Electrics are an abject failure except for the elite who lie about living with the P.O.S.'s. Wanna drive from Fresno to Dallas to visit G. Ma? Sorry, little Billy, my Chevy EV1 can only travel 80 miles at a time. The biggest electric promise, the Chevy Volt, is way over budget & under-performing, and will not meet the 2010 deadline. The Honda fuel cell thingy is also a pipe dream under today's technology and their promise of a $600 a month lease would constitute a major sell-for-a-loss for Honda. I do not feel that, as a tax payer, I should continue to support fat cats' tech toys with tax incenttives as we do currently, either.

The answer is in refinement of current technology. The infrastsructure to support anything else is not in place, and probably cannot be built due to a lack of funding & time. The new 'vette has 505 hp & gets 25 mpg hwy (!!!!). Whittling that down to a 150 hp motor that gets 50 mpg is a better bet than anything on the table now. Then making people accept 150hp as the max available & eliminating freedom of choice and 90% of the current car market is the next hurdle. Freedom? Hardly. Just more Big Brother telling you what is best for you. And guess what? Things like the Liberty & Wrangler would be totally gone. Again, you can't waste emissions & fuel by playing or being allowed to drive anything like an SUV. Just ask Al.

BTW: Hasn't Popular Mechanics also been envisioning us in "flying cars" off and on for at least 50 years? Yep, they hit the nail on the head with that one, too.

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LOST # 633
'05 KJ 3.7L/6spd/241 245/75/16 MT's
'88 MJ 4.0L/AW4/231 SWB HPD30 & trac-loc D44 w/3.73's
A dirty Jeep is a happy Jeep

I cannot imagine why the shareholders of any huge corp. would not be willing to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars just so you can make your decisions ( about what, I don't know) based on a valiant effort.

Realism has to have some part in this, folks. I want a jet pack that also serves me toast & jam as it takes me from place to place. Do you think I could get ChryCo to whip me up some prototypes to see if I'd really like it or not?

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LOST # 633
'05 KJ 3.7L/6spd/241 245/75/16 MT's
'88 MJ 4.0L/AW4/231 SWB HPD30 & trac-loc D44 w/3.73's
A dirty Jeep is a happy Jeep

InCom, I hate to tell you this but check out this link:
http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledth ... ctric.html
Electric cars are a possibility and do work but Big Business will not allow them. It is really that simple. Think about it, very few moving parts=little to no mechanics needed, no gas=less demand which also=less jobs, then there is the problem of breakable parts. If there are very few moving parts then less stuff will break so people will not need to buy new/remanned parts as much which also = less jobs.

Now, am I saying that we will never see electric vehicles, no. However, it is going to take some major development/world change, like running out of crude to allow this to happen. $ makes the world go around and there is simply too much $ at stake to switch out to electric.

You might even be able to tie this argument over to AC versus DC back in the day. I do not remember the arguments there but I do remember something about one being safer and that one in turn was and is used much less. It is all about the green back...or whichever currency is strong at the time.

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My Rig:
2008 Jeep Wrangler JKU
OME HD lift
35" tires (thus far)
plus a ton of other things. J.E.E.P.

Electric cars are a possibility, entirely.

Are they what the public wants? F no! would you want to want to take 3 hours to fill up your Jeep/car/scooter every 60-100 miles? ABSOLUTELY not.

The consumer killed the electric car. GM made a "valiant effort"

You do know these have an electric motor in each wheel. Diesel generator runs the motors , capacity 84 tonnes.

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SOME SAY

I'm Toight... Toight lik a Toiger.

And

When I go to the Toilet, Chuck Norris is there to tear the squares off for me.

"Pass me another one Chuck, and keep em coming!! On sencond thoughts..Go get the hose"

Dude, that is even more of a propaganda BS machine than Michael Moore's crap. Just because it is a movie doesn't mean you have to suspend all ability to question bias & swallow a load hook, line, & sinker.

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LOST # 633
'05 KJ 3.7L/6spd/241 245/75/16 MT's
'88 MJ 4.0L/AW4/231 SWB HPD30 & trac-loc D44 w/3.73's
A dirty Jeep is a happy Jeep

Trains are another good example of that technology. Huge diesel engines powering generators to drive electric engines, which drive the wheels.