Be Warned About Automatic/Manual CDL

Folks are going to loose there **** once hybrid and electric semi trucks are the norm with direct drive transmissions lol.

Folks are going to loose there **** once hybrid and electric semi trucks are the norm with direct drive transmissions lol.

Can't shift this stupid electric motor!!! LOL

I can't see electric being that big of a deal because they'd be extremely limited in their hauling distance.. even worse than CNG I'd imagine.

They are only limited due to the charging station's. Same was true for the electric cars less then a decade ago. now we have cars going 300+ miles between charges. We have been moving away from internal combustion that's nothing new. The u.s petro dollar system has slowed the progress however the technology is inevitable and will supersede.More charging stations = more distance. We are less then a decade away from the switch.

the [electric] technology is inevitable and will supersede

Ya know what's funny about that? It's actually the opposite. Back in the early 1900's there were electric vehicles long before there were gas powered vehicles. Gas was cheaper so it replaced electric vehicles.

Everyone thinks electric vehicles are this newfangled thing, because that's what the governments and corporations want you to believe. There's so much money being made by the oil industry that they want people to believe we're trying hard to move toward electric but we have all of these hurdles to overcome. It's total baloney though. We could've stayed with electric vehicles 100 years ago if that was our priority. So it wouldn't surprise me if 100 years from now we're still using gasoline engines.

I agree, Brett. I recently watched a very interesting documentary regarding electric vehicles and "Where did they go?". It talked about the California clean air board and their push to force manufacturers to make and sell electric cars. "Studies were done and the data was skewed to show people didn't want electric cars. The cars in California were never actually sold to the customers and they had to lease them. Big oil got involved and the cars were literally picked up and towed away from people who wanted to purchase these cars at the end of the lease and weren't allowed to. Little by little the perfectly running cars were crushed and shredded by the auto manufacturers. The documentary also went into great detail telling about the electric cars pre combustion engine days and people loved how quiet and clean they were. Interesting stuff. I'm pretty sure I watched it on Netflix or low possibility on Amazon prime.

Interesting stuff and no.. electric trucks aren't in our near future.

Susan...great documentary. Its title was "Who Killed the Electric Car?" you can find it on youtube. it used to be in Current.

As for the restriction, if a driver let that stop.them from a company they want, the driver was not committed. If i was in that position, Id pay a school to test me out and get it lifted. the exam would be ssssoooo much easier after having driven for years. nerves, turns, lane control wouldn't be an issue. easy pass. no big deal.

Scratch2win's "facts":

They are only limited due to the charging station's. Same was true for the electric cars less then a decade ago. now we have cars going 300+ miles between charges.

I've been munching on this popcorn for a while now. I feel I need to pop in. "now we have cars going 300+ miles between charges." Do you know what a truck driver will say if they have to stop every 5-6 hours to recharge their truck? "****** ***** **** ** ******* *****!" You might consider electric trucks would be on the road far sooner than auto-drive trucks. But only 300 miles at a time in a truck dispatched 2,500 miles ain't going to fly. Any truck that can hold batteries for a longer trip will certainly have a smaller maximum load. Another non-fly idea.

We have been moving away from internal combustion that's nothing new.

And so turbine power, atomic power (yes it was considered at one time), steam long ago. It has taken us over 100 years to get this far with internal combustion. What's next?

As for "petro dollar system", what is that? How does that "slow down" progress? Yes, oil is bought and sold internationally with US dollars, but the search for something more efficient than four stroke diesel on the large scale is nowhere in sight.

Electric trucks are already here, on the road as we speak being road tested. The Tesla semi has been in development for quite some time now. They are due to go into production next year, with customers like ups, FedEx, Pepsi, and Amazon with orders in just to name a few. Supposedly they are shooting for the trucks to have a range of 500 miles and to take no more than an hour to charge. They plan on having a network of charging stations through out rhw country. Guess time will tell.

Electric trucks are already here, on the road as we speak being road tested.

I'm not sure I consider driving a prototype vehicle, pulling an empty trailer, into UPS headquarters and others who have pre-ordered them as "testing." It's more a promotional gimmick to raise funds or take deposits on a truck that doesn't even have a factory set up yet.

Tesla semi has been in development for quite some time now.

Brian, I happen to think Elon Musk is nothing short of brilliant, but his forte seems to be promotion and development. Production will be his biggest struggle with these new semis, just as it has been with every other vehicle they develop. I've never personally seen one of their electric semis, and it will be years before I do because you can't start producing and selling a totally new design of class 8 vehicles without properly "testing" them.

Guess time will tell.

Yes, it will. They have yet to be able to even produce a sedan that is within their targeted price range. How long will it take for them to get heavy trucks in line with current market values?