New vehicle: EV / Solar EV

[Morloc]

(Just a random suggestion for anyone who likes the idea...)

 

 

Lightweight, low cargo capacity vehicle with speed approximating the minibike's.

 

If a charging station is too difficult to make, then manually swapping the 6 batteries to a bank connected to a generator would work fine.

 

A solar mod would allow you to run off the sun (or recharge) during the day, but would require costly solar cells to craft.

 

I don't know if it'd be possible, but would be fun if the runtime of the vehicle was based off the quality of the batteries in the vehicle's bank, so 6 brown batteries would work, but not go very far without charging. Same thing for the solar mod...better quality cells would offer better charging. Reduced charging due to weather would be a bonus!

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I'm not a RL fan of EV's, but can see a place for them in 7D2D!

 

 

-Arch Necromancer Morloc

 

 

[Syphon583]

Someone else brought up the topic of EVs in a discussion several months ago. They had envisioned it as a late game vehicle that required the use of mounted solar panels, but it had so many drawbacks that it didn't make sense in the late game.

 

I had suggested almost exactly what you propose here and think a simple EV vehicle or bike would be an awesome alternative to what we have now. For me, personally, I never craft/buy a minibike since IMO they offer little advantage for their cost. So either making an electric alternative to the minibike or replacing it altogether would be great!

[Morloc]

Yes, I can't remember the last time I made a minibike too. I was thinking about what sort of vehicle was needed or desirable.

I like the idea of you having the charge to make a long trip, but then a thunderstorm makes you wait for a very slow recharge, or scrapping cars to find a battery!

Having the batteries we find with variable charge would add to the "fun".

 

I suppose it could be a little more stealthy than gasoline engines too.

The real negative of the vehicle would be a small cargo capacity.

 

I'm thinking that when the game is officially released, we're probably going to see a lot fewer resources given that a single deposit of anything can last you an entire game as things are right now. Gasoline will be more of a concern, so this would end up the ultimate luxury wheels.

 

 

-Arch Necromancer Morloc

 

[Ezed]

It makes sends given the number of Teslas on the road these days. 

I'd also like to propose an electric golf cart as another EV...call it a Tier 2 (slower, less storage).  

 

I don't think an EV is necessarily quieter than an ICE power vehicle though (loud exhausts mods not included).  Most of the noise a car makes is from the tires and the hole it punches in the air (except at idle obviously).  

Edited November 16, 2022 by Ezed (see edit history)

[zztong]

I'm all for EVs. I drive an EV in real life and think that if 7D2D is set in the present or near future it would make sense to represent them, even if just for salvage.

 

If they're going to be operable, I think they should be the same speed as a 4x4 and have the same carrying capacity. My current car has roughly the same performance as my former Jeep Wrangler. Really, my EV is faster and accelerates faster, but not significantly so. My Wrangler was never able to get over 85 mph. A Jeep is not a performance vehicle, handles like crap, but is lots of fun. The EV will surprise you, but won't let you take the doors and top off for a run to the beach.

 

I could spend a bunch of time talking about how to accurately represent an EV, but there's no point since the gas vehicles are abstracted.

 

Let an EV's capacity be the same as the game's battery bank. Let players plug the EV into a generator, battery bank, or solar panels and just recharge just like the battery bank does. Solar panels on the EV don't really make any sense (currently) but who cares. Make it a module and make the module recharge the EV's battery bank at something like 1/5 or 1/10 speed.

 

If you want, add a some game objects to support the concept, consider two types of chargers: Dealer (stands alone) and Home (hangs on wall). I suggest not letting players recharge from them and just having them for salvage.

 

Trivia: I've been sprinkling in EV chargers into some of my POIs.

 

1 hour ago, Ezed said:

I don't think an EV is necessarily quieter than an ICE power vehicle though (loud exhausts mods not included).  Most of the noise a car makes is from the tires and the hole it punches in the air (except at idle obviously). 

 

True. At speed, road noise is pretty much the same. At low speeds, the EV is often (but not always) quieter, depending on the ICE. Obviously, a poorly maintained V8 ICE with no muffler ... or a Harley motorcycle ... can rattle the dishes in a house nearby.

 

I couldn't "rev" my EV's motor to even joke about having a drag race.

Edited November 16, 2022 by zztong (see edit history)

[Arma Rex]

9 hours ago, Syphon583 said:

Someone else brought up the topic of EVs in a discussion several months ago. They had envisioned it as a late game vehicle that required the use of mounted solar panels, but it had so many drawbacks that it didn't make sense in the late game.

 

I had suggested almost exactly what you propose here and think a simple EV vehicle or bike would be an awesome alternative to what we have now. For me, personally, I never craft/buy a minibike since IMO they offer little advantage for their cost. So either making an electric alternative to the minibike or replacing it altogether would be great!

I remember this. The concept art provided in tandem with the post was quite nice to look at and envision, but it would take a group of modders to do the work of implementation of said concept and art.

 

Edit: Found the aforementioned thread: 

 

Edited November 17, 2022 by Arma Rex (see edit history)

[Syphon583]

14 hours ago, Arma Rex said:

I remember this. The concept art provided in tandem with the post was quite nice to look at and envision, but it would take a group of modders to do the work of implementation of said concept and art.

 

Edit: Found the aforementioned thread: 

 

Yeah, I agree. The concept art was great. If this person doesn't have a job creating art like this for any game/entertainment companies, they really should.