DESIGN CHALLENGE
Built in steps gives access
to cab when cab is in
exposure, work and the fun had from coming up
with a new machine form.”
The machine
Pope’s 2020 cover-star vehicle is his own
interpretation of the articulated dump truck
(ADT), a 45-ton load capacity machine with a
rotating elevating cab. Up until just a few years
ago Pope’s career had been dominated by the
internal combustion engine (ICE). is is the rst
large electric vehicle concept he has laid out.
“ ere is a revolution around electric batterypowered
down in price and becoming more e cient.
Usually I like to make something that can at least
in theory be built today. is one I’m pushing a
little further down the road. e majority of the
truck could be built using today’s technology and
14
vehicles,” he says. “Batteries are coming
iVT International Off-Highway 2020
Cab can lift up and rotate
180° to enhance safety
when reversing
raised position
“NORMALLY IN THIS TYPE OF MACHINE
A MECHANICAL DRIVETRAIN TAKES UP THE
WHOLE CENTER SPACE OF THE REAR CHASSIS”
Jon Pope, industrial designer
manufacturing processes, but I might be pushing
it on the battery size. Realistically the machine I’ve
designed might require a little more room for
batteries and quite a bit more for the cooling area.”
Articulate and oscillate
As with a typical articulated dump truck there is
articulation on the pivot. ere is also oscillation
within the articulation, allowing the rear chassis
to shi from side to side. is means that if the
rear chassis tips over, the front chassis will stay
upright, and as long as the li cylinders on the
outside that li the dump bed up and down are
not damaged no harm is done.
“Normally in this type of machine a
mechanical drivetrain takes up the whole center
space of the rear chassis between the frame rails
with a drivesha running down the center and
two solid powered axles in the rear,” says Pope.
“ at whole area is taken up by axles, suspension
and drivetrain.”
In his electric vehicle Pope is using traction
motors in each wheel assembly. is means there
is no requirement for a solid axle going across,
and no di erential, which bene ts the vehicle by
removing the complexity and power loss of a
powered, solid rear axle. e rear suspension uses
a simple independent oscillating bogie.
“You’re still going have a gear reduction
assembly – you’re right at the hub of the wheel –
but now you’ve got an electric motor which only
has one moving part,” he says. “ is simpli es the
drivetrain system and allows you to control the
traction, like traction control in your car where
you’re breaking each individual wheel to keep the
car in control. But now when you’re doing it,
you’re not ghting against your mechanical drive
system so there’s going to be a lot less wear and
tear. With this machine, in theory you have the
articulation steering, but since you can control
the power to each wheel, you could also add skid
steering. So let’s say you’re going into a le turn,
and you want to make it sharper because you
JON POPE: A CAREER IN DESIGN
As a young child growing up in
Massachusetts, Jon Pope was
fascinated with construction
equipment, farm equipment,
“anything with hydraulics on
it”. Whether operating,
maintaining or potentially
designing he always thought this was something
he wanted to be involved in. His father had a
machine shop in the house, and young Jon was
encouraged to build three dimensional objects.
“From the creativity standpoint, I would say
I was bred for it. It was defi nitely in a nurturing
environment for it.” In high school aptitude tests
suggested he should be a mechanical engineer but
everything he’d heard about the job suggested it
was just, “mathematical equations all day long,
which sounded really boring to me, even though it
was a long way from the truth.” At the University
of Bridgeport in Connecticut he studied industrial
design as a Bachelor of Science. “This way you
have the materials and process side as well as the
mechanical and some of the engineering side.
Human factors have a tremendous amount to do
with an industry where you can literally kill
somebody if you get it wrong. As far as industrial
design is concerned it was the perfect educational
background for me.”
After graduating in the early 1990s Pope got into
product design. In 1999 he was hired by industrial
design fi rm Teague, in the heavy equipment
division, after which he struck out on his own. Since
2000 and under the name Pope Consulting he has
worked with numerous OEMs including John Deere,
Mahindra CE and Volvo CE, and also collaborated
with mentor, Larry Sliker at Sliker design.