Posted on 12/01/2020 5:15:01 PM PST by george76
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday that electricity consumption will double if the world’s car fleets are electrified, increasing the need to expand nuclear, solar, geothermal and wind energy generating sources.
Increasing the availability of sustainable energy is a major challenge as cars move from combustion engines to battery-driven electric motors, a shift which will take two decades, Musk said in a talk hosted by Berlin-based publisher Axel Springer.
There’s no unicorn energy source or free lunch. Currently, electric cars are primarily powered by coal, natural gas, and nuclear. Those are the sources we use to generate electricity, after all, according to the Energy Information Agency. Renewables are growing but still account for less than 20% of U.S. electricity.
There’s no free lunch when it comes to renewable energy source, which may not even be all that renewable. Wind and sun are free, but the means of generating power from them are not.
They require batteries, which requires extensive mining and the use of toxic chemicals.
Mining is a dirty business.
...
Tens of thousands of aging blades are coming down from steel towers around the world and most have nowhere to go but landfills. In the U.S. alone, about 8,000 will be removed in each of the next four years.
...
the blades can’t easily be crushed, recycled or repurposed. That’s created an urgent search for alternatives in places that lack wide-open prairies. In the U.S., they go to the handful of landfills that accept them, in Lake Mills, Iowa; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Casper, where they will be interred in stacks that reach 30 feet ..
Removing them and transporting them to landfills increases windmills’ energy footprint over time.
...
more electric cars will require more electric generation.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Agreed. Put some solar cells and a windmill on the roof of the electric car and charge as you drive. Duh. People are so dumb. Problem solved now where is my million dollar grant.
Seriously though, induction Charging sections of roads would freak people out over “radiation” so I think that’s out. Btw how well do battery cars do at 10 degrees and below temperatures? Does the heater work well on them. How about 110 degrees and the AC on?
Mine did on the highway. Granted I was a cheapskate conservative driver, hold it to 55 mph, draft some semi’s (not TOO close!) and quasi “iron-man” about stops, back then. 300 miles, one stop to pee, maybe. There was cheap gas in Marion, IL: Fill up there, drive to buddy’s in Oakbrook, Il, (arrive 6 a.m. / B4 rush hour), he’d drive his car to the CES, etc., on return trip, refill in Marion.
NOT advisable to try if there was a strong headwind: The CRX 1.3 seemed to be optimized right at 55 mph. Make it 70 mph “airspeed” and the mpg went to heck. Winter temps (and gas) dropped it a bit, too.
After the car had over 100k miles on it, and I was not quite as poor and probably driving a little more aggressively, highway mileage dropped to 50-52 mpg, typically. Less if I was carting a lot of weight* around and in cold temps as noted.
Best of that? One day I hauled 5, yes FIVE lovely young ladies in the CRX to a picnic. I’m sure the mpg was awful. As if I cared or noticed.
Charging faster than about C/2 (two hour charge) can reduce the cell's life.
This is old info., but correlates well with practical experience. The whole article is quite good. Note the recommendation to charge to only 50% when feasible:
https://www.tesla.com/blog/bit-about-batteries
Even with conservative use:
If, for example, you drive 10,000 miles per year at the end of five years you will have around 70 percent of the energy storage capacity of when new
To be fair, ICE engines degrade with time too, esp. if maintenance is not good. But with good maintenance I've not seen any ICE of mine (starting with my old CRX) decrease by 70% in even 100k miles.
Irrelevant, as I’d never be able to afford it.
When an electric car with the functionality of my Subie Outback shows up on the used market in good condition for $10 grand, maybe $12 grand (the $2k plus interest / growth countered by operational cost savings), I’ll likely be interested.
The recharge time issue as I stated it would mainly crop up on longer trips, or those effectively so. Camping trips could be particularly problematic, unless campgrounds really upgrade their electric hookups (which users presently often max out as it is) and all campgrounds have such - many my family go to do not. Then what? Drive around exploring in the day and at night, tell the squirrels to get to work?
An inexpensive used mid-size electric vehicle with a fresh battery pack as our 2nd car would make sense for my family: Trips to town, wifey to wifey’s job, lug daughter and her friends around (assuming “normal” ever returns), etc. However, the “inexpensive” part is not happening yet.
“The solution for RBMK was to use 1_2% enrichment which lowers the thermal Doppler coefficient to slightly negative but this means that the fuel must be enriched a”
Backwards. Doppler coefficient was always negative. Fixed absorption units were installed to reduce void coefficients necessitating an increase in enrichment.
“Then there is battery capacity for higher towing loads. Cost per kilowatt hour won’t help if you can’t store enough of them on board.”
Most truck routes are less. than 300 miles. Tesla will. have 300 and 500 mile models.
“It’s been a while since I read Midnight in Chernobyl, but I think that Chernobyl was running natural metal on the night of the explosion.”
Keep your day job.
“Batteries are not the future.”
When I was little we only needed batteries for flashlights and starting cars.
I now have a section of my garage dedicated to charging batteries ...
“The grid is not there.”
Didn’t stop Henry Ford. Model-T went into production four years before the first gas station was built.
You cant carry cans of electricity in your trunk.
“those transformers need down time”
Still posting this unfounded statement ...
Midnight in Chernobyl said natural metal, but the trial said 2%.
Given how unstable the reactor was, I go with natural. They were suppose to go to 2% enrichment to help stabilize the design.
It took you 2.5 months to come up with keep your day job, hahahahaha!
Those ranges are the vehicle only and useless for towing.
What’s the deal with you stalking my posts?
Not that I care, maybe you’ll learn something!
“And Central Africa is going to run out of child slaves to do the digging.”
Stop spreading that liberal lie!
“You cant carry cans of electricity in your trunk.”
Already debunked
“Given how unstable the reactor was, I go with natural”
I see you are doubling down. Keep your day job!
“Those ranges are the vehicle only and useless for towing.”
ROTFLMAO! Ranges are with 80k trailer.
Keep your day job.
” Camping trips could be particularly problematic, unless campgrounds really upgrade their electric hookups”
Your campgrounds have gas stations?
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