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> cars will switch to electric Even once cars are all electric, I can’t see gas turbine engines in planes, trains and ships being replaced in a hurry. And roc

> cars will switch to electric Even once cars are all electric, I can’t see gas turbine engines in planes, trains and ships being replaced in a hurry. And rockets are never going to be electric. I assume you can make RP-1 with this process. I can imagine hydrocarbons being produced where electricity is cheap and practical, and being shipped to where it is expensive and impractical. In theory if it was efficient enough, you could even use it to store electricity, (e.g. in the summer) and burn it again in the winter.

cure 8y ago
> Even once cars are all electric, I can’t see gas turbine engines in planes, trains and ships being replaced in a hurry. Of course most (non-electric) train engines use Diesel-electric propulsion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel%E2%80%93electric_transmission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel%E2%80%93electric_transm...). That's mostly because of the flat torque curve of the electric motor. Some ships do too. I'm not sure why you think that battery-electric train engines or ships aren't going to happen. There is a lot of room for batteries on vehicles like that!
- jaggederest 8y ago
  A fun usage of dimensional analysis: Fuel capacity of a diesel electric locomotive: 6200 gallons Energy density of diesel fuel: 40kWh/gal Total energy capacity of full fuel load: 248 megawatt hours Tesla battery pack weight: 540kg Tesla energy capacity: 85kWh Weight of equivalent battery pack for a diesel locomotive: 248 MWh / (85 kWh / 540 kg) = 1575 metric tons Weight of a diesel locomotive: 196 metric tons So you'd roughly 10x the weight of a locomotive by trying to make it run on batteries, leaving aside the challenges of actually trying to charge those batteries. Another fun fact: that locomotive can run flat out at max power for 2.2 days without refueling.
  - swish_bob 8y ago
    Of course, while it's neither easy, nor cheap, that train does not need to have any batteries in order to run on electricity. Much of the UK's rail network is either electrified or in the process of being electrified. The side effect of not needing to use energy to haul your energy source around is pretty cool, too.

cure 8y ago

> Even once cars are all electric, I can’t see gas turbine engines in planes, trains and ships being replaced in a hurry. Of course most (non-electric) train engines use Diesel-electric propulsion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel%E2%80%93electric_transmission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel%E2%80%93electric_transm...). That's mostly because of the flat torque curve of the electric motor. Some ships do too. I'm not sure why you think that battery-electric train engines or ships aren't going to happen. There is a lot of room for batteries on vehicles like that!

jaggederest 8y ago
A fun usage of dimensional analysis: Fuel capacity of a diesel electric locomotive: 6200 gallons Energy density of diesel fuel: 40kWh/gal Total energy capacity of full fuel load: 248 megawatt hours Tesla battery pack weight: 540kg Tesla energy capacity: 85kWh Weight of equivalent battery pack for a diesel locomotive: 248 MWh / (85 kWh / 540 kg) = 1575 metric tons Weight of a diesel locomotive: 196 metric tons So you'd roughly 10x the weight of a locomotive by trying to make it run on batteries, leaving aside the challenges of actually trying to charge those batteries. Another fun fact: that locomotive can run flat out at max power for 2.2 days without refueling.
- swish_bob 8y ago
  Of course, while it's neither easy, nor cheap, that train does not need to have any batteries in order to run on electricity. Much of the UK's rail network is either electrified or in the process of being electrified. The side effect of not needing to use energy to haul your energy source around is pretty cool, too.