3 ms·

Tried what? Running a wire vs building a road? Of course non-existent wire vs existing road is not competitive. If both exist, electricity wins. If neither ex

by Iv 7y ago

Tried what? Running a wire vs building a road? Of course non-existent wire vs existing road is not competitive. If both exist, electricity wins. If neither exists, electricity wins. And electricity has that added advantage that you can buy an equipment that will produce it in place without consuming additional resources. The only case where fuel is competitive is when roads exist, electricity distribution doesn't, and diesel generators are installed.

YokoZar 7y ago
Since you need the road for the car to drive on, it's kind of fair to assume the road is a given.
dagw 7y ago
If neither exists, electricity wins. Are you sure? I'm not. Especially not when we're talking the sort of electrical infrastructure that can support charging multiple electric cars and trucks (although there's no point in having an electric car if there aren't any roads). Obviously electricity is the right long term answer and where we should be going, but I doubt it is the cheapest immediate solution in many parts of the world.
- eigenloss 7y ago
  Electricity moves itself. You apply power on one end and it flows down the line at about the speed of light. There is literally nothing (other than superconductors) with lower marginal cost per joule transmitted than wire. Wires never blow a tire, head gasket, or transmission - and in fact they cannot even crash into and kill people on the highway. They're just long pieces of copper or steel tied to a tower. How convenient! If you instead compare the fixed costs, as you seem wont to do, you'll find that HV (500 kV) transmission lines and towers capable of carrying several gigawatts [1] continuously have substantially lower initial and lifetime costs per Joule-kilometre than oil pipelines, rail, trucks, tankers, or anything else that has to move oil. [2] [1] https://www.power-technology.com/features/featurethe-worlds-longest-power-transmission-lines-4167964/ https://www.power-technology.com/features/featurethe-worlds-... [2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2014/04/26/pick-your-poison-for-crude-pipeline-rail-truck-or-boat/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2014/04/26/pick-your...

by Iv 7y ago

YokoZar 7y ago

Since you need the road for the car to drive on, it's kind of fair to assume the road is a given.

dagw 7y ago

If neither exists, electricity wins. Are you sure? I'm not. Especially not when we're talking the sort of electrical infrastructure that can support charging multiple electric cars and trucks (although there's no point in having an electric car if there aren't any roads). Obviously electricity is the right long term answer and where we should be going, but I doubt it is the cheapest immediate solution in many parts of the world.

eigenloss 7y ago
Electricity moves itself. You apply power on one end and it flows down the line at about the speed of light. There is literally nothing (other than superconductors) with lower marginal cost per joule transmitted than wire. Wires never blow a tire, head gasket, or transmission - and in fact they cannot even crash into and kill people on the highway. They're just long pieces of copper or steel tied to a tower. How convenient! If you instead compare the fixed costs, as you seem wont to do, you'll find that HV (500 kV) transmission lines and towers capable of carrying several gigawatts [1] continuously have substantially lower initial and lifetime costs per Joule-kilometre than oil pipelines, rail, trucks, tankers, or anything else that has to move oil. [2] [1] https://www.power-technology.com/features/featurethe-worlds-longest-power-transmission-lines-4167964/ https://www.power-technology.com/features/featurethe-worlds-... [2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2014/04/26/pick-your-poison-for-crude-pipeline-rail-truck-or-boat/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2014/04/26/pick-your...