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I don’t necessarily agree, since this depends so much on the political agenda and peoples willingness to accept a lower standard of living. The energy density

I don’t necessarily agree, since this depends so much on the political agenda and peoples willingness to accept a lower standard of living. The energy density of fossil fuels is remarkably more energy dense than the best battery tech we can come up with, and I don’t see any scenario where the grid supports the average person filling up the equivalent of ~20 gallons of gas or ~600kwh of energy in under 5 minutes without superconductors and some other Star Trek league tech. Now expand that to trucks and aircraft that fill up hundreds or thousands of gallons of gas in a matter of minutes; it’s just a complete fantasy that EVs will meet our transportation needs at this point.

sovnade 5y ago
The average commute is 25 miles round-trip. Less than 2% drive > 100 miles a day, and far less than 1% drive 150+ miles. Most EVs have a 300+ mile range with several pushing 350. It would work as a commuting car for 99% of the population without needing to charge except at home overnight, and the average person (25 mile round trip) can go over a week between charges. Saying EVs can't replace gasoline-powered cars is nonsense. Trucks - same thing. The Tesla Semi is said to have a 500 mile range on one charge fully loaded with 80k lbs, and it's the first iteration. Aircraft - no, li-ion is too heavy. We know it won't work for planes. But replacing gas-powered cars and trucks would make a big impact.
- mulmen 5y ago
  I'm curious if we can synthesize hydrocarbon fuels to meet air travel demands. It seems like a difficult (and expensive) process to scale but if we don't have the surface fleet to worry about is it feasible?
seattle_spring 5y ago
For this to matter, you'd have to drive your car more than its capacity per day. Otherwise you just plug it in overnight which is far easier than even filling it up at a gas station once a week.

sovnade 5y ago

The average commute is 25 miles round-trip. Less than 2% drive > 100 miles a day, and far less than 1% drive 150+ miles. Most EVs have a 300+ mile range with several pushing 350. It would work as a commuting car for 99% of the population without needing to charge except at home overnight, and the average person (25 mile round trip) can go over a week between charges. Saying EVs can't replace gasoline-powered cars is nonsense. Trucks - same thing. The Tesla Semi is said to have a 500 mile range on one charge fully loaded with 80k lbs, and it's the first iteration. Aircraft - no, li-ion is too heavy. We know it won't work for planes. But replacing gas-powered cars and trucks would make a big impact.

mulmen 5y ago
I'm curious if we can synthesize hydrocarbon fuels to meet air travel demands. It seems like a difficult (and expensive) process to scale but if we don't have the surface fleet to worry about is it feasible?

seattle_spring 5y ago

For this to matter, you'd have to drive your car more than its capacity per day. Otherwise you just plug it in overnight which is far easier than even filling it up at a gas station once a week.