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To me it seems that batteries in EVs make less sense than e.g. alcohol fuel ICE or hybrids. The main consideration is energy density, but alcohol is easy to ma
by carapace 4y ago
To me it seems that batteries in EVs make less sense than e.g. alcohol fuel ICE or hybrids.
The main consideration is energy density, but alcohol is easy to make and handle, carbon-neutral, and the exhaust is non-toxic.
This wouldn't make sense for the whole of car traffic because we use way too much fossil fuel to replace it all with e.g. industrial ethanol. But it could work as part of a transitional strategy. Fuel co-op as part of a CSA farm.
It's pretty straightforward to convert existing ICE cars to burn alcohol instead. You don't even have to wait for anybody else, or any new technology to be developed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_alcohol_fuel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_alcohol_fuel
- dv_dt 4y agoAlmost all of the energy density advantage disappears in an ICE powertrain via largely unavoidable thermodynamic loss.
- carapace 4y agoI don't understand, that seems physically impossible? The engine would melt?
- dv_dt 4y agoA gallon of gas has about 34 kWH of energy in it. Let’s say a ice passenger vehicle gets about 35mpg - so it takes about 1KWH of gas to move the car a mile. A Tesla 3 has gets takes around 25kWH to go 100mi. So about 0.25 KWh per mile. The ICE engine limitations cause it to use 400% more energy to go the same distance e. So even if gas is more dense, most of the energy is lost to engine thermodynamic limitations in using that gas - and yes mostly wasted energy in the form of heat dumping out the tailpipe.
- carapace 4y agoThank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time to spell it out for me.
- freemint 4y agoAlcohol is not really carbon neutral. Plants don't produce alcohol. They produce sugar. The farming and transport also produces emissions and you lose a ton of energy on the way. C6H12O6 (Sugar) -(Enzymes)-> 2C2H5OH (Alcohol) + 2CO2 (Carbon Dioxide)
- carapace 4y agoPlants build sugar and starch molecules out of air and water, the carbon atoms come from the atmosphere, not underground, that's the crucial difference. > The farming and transport also produces emissions and you lose a ton of energy on the way. Yeah, you have to do it as part of a system that makes sense overall. E.g. small-scale local integrated CSA that also provides N gallons (or liters) per member of fuel per month as well as groceries. Something like that.