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Batteries and lots of copper and aluminum. Steel is cheap. You also have better economy of scale in IC vehicles for now. I feel like we're dismissing other h
by 01100011 4y ago
Batteries and lots of copper and aluminum. Steel is cheap. You also have better economy of scale in IC vehicles for now.
I feel like we're dismissing other hydrocarbons too early. When I was a kid, people had propane or methane cars which were basically converted gasoline cars. Sure, not anywhere near as efficient but combined with hybrid tech for regenerative braking you likely have a more efficient car overall(nat gas is less refining energy than gasoline IIRC and we have a lot of it). You can also build them a lot cheaper since they use smaller electric motors, less coppper, less aluminum, and less lithium.
Yes I know BEV zealots hate hybrids but until we have better Li supply chains we need to conserve it and get more vehicles off of pure IC drivetrains.
- erik_seaberg 4y agoI used to drive airport shuttles that ran on CNG. I think the airport wanted to lower emissions on site. Worked fine, except that the county only had two stations with CNG pumps. They kept a couple of regular vans that could stop for gasoline on longer trips.
- avtolik 4y agoPropane converted cars are still pretty popular in Eastern Europe. LPG at gas stations is 2x cheaper than gasoline in my country. The popularity comes from the lower salaries here so I don't see EVs becoming widespread in these parts in the next decade.
- coderenegade 4y agoMethanol is a perfectly good fuel that is already made at industrial scales. Switching the source of the hydrogen feedstock from natural gas to electrolysis can actually increase the efficiency of the process. Green methanol will be powering ships within the next five years, and there's no reason we couldn't use it for cars as well, considering there are methanol-powered vehicles on the road today.