Electric is coming... Is it the answer?
I think we are on the brink of some amazing breakthroughs that may even make electric look like a dinosaur...
~ {{ Pix & Video of 2020 Slingshot (2021?) Next Generation Slingshot.
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I don't care what it is as long as I get my flying car!
Meanwhile, this is the way I roll:
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But still only 250 mile range, that is about what I get on my first tank. Hope they come up with an EV that can match diesel performance. I wonder if they could cover the roof of the trailer with solar panels to extend the milage?
LC
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But still only 250 mile range, that is about what I get on my first tank. Hope they come up with an EV that can match diesel performance. I wonder if they could cover the roof of the trailer with solar panels to extend the milage?
LC
Solar panels don't work for direct recharging. The way solar panels work (it takes a lot of panels) for effectively recharging vehicles is through a storage battery. The panels charge up the storage battery over time with a modest rate then in turn the battery recharges the car at a fast charge rate.
There has been experimental cars with solar panels on them but they are a joke and not meant for realistic consumer production.
The technology that is being feverishly being worked on in labs all over the world are dry batteries and super-capacitor tech. Both show promise but require more research and testing.
Dry batteries a.k.a solid state batteries have better capacity to weight ratios and generate less heat this would lead to much larger capacity (range) and better recharging for cars in the future.
Super-capacitors would in theory recapture something like 90% of the energy back during regen braking (right now the best effort is under 10% recapture). This would in theory have cars capable of 1000 mile ranges on a single charge.
Time will tell when these techs come to fruition (hopefully in the next 5 years).
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Electric is coming... Is it the answer?
I think we are on the brink of some amazing breakthroughs that may even make electric look like a dinosaur...
Looking forward to finding out what these mysterious breakthroughs are and I hope it isn't fuel cell or "clean coal/diesel".
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This conversation started out about personal transportation but once you introduce long-haul trucks it takes a turn. With regard to worldwide transportation and distribution of goods, there is a saying about diesel motors: If you bought it, they brought it. So if fossil fuels are to get phased out completely, there will be a solution or replacement for ocean freighters, trains and airliners. After all, the long-haul truck is usually the last leg of the journey. I haven't heard any hypothecation about what 'green' source of fuel might power something like this:
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This conversation started out about personal transportation but once you introduce long-haul trucks it takes a turn. With regard to worldwide transportation and distribution of goods, there is a saying about diesel motors: If you bought it, they brought it. So if fossil fuels are to get phased out completely, there will be a solution or replacement for ocean freighters, trains and airliners. After all, the long-haul truck is usually the last leg of the journey. I haven't heard any hypothecation about what 'green' source of fuel might power something like this:
There is no green source for such a thing. Electric motors are also scale-able. Combustible fuel will be around for a long time but not at the consumer level and will eventually phase out once battery tech advances to the point where such power requirements can be met.
If diesel was the greatest of all gas-tech then the military would still be using diesel-powered motors instead of gas-turbines etc.
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If diesel was the greatest of all gas-tech then the military would still be using diesel-powered motors instead of gas-turbines etc.
The M1 Abrams is a turbine powered tank. The engine can use a variety of fuels, including jet fuel, gasoline, diesel and Marine Diesel. All of these except gas are a form of diesel, JP that is Jet Propulsion comes is several blends according to how much kerosene is in the blend. I think the term "gas turbine" refers more to the exhaust gas which is what turns the turbine that is connected directly to the compressor, not to the fuel being gasoline.
LC
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The M1 Abrams is a turbine powered tank. The engine can use a variety of fuels, including jet fuel, gasoline, diesel and Marine Diesel. All of these except gas are a form of diesel, JP that is Jet Propulsion comes is several blends according to how much kerosene is in the blend. I think the term "gas turbine" refers more to the exhaust gas which is what turns the turbine that is connected directly to the compressor, not to the fuel being gasoline.
LC
Looks like we are focusing on two different facets of "diesel". You are focused on the fuel itself where my point is diesel engines as classically defined are no longer being used by the military in modern propulsion systems. Gas turbine systems have the flexibility to use diesel fuel but are using kerosene type fuel like JP-5 as their primary fuel for safety (higher flash points) and pollution reasons (cleaner burning).
Make no mistake once electric propulsion systems can meet the power requirements of military tasks they will be adopted fairly quickly. Navy is already banking on electro-magnetic propulsion for their catapults on the new carriers.
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..... I haven't heard any hypothecation about what 'green' source of fuel might power something like this:
Going back to this point, you have to think out of the box before you see the solution to that monster engine. Look at how high-performance electric car propulsion is being designed today.
Instead of going for a massive motor the size of a V-8 engine etc, the engineers place small powerful motors at each wheel-base. Not only does this design match the power output of a massive central gas engine but it far exceeds it.
It is this type of design flexibility that electric propulsion brings to the table that will eventually solve the needs for that massive piece of metal in your pic. The only reason we even have such a monstrosity is because the oil barons have kept ground propulsion-tech advancements stagnating for the past 100 years.
Now that the electric genie is out of the bottle, radical new electric-propulsion designs will be emerging in the coming years.
By the way in case you don't know, electric cars were a threat a hundred years ago until the oil monopoly squashed it with a penny a gallon pricing for gas. No electric start-up was able to survive that move 100 hundred years ago.
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By the way in case you don't know, electric cars were a threat a hundred years ago until the oil monopoly squashed it with a penny a gallon pricing for gas. No electric start-up was able to survive that move 100 hundred years ago.
I must have missed that
. Seriously, I am aware of the huge lobbying force of Big Oil and it's role in thwarting new technology. It will be interesting to see what the next 30 years will bring (then I'll be 90 years old and won't care any more). You have alluded to even newer technologies that will outmode electric propulsion. The rate of technological change today makes it look like we were on 'pause' for 100 years and I don't have the knowledge or imagination to project what might be coming. However, replacing the millions of fossil fuel vehicles in existence today, and those still being made, will take decades, not years.I've always said I was born 200 years too late. I should have ridden a horse out West and claimed my homestead. I would've never known what I was 'missing'!
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Going back to this point, you have to think out of the box before you see the solution to that monster engine. Look at how high-performance electric car propulsion is being designed today.
Instead of going for a massive motor the size of a V-8 engine etc, the engineers place small powerful motors at each wheel-base. Not only does this design match the power output of a massive central gas engine but it far exceeds it.
It is this type of design flexibility that electric propulsion brings to the table that will eventually solve the needs for that massive piece of metal in your pic. The only reason we even have such a monstrosity is because the oil barons have kept ground propulsion-tech advancements stagnating for the past 100 years.
Now that the electric genie is out of the bottle, radical new electric-propulsion designs will be emerging in the coming years.
By the way in case you don't know, electric cars were a threat a hundred years ago until the oil monopoly squashed it with a penny a gallon pricing for gas. No electric start-up was able to survive that move 100 hundred years ago.
if you are looking for "clean" before you think that you are helping with an electric car you need to remember that right now as of today 63.5% of all electricity generated in the U.S. comes from the burning of fossil fuels. unless you have solar on your roof that you are using for 100% of your electric cars charging needs there is a very good chance that every time you charge it fossil fuel is being burned to give you that electricity U.S. electricity sources
And, depending on which state you are in there is still a very good chance that your electricity comes from the burning of coal - we still have 18 states where coal is king when it comes to electric
Fact is only 6 states get more than 50% of their electric from renewable sources mostly hydro electric in all of the other states if you dont have solar charging that EV there is a possibility that the fuel used to generate your electricity to charge that EV is more polluting than what would come from a modern gas powered car with all of its required pollution controls
until a day comes when there it the storage needed to actually make 100% renewable electric possible EV's are just another sightly different way to burn more fossil fuel -
Heck, even with my home having 59 solar panels and generating more power than I use we are still grid tied and despite the fact that I pump back extra power in the day does not un burn whatever was burned to give me power at night - - until they develop true storage that can hold enough power to run a city renewable energy from solar and wind is mostly just to make people feel good
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I must have missed that
. Seriously, I am aware of the huge lobbying force of Big Oil and it's role in thwarting new technology. It will be interesting to see what the next 30 years will bring (then I'll be 90 years old and won't care any more). You have alluded to even newer technologies that will outmode electric propulsion. The rate of technological change today makes it look like we were on 'pause' for 100 years and I don't have the knowledge or imagination to project what might be coming. However, replacing the millions of fossil fuel vehicles in existence today, and those still being made, will take decades, not years.I've always said I was born 200 years too late. I should have ridden a horse out West and claimed my homestead. I would've never known what I was 'missing'!
You have me mixed up with someone else, electric is the future for personal vehicle propulsion I don't see any other tech that will replace this.
Of course it will take decades for all fossil fuel cars to be off the roads just like it took decades for airbags in every car. As for me, I have been driving electric (no hassle, no range anxiety) for almost seven years. So the future is already here for me. Last week Porsche announced their first all electric sports car. We already have established brands with mainstream electric cars the road in the hundreds of thousands. Nissan already has over 250k LEAFS on the road.
We were on pause for 100 years because greed in the form of the oil monopoly stifled electric propulsion from taking off. Go study the rise and fall of the EV1 twenty years ago. Take note at how big oil bought up all the battery companies and their patents and shut them down afterwards. The battery tech in the ev1 were acid type and were the only show in town for electric cars like the EV1 (and prior) so big oil thought they shut down that threat by buying up all the patents.
Little did they know that that the unassuming li-ion batteries only existing in phones and laptops at the time would be the tech that would bring them down twenty years later.
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Display Moreif you are looking for "clean" before you think that you are helping with an electric car you need to remember that right now as of today 63.5% of all electricity generated in the U.S. comes from the burning of fossil fuels. unless you have solar on your roof that you are using for 100% of your electric cars charging needs there is a very good chance that every time you charge it fossil fuel is being burned to give you that electricity U.S. electricity sources
And, depending on which state you are in there is still a very good chance that your electricity comes from the burning of coal - we still have 18 states where coal is king when it comes to electric
Fact is only 6 states get more than 50% of their electric from renewable sources mostly hydro electric in all of the other states if you dont have solar charging that EV there is a possibility that the fuel used to generate your electricity to charge that EV is more polluting than what would come from a modern gas powered car with all of its required pollution controls
until a day comes when there it the storage needed to actually make 100% renewable electric possible EV's are just another sightly different way to burn more fossil fuel -
Heck, even with my home having 59 solar panels and generating more power than I use we are still grid tied and despite the fact that I pump back extra power in the day does not un burn whatever was burned to give me power at night - - until they develop true storage that can hold enough power to run a city renewable energy from solar and wind is mostly just to make people feel good
This is the classic argument posed by the anti-electric crowd. First off, as much as I like the fact that electric power CAN come from clean sources it isn't why I am a big proponent of it. I don't care if electricity comes from coal, petrol or natural gas.
The fact that it can, in the end, reduce pollution is a plus. And there are lot of studies that debunk this nonsense that electric cars pollute more through car fabrication and electric consumption. That's just BS from the oil propaganda arm.
In my state of Virginia already the power companies are advertising their pilot efforts in installing massive solar panel farms and are right now locally lobbying for wind farms off the shore. They also have consumer incentives in place
https://homeenergy.guide/affor…1gXAO1EAAYAiAAEgJIAvD_BwE
This from a state that is known for it's coal industry (alongside West VA), an industry that is dying despite what Trump says. Natural gas and renewables are rendering coal obsolete in this country. And no I am not a fan of natural gas because fracking is effing evil! There are a lot of documentaries on the topic and fracking was responsible for a very rare earthquake here in Virginia ten years ago. Pretty sure that was a wake-up call for the local politicians.
I am a fan of electric because it allows me to have my own fuel station in my garage which means I am not dependent on the greedy whims of the oil industry and their past behaviors of manipulating supply and demand to jack up prices and fleece consumers whenever they felt like it.
The power companies work under a different set of regulations and therefore can't manipulate their supply like oil has done. Furthermore if all of a sudden the electric power industry corrupted enough officials to start changing the regulation rules, capitalism comes to the rescue and you have solar panel companies offering home install packages (with enough battery capacity) that would allow me to MINIMIZE my dependence of the grid from the now greedy power companies. This was never an option for the oil consumer.
Power companies know that this threat exists this is why it will never be as bad as oil was. And yes you can obtain enough battery storage right now to minimize your dependence of the grid hence power companies are also jumping in on renewable sources to help keep grid prices low so consumers continue to support the grid infrastructure. Can solar power replace natural gas, hydro and petrol? Nope not with the current tech but it sure as hell can reduce the costs and one day the tech will be advanced enough to replace natural gas,nuclear and petrol in due time.
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One of my biggest motivators to saying goodbye to my slingshot next year occurs every time I go to a gas station and fill up. It's bad enough I have to inhale those noxious gas fumes but to see me paying four times more for the same amount of range I get in my electric LEAF is demoralizing.
Adding injury to insult is having to burn money changing oil every 5k miles knowing I will never have to worry about that with my electric car.
These facts just don't hit home unless you own and drive an electric car.
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neostar you have obviously educated yourself on this subject and are passionate about it but your comments show how we differ. I love the smell of petro going into the tank. I embrace the smell of it coming out the exhaust. I accept the cost of fuel before I ever buy a vehicle that uses it. I enjoy the process of changing oil and accept the $35 cost as part of my ownership. I am never demoralized by the difference between what I spend and what I could be spending. I have earned every penny I spend and am proud that I have enough money to make some discretionary choices. And at the end of the day, if an electric vehicle works for me, I will certainly own one and that won't change any of the statements I just made.
This is not intended to be confrontational. This discussion has been a good one and I appreciate your insights.
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neostar you have obviously educated yourself on this subject and are passionate about it but your comments show how we differ. I love the smell of petro going into the tank. I embrace the smell of it coming out the exhaust. I accept the cost of fuel before I ever buy a vehicle that uses it. I enjoy the process of changing oil and accept the $35 cost as part of my ownership. I am never demoralized by the difference between what I spend and what I could be spending. I have earned every penny I spend and am proud that I have enough money to make some discretionary choices. And at the end of the day, if an electric vehicle works for me, I will certainly own one and that won't change any of the statements I just made.
This is not intended to be confrontational. This discussion has been a good one and I appreciate your insights.
Well said.
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I have better things to do than drive electric. Beside it is not cheaper and does not save the enviroment.
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I have better things to do than drive electric. Beside it is not cheaper and does not save the enviroment.
You will cringe reading your words when you finally go with an electric car/truck/suv/rec vehicle years from now and trust me you will own an electric car eventually.
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You will cringe reading your words when you finally go with an electric car/truck/suv/rec vehicle years from now and trust me you will own an electric car eventually.
He will cringe when the next ice storm hits or major event that knocks out the power for a few days.
My sister has a Tesla and got stranded in Michigan 4 years ago in an ice storm that made her battery drain like my wallet after buying this Slingshot.
She was stuck in traffic on 75 using the heat when the car went into limp mode leaving her stranded and since there was no power in northern MI for days her car sat nicely on the side of the road as you can't get AAA to bring you some juice.
Now, I will admit in 20 years or so when battery technology matures and become easily removable allowing for instant charges I agree petrol engines will phase themselves out. Jay Leno said it best. When gasoline cars came out they were a fad and only a few people had them as they rode horses. With time and the progression of the modern engine they took over as a primary means of transportation, but people still rode horses for recreation. I believe that will eventually happen with gas cars, but we are a LONG way from that happening. The infrastructure is not setup for charging yet unless you live in a major city and your commute is short, remember running your AC or Heat in an electric car drastically reduces your mileage and who wants to sit for 45 minutes at a Tesla Supercharging station while your car charges (and that's the best option as most charging stations are well below 60KW).
I have driven plenty of Tesla's and I must admit the acceleration from a dead stop on a P100D is mind blowing, but would I own one for my daily commute? No way. Push comes to shove I can always siphon gas out of my neighbors car when they are sleeping
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