I dunno I haven't looked into it.

The batteries alone are going to be a huge cost and PITA to replace as the deteriorate

Don’t quote me on this, but I believe Denmark had an idea a while back that instead of charging the battery you went to the “gas” station and went into like a auto car wash and in 7 min they auto changed the battery for a new one all topped up and ready to go, seems like a totally smart idea, but fell thru cost the desposial of the old batteries that couldn’t hold a charge anymore were über expensive and the whole idea were dropped. Or so I’ve, “without evidence” have been told. 🙂

Yeah those Batteries are over 50k I've heard.

And as you mentioned, if they catch fire they're impossible to put out, and burn for days.

Let alone they're made of Gnome Gold from the darkest pits, if Tesla ever did take off we'd just run out of the material

@Fevin Klanagan#9493 @Fevin Klanagan#9493

I've heard the nation with the largest supply of Lithium ore is Venezuela.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-geopolitics-of-lithium-production

The world has already reached "Peak Lithium" according existing technology; if demand went up 500%, it would become to expensive to be practical. Oil, on the otherhand, only gets cheaper as new discoveries are made, new technologies allow for capture of previously unprofitable sources, internal combustion systems become more efficient, etc. Electric cars are folly.

We can synthesize hydrocarbons with Nuclear Power, which is a much more efficient means of storing energy than ANY battery ever could be. If electric cars were ever going to be a practical alternative, it would need to be in conjunction with expanding nuclear power production.

Major advances in solid-state electrolytes within the past year may soon put an end to the fire risk, bring capacities up 2-5 times above current levels and increase battery lifespan, all while eliminating the need for lithium.

Battery tech is really just getting started. We're at the equivalent of a 1915 internal combustion engine right now--you know, around the time when cars really started outcompeting horses and buggies.

I can believe that, but I read about Dr. Lonnie Johnson's solid state batteries, like, 10 years ago, and nothing has come of it. I was told in 1993 that my first new car would likely be electric; I'm tired of waiting.

That said I'm all for synthesizing hydrocarbons if it can be done economically, because it makes no sense to retire the ICE fleet before it reaches its natural lifespan.

I've heard good rumors about direct air carbon capture lately too, which is very promising.

Exactly; it will be cheaper to convert existing ICE vehicles to Hydrogen than it would be to make billions of electric vehicles.

In the short run, yes, but if the cost and performance of batteries gets good enough it will just happen over the course of about 20 years due to market demand.

Hybrids and extended range electrics offer the best potential, me thinks.

At the moment they are a sweet spot. But again, the bottleneck is all in the batteries.

Electric motors are already superior to gas engines in almost every conceivable way.

The problem is carrying enough energy to run them in a car.

I have a 1976 Skylark, which is lovely, fast, and modern enough. It's less safe, but easier to fix. I doubt I will live to see 40+ year old electric cars which are just as usable as modern versions.

I'd bet you are wrong--well, actually I don't know how old you are--but we'll have to wait and see.

In theory, electric cars should be more reliable, and easier to keep in service, but are the companies making these building them with long-term durability in mind?

The problem is also that liquid batteries would probably be better

But people are too dumb to ever maintain them.

I've got a circular saw from the 1940's; still works great. Not much to go wrong with an electric motor, but I'm not a contractor, so...

I thought the advantages of solid state and air batteries were that they do not use liquid?

Technically, Lead Acid batteries are liquid.

That is an advantage

I was in the navy and we had to nurse our lead acids all the time

It was nice though since they just use copper and water, leads, and other low tech ingredients. I should stop talking all I know is what kind of batteries power nuclear plants from 50 years ago.

It's sad the technology hasn't advanced much since then.

I meaaaaaan

Yeah Batteries are bitchy things though.

Fuel Cells are better than batteries, at least for civilian locomotion.

Where is this contest to win the attention of a discord woman?

We want to have this item that somehow we can chemically excite and then will provide the motive force to push a car without having to burn any materials.

Anyone saying some material or test in a lab is just a couple years away has never worked in a lab on a real technology or process.

When someone tells you 2-5 years you can bet it's more like 10-20.

So true