Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

[MossRoad]

An EMD locomotive engine produces 1.75 MW of AC power.

Interesting, in that is the exact output of the generators we had to bring in to the newspaper to run at about 2/3 capacity. I'm guessing that some factories use less power than a newspaper printing facility, and some use more.

Oh, I forgot, that was only running 1 press. We had 2 presses. We could not run both at the same time on generator power. That would have taken over 3.5 megawatts.

Some printing plants have many more presses than we did.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I'm in agreement with you on this. I don't think solar or wind is the way to go, as I don't think batteries are a good thing in general. The environmental impact of battery production/recycling/disposal is rearing it's ugly head. I wonder how much environmental damage uranium mining would do to the world VS all of the other mining for all of the other fuel sources and storage batteries combined?

The problem with nuclear is that it is very inflexible. It takes weeks (2-3 months) to get a reactor to cold shutdown, and several days to bring one back online. Hydro is very flexible, as are natural gas turbines.

 

[kenmbz]

Nuclear still has a waste disposal issue, and the high cost and bureaucracy.
These 3 issues make any company not want to build in the US.
Also, Nuclear does not do well with natural disasters, ask Japan or Russia.

 

[Fixastuff]

I wonder how much environmental damage uranium mining would do to the world

My church does mission work at a Navajo reservation, their ground water is unusable from uranium mining....

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Nuclear still has a waste disposal issue, and the high cost and bureaucracy.
These 3 issues make any company not want to build in the US.
Also, Nuclear does not do well with natural disasters, ask Japan or Russia.

Water cooled reactors generally work well enough, but the basic design is over 60 years old. We have known how to build meltdown-proof reactors for many years.

Much of the waste problem is cold war paranoia, because spent rods contain plutonium. which can be refined chemically. They are afraid that if we reprocess the fuel rods, somebody will build atomic bombs. We have enough U235 sitting around to power the US for a century, except uranium makes such lousy reactors. Thorium breeder reactors make U233, generate way less waste, and can't melt down. The liquid sodium coolant does tend to leak, so containment needs to be tight.

 

[Oaktree]

Interesting, in that is the exact output of the generators we had to bring in to the newspaper to run at about 2/3 capacity. I'm guessing that some factories use less power than a newspaper printing facility, and some use more.

South Bend Tribune? The company I worked for in the 70s made typesetting/newsroom equipment and I think the Tribune had some of our equipment. I was a field service tech, but don't think I ever went there.

Also, Nuclear does not do well with natural disasters, ask Japan or Russia.

Russia? Were you referring to Chernobyl? Hardly a "natural disaster", though certainly devastating.

 

[MossRoad]

South Bend Tribune? The company I worked for in the 70s made typesetting/newsroom equipment and I think the Tribune had some of our equipment. I was a field service tech, but don't think I ever went there.

Russia? Were you referring to Chernobyl? Hardly a "natural disaster", though certainly devastating.

Which company?

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Car Dealers Are Selling More Vehicles Above the Sticker Price

With USA EV only manufacturers selling direct to the vehicle buyers at set factory prices I wonder about this chip shortage dealership marketing long term effects when they only have EVs to sell some day? Can they tack on a $5K or $10K surcharge to s lease agreement without upsetting customers and vehicle makers. Tesla has had several price increases but they applied to all new buyer's.

 

[/pine]

I drove my Tesla to the gas station and nobody noticed.

Bought gas for the lawnmower. But haters probably thought I was buying gasoline for a generator to charge my car. If they even noticed the car was electric.

LoL...as is typical (especially in this thread) you miss the point again...to see the humor/irony the EV has to be sitting at home with a dead battery...the trip to go buy gas for a generator would have to be in another vehicle...whether it's elec. or gas is moot...

I can explain things for you but I can understand them for you...

 

[5030]

Love reading along, always interesting. Far as an electric car goes, if someone gave me one, I'd use it, but buy one....never.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Rodney Hooper may be the most knowledgeable person about EV battery raw materials sources and availability that I have heard speak.

He seems to think Tesla and VW have a good shot at coming up with source metals for their EV battery needs but it may be the last half of this decade before the Johnny Come Lately EV companies will have access to needed EV battery sources.

This could effective shut GM and Ford out of the European EV market for several years.

I went to CC to help me understand speech better.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Hydrogen Cell vs Lithium Battery – Car power comparison

In light of the near-term shortage of lithium ion batteries I think the companies that are ready to go with a fuel cell can figure out something with green hydrogen and make it work.

 

[5030]

An EMD locomotive engine produces 1.75 MW of AC power.

In reality it don't. The engine drives the alternator and it produces the current and output depends on engine size. Locomotive engines come in various power ratings.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

In reality it don't. The engine drives the alternator and it produces the current and output depends on engine size. Locomotive engines come in various power ratings.

The 3 I installed many years ago produced 1.75 MW each. But yes, there are other sizes I’m sure.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Hydrogen Cell vs Lithium Battery – Car power comparison

In light of the near-term shortage of lithium ion batteries I think the companies that are ready to go with a fuel cell can figure out something with green hydrogen and make it work.

"Green hydrogen" is pretty rare. Currently our hydrogen is either extracted from natural gas or uses coke to fuel 2H2O + C -> 2H2 + CO2.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

"Green hydrogen" is pretty rare. Currently our hydrogen is either extracted from natural gas or uses coke to fuel 2H2O + C -> 2H2 + CO2.

Yes. Australia and a few others are using Solar power to drive the reaction perhaps.

 

[5030]

The 3 I installed many years ago produced 1.75 MW each. But yes, there are other sizes I’m sure.

I had the contract to haul the cranks and cams to Electromotive in McCook, Illinois when they were there, I spent a lot of time at the plant over the years. EMD fabricated engines from 4 cylinders to 24 cylinders, depending on application and required power output.

Interesting place I might add.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Supercomputers ID Materials That Turn Solar Power into Hydrogen

Planes, trains, trucks, ships and buses comes to my mind reading that.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Supercomputers ID Materials That Turn Solar Power into Hydrogen

Planes, trains, trucks, ships and buses comes to my mind reading that.

That would have been really promising 30 years ago. I don't see how the infrastructure can be built out in time to do this generation any good. The chrome domes project we only have about a decade to stabilize atmospheric CO2 if we want to hold global temperature rise below 2.5 degrees C. We're already at 1.8.

I don't see it happening. EVs would be a great step, if we had a carbon neutral way of charging them. We don't. We have made incremental progress by converting coal power generation to natural gas, but every molecule of methane still has one carbon.

They have done some nice work on high temperature electrolysis. If solar panel prices keep dropping 25% a year, hydrogen may be a practical storage medium; electrolyze while the sun shines, feed hydrogen through turbines when it doesn't. I don't see nuclear or geothermal bailing us out any time soon. Wind is a nice paycheck for farmers where it's windy, but it's unreliable in the absence of long distance electrical transmission lines, which nobody is building.

It's hard to know where to place our bets. The critical property of energy is that it has to be cheap to maintain our standard of living in an industrial society. If energy expenses rise rapidly, it's going to make a mess out of the economy.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Nearly 100 Tons of Lithium Batteries Involved in Large Morris Industrial Fire

Nearly 100 tons of lithium batteries were involved in a large industrial fire in southwest suburban Morris Tuesday that led to emergency evacuations and a large-scale response as authorities warned of “highly poisonous” and “very deadly” fumes.

www.nbcchicago.com