Keystone pipeline springs leak in South Dakota

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(11-21-2017, 08:35 PM)Yojimbo Wrote: The future technology that’s going to power our vehicles and homes is electricity, that can come from wind and solar.

Air and space travel are a little tougher. I’m not sure an electric motor can generate enough thrust or maintain it long enough. Maybe still using fossil fuels for those two things and reducing its use by like 90% could be good enough.

The biggest thing holding back an alternate main source of power is batteries. The capacity of the batteries, the life of the batteries, the cost of the batteries, the recharging time of the batteries, the safety of the batteries, and the hazardous waste of the used batteries. None of those factors are good enough right now.

Capacity:
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1107455_2017-electric-cars-with-more-than-100-miles-of-range

Note that the bar set is 100 miles. Only 2 of those 7 cars that met that bar have a range of at least 200 miles. So only two electric cars (not including the $70k-130k expensive Tesla models) are even capable of making the round trip between Cincinnati and Louisville, and that's assuming you don't hit any traffic and don't mind going by the skin of your teeth on one of them.

Hell, only 4 of them are capable of theoretically making a Cincinnati/Dayton round trip, and that's only if you trust their numbers enough to have 4-5 miles left on your car's charge. (Enjoy pushing if you're that trusting.)

Life:
http://www.hybridcars.com/how-long-will-an-evs-battery-last/
The batteries are expected to last about 8 years/100,000 miles before you need to buy a new one. That doesn't mean they will keep operating at peak condition for those 8 years, no.. Nissan for instance guarantees their Leaf batteries will still hold 70% of it's original maximum after 5yrs/60,000 miles.

Of course if you live somewhere with hot weather, you're not going to have it last anywhere near that long:
http://www.hybridcars.com/nissan-leaf-owners-hope-best-fear-worst-50263/

People in Arizona/Texas/California finding their batteries dying MUCH more quickly. For instance a man in Texas lost 21.25% of his battery's max charging ability after just 14 months.

Cost:
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1107455_2017-electric-cars-with-more-than-100-miles-of-range

Back to this link again, electric cars that can actually get you places are simply expensive. The Chevy Bolt with it's "awe inspiring" 235 miles theoretical maximum range (assuming your battery hasn't degraded yet) costs $37.5k. You can buy a brand new Toyota Camry  for like $24k and a new Hyundai Sontata for like $22k. Even just getting a fusion adds a couple grand to the car's price, and that's not even full electric.

Of course then there's the fact that with all the electric/computer stuff in your car, you're really not capable of doing a whole lot of maintenance on your own anymore. It requires more expensive professional maintenance because you need people with the proper equipment and training that you can't get with your handy family member who enjoys working with cars, or your neighborhood small business mechanic.

(Note: The Tesla "home battery" system after install costs and all that? $7k)

Recharging Time:
https://auto.howstuffworks.com/how-long-does-it-take-to-charge-an-electric-car.htm

You have your brand new, still fully charging battery, short-ranged 125 mile electric car and you make the 120 or so round trip from Cincinnati to Dayton magically without hitting any traffic, construction, or detours. You make it home with 5 miles left to spare. Quick, how long until you can charge it up to make the trip again?

8 hours if you own a Nissan Leaf and also own a Nissan charging dock installed into your garage.

Yeah. 8 hours of charging. Really.

Safety:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lithium-battery-fire-risk-samsung-galaxy-note-7/

Quote:Samsung Note 7 isn’t the only gadget to catch fire due to lithium-battery problems, which have afflicted everything from iPhones to Tesla cars to Boeing jetliners. Blame chemistry and the fact that the batteries we rely on for everyday life are prone to leaking and even bursting into flame if damaged, defective or exposed to excessive heat.

Nuff said there.

Hazardous Waste:
Less of an issue right now, but if everyone is going through giant car and home batteries every 5 years or so, they will start adding up something fierce.


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Of course this is all assuming we somehow figure out a clean way to produce all the electricity needed, which is unlikely considering Americans used 385 million gallons of gas per DAY in 2015.

That's not counting the people who using heating oil for their homes. Or the energy used for electricity in homes from coal or nuclear power, etc.

There's a reason every single clean energy attempt has vastly underproduced it's targets and are constantly going out of business. The technology just isn't good enough/cost effective enough to make it feasible even on a smaller scale in freaking deserts, let alone to produce it for all of the entire country's needs including cold weather places. Enjoy producing clean energy in snow and ice.

The only way to make it even appear worthwhile is by pumping everyone full of credits, tax breaks, and govt funding, which means we're all paying heavily for it anyway, which wouldn't hold up under expansive use by everyone.

Unless you find a wayyy more efficient way to produce green energy, and a WAYYY better way to store it, it's a pipe dream to even replace 25% of fuel use with clean energy, let alone 90%.