Will this be tomorrow's transportation?

[adventure bob]

Liquid energy transport will continue to be the king cause its the most economic over all. Until there's something cheaper that also covers the switching cost, we'll stay on liquids. Sadly enough it usually takes a significant event to switch. Cars, refrigeration, airplanes, typewriters, printed books, buggy whips, read the machine the changed the world. These things have a cycle. While combustion engines have a pollution issue and will never be really efficient compared to other forms of propelling a vehicle, they are currently the best answer anyone has come up with. I think the revolutionary event that kills the car isn't a fuel or energy solution or even a better car; it will be something very different that no one was expecting.

 

[Egon]

Hydrogen may be in a liquid state.

 

[adventure bob]

Yes but as of today there's no real, large scale infrastructure for it, even in liquid form. Theres not a mass way to move, store it or even get it to point of sale. WHile it may be a great fuel, its more expensive per overall mile than petroleum products. By overall miles not those in the car, those to get it from production to use.

 

[vvanders]

If the car can make 200 miles/charge it will work for me. Our round trip to the town is about 100-120 miles three times a week. So green or not green it makes financial sense for us.

They're just around the corner. I do a 300mi round-trip about once a week(just got back today a few hours ago). Needed ~30% to make the last 1/3 of my leg so I popped in the supercharger. By the time I could use the local restroom I had a enough to make it back. This is in freezing temperatures, if it's warmer out I usually don't need to stop.

As battery prices start taking on proper economy of scale you'll start seeing more cars in the ~30k range that'll do what you need.

 

[Redneck in training]

They're just around the corner. I do a 300mi round-trip about once a week(just got back today a few hours ago). Needed ~30% to make the last 1/3 of my leg so I popped in the supercharger. By the time I could use the local restroom I had a enough to make it back. This is in freezing temperatures, if it's warmer out I usually don't need to stop.

As battery prices start taking on proper economy of scale you'll start seeing more cars in the ~30k range that'll do what you need.

I did simple estimation of the break even point. If I buy Cruze for 18000 or Bolt for 30000. Assuming 1200 miles /month. Depending on cost of gas it will take anywhere between 10 years at 2.50/gal to 5 years at 5 gal. But if I decide to buy gasoline car I would most likely spend about 25000. And that lovers the break even point to about 2.5 years at 2.5/gal. I know 25000 buys better car but that make only little difference to me. Any new car will be step up from what I drive now.
I would predict that that electric cars will gain popularity in near future.
1.) They are fun to drive.
2.) They are quiet.
3.) They cost about 3 to 4 times less to operate.

It is true there is still oil in ground but there is no cheap oil in ground.
I am currently working at oil production facility. The wells are about 20 years in operation and are significantly depleted. What comes from ground is 80% water and 20% oil. The water was pumped under ground to increase pressure of oil to push it to the surface. So it cost more to process the oil (separate water and gas) and in the same time there is less coming out. In other words large investment had to be made (hundreds of million of dollars) to add pumps and compressors to get less oil than when the oil wells were new. I do lot of work for oil and gas all over the world and I see the same story everywhere.

 

[Egon]

Yes but as of today there's no real, large scale infrastructure for it, even in liquid form. Theres not a mass way to move, store it or even get it to point of sale. WHile it may be a great fuel, its more expensive per overall mile than petroleum products. By overall miles not those in the car, those to get it from production to use.

Infrastructure can be developed can it not? There originally was no gasoline infa structure. Diesel used to be limited to many fewer locations.

 

[dickfoster]

What? 'Somebody' () really doesn't care if we 'save' the economy too ... the Modern American Way.

This new kind of green 'Hope and Change' is getting more complicated by the day. "You have to believe."

LOL Well some have to believe and belong to the herd but I don't. I don't have any tattoos either.
Funny thing you try to talk about something that has some real hope of being truly green and the greenies won't hear it and don't want to hear it. Their hopeless, idiotic wind, solar and electric car crap that will never work has them all bamboozled. I guess unless some idiot like Al Gore tells em it's so, it just can't be so. I call em the drooling masses for good reasons. Lucy for us most of em will be fully occupied, sobbing over their coloring books for a few years now. :laughing:

 

[dickfoster]

Liquid energy transport will continue to be the king cause its the most economic over all. Until there's something cheaper that also covers the switching cost, we'll stay on liquids. Sadly enough it usually takes a significant event to switch. Cars, refrigeration, airplanes, typewriters, printed books, buggy whips, read the machine the changed the world. These things have a cycle. While combustion engines have a pollution issue and will never be really efficient compared to other forms of propelling a vehicle, they are currently the best answer anyone has come up with. I think the revolutionary event that kills the car isn't a fuel or energy solution or even a better car; it will be something very different that no one was expecting.

Yeah and I think that will be Thorium fueled fission reactors, likely the molten salt type. With enough cheap and clean energy on tap, you can make a lot of stuff start to make sense. And this seems to be the most likely with few or the drawbacks present in today's light water uranium fueled reactors. But just uttering nuclear is a lot like shouting boogeyman to those who simply don't want to understand. And this is a technology that could even help eliminate much of the radioactive crap that we're currently stuck with. Instead of stockpiling it for a gazillion years, you can burn it up and use it to make power. Even the plutonium from nuclear weapons and be disposed of. Remember all we're trying to do is make heat to boil water and make steam so in addition to building more power plants, you could conceivably convert every power plant today to use a thorium fueled reactor as the heat source and do it safely.

Thorium Fuel Cycle - IAEA NEFW

 

[dickfoster]

Correct and before anyone can say it, gasoline is very volatile too but we got around it somehow.

 

[turnkey4099]

Hydrogen may be in a liquid state.

At a huge cost in compression, cryogenics, storing and transport.