Unfathomable

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Liquid Nitrogen Car - YouTube

Video on a liquid nitrogen car

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I keep a log of one of our tractors in the power range of a John Deere 6R and found there were only 20 days this year when it exceeded 4 hours per day. That means the electric concept Deere would have been available 80% of its working days. That doesn't make it marketable because on those 20 days I would have needed something to do the job but still there is merit. Our tractor used for feeding cattle through the winter spends much of its time with the block heater plugged in so plugged in to charge battery or plug in to warm the engine. There are very few, if any, days that tractor gets used more than 4 hours. So on a -20 degree morning would there no problem unplugging and driving away? Our JD6320 is not that reliable in the cold. Is the 4 hour day based on 100% power or at a certain load factor? Of course the significant factor is what will it cost? Others - battery technology conventional zinc-acid, nickel-metal hydride, or Lithium-ion? If the high power density of lithium-ion, are they built to handle the rough use of a tractor (are have a thin separator of a Galaxy Note 7 that can fail to do its job when handled a bit rough and burn). When I was in my teens International Harvester made the farm show rounds with their gas turbine tractor (last one I saw was in the Smithsonian) and Allis-Chalmers did the same with their quiet power fuel cell concept. Sixty years later we still are diesel powered.

80% of the fuel costs gone, at the moment I believe electric is cheaper than diesel is but than we would be more dependent on the power grid, if it was attacked and everyone was running mostly electric tractors, that would be bad.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Guess my age is showing. Never thought this would be a practical endeavor

It likely isn't practical. It isn't if alt-energy should be shorted, but when.

Battery power just pushes the production up the powerline, and we're already in great need of building new power stations.

 

[the old grind]

We need a catalyst that will cause the breakdown of water into its elements.

Bruce

We have one, electricity. (considerable energy input required) Chemical )catalytic) alternatives are unlikely unless oxide byproducts aren't another toxic waste.

The problem with nuclear is the narrow view that uranium is the best/only fuel. As long as we're stuck in that rut it will never be green enough or safe enough for broad use ... or for small reactors.

In the 60s we were told that modern composites would make personal helos common by the '90s. Lots of reasons we don't yet (FAA, gov't, drones) but the cost of putting the technology into affordable consumer products on that scale was 'the big one'. Worse yet, they'd be running on fossil fuels.

We're easily impressed by new ideas/concepts but don't reap the bennies until someone can make a profit implementing them. Gov't subsidies to produce new products can't go on forever. Perhaps the dominance of EVs will manifest itself in another generation.

 

[cqaigy2]

It likely isn't practical. It isn't if alt-energy should be shorted, but when.

Battery power just pushes the production up the powerline, and we're already in great need of building new power stations.

Just think if a farmer could plug into one of those big wind generator that's sitting on their fields. Maybe buy the energy back at wholesale.

 

[vvanders]

I don't think charging times will be as bad as you think. Tesla currently does 120kW(seriously, it's awesome to behold 300A @ 400VDC straight to the pack) charging today which can take a 90kW pack from 0-75% in 45 minutes. It's all about charging in parallel and getting in the right taper zone. The pack voltage here looks like 650V which means they can charge more packs in parallel since Tesla only does 400V. I could easily see 30mins charging time(lunch break) with proper 3-phase power install.

As long as they have good cooling they should be okay in terms of longevity. Teslas are currently showing 2-3% degradation over 100kmi which is pretty great. Personally I'm showing 1% at 43k.

Fuel costs + lower maintainence are the winner here. Currently a full "tank" which gets me 270mi costs me $6 in electricity compared to the 2 gallons you get in equivalent diesel prices here. No need to haul/store fuel either which is a big benefit one of the sheep farms out in Ireland had when they went to electric all ATVs.

I'll post more thoughts later but super excited to see this happen. Electric doesn't make sense everywhere but there's certainly areas where I think it's worth considering.

 

[Redneck in training]

How about a car powered by liquid nitrogen? Easier to produce than hydrogen

Nitrogen is inert gas. You can't get energy out of it.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Nitrogen is inert gas. You can't get energy out of it.

Did you see the video? You don't burn it

 

[k0ua]

Did you see the video? You don't burn it

I was not impressed. Like all such "news" reports. No actual useful information was transmitted to the viewer. Just Garbage information. No specifications were given as to how much electrical or other form of energy was required to pump down the air to get the nitrogen. Remember liquid nitrogen is not mined, or extracted from wells, it is manufactured at a very high energy cost. And a 7 horsepower engine does not excite me. Just once I would like to see a reporter do their freaking job and give out some solid facts instead of always "holding out hope". Garbage.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I was not impressed. Like all such "news" reports. No actual useful information was transmitted to the viewer. Just Garbage information. No specifications were given as to how much electrical or other form of energy was required to pump down the air to get the nitrogen. Remember liquid nitrogen is not mined, or extracted from wells, it is manufactured at a very high energy cost. And a 7 horsepower engine does not excite me. Just once I would like to see a reporter do their freaking job and give out some solid facts instead of always "holding out hope". Garbage.

It was more of a example it's possible. Not how feasible it is or details on data. I didn't do much research on it either just clicked the first video and saw it showed it's possible so i posted it.

To look briefly into liquid nitrogen I googled fuel of the future, nitrogen was 9 out of 10