Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes
Modern advancements have increased the efficiency of gas-turbine power plants, which is now the preferred "fossil fuel" way to make power. in most areas. They broke 50% efficiency barrier a while back and are up around 65%, which is impressive if you know anything about carnot engines. The best ICE engines are in the 20% range, for any practical and current usage, but that doesn't count all the energy wasted ferrying the fuel about, producing vehicles to shuttle fuel to service stations, the ships built to tank the fuel, etc. Beaming energy to houses to charge cars (even with transmission losses) still comes out significantly on top. Then you add renewable sources, like wind, hydroelectric, thermal, tidal, fusion, fission, etc., and you start to see the benefit. There's only one type of electron and there will be no need to be constantly trucking fuel across the country to service stations or cracking and storing 3 or 4 types of fuel at these locations. This is obviously further in the future, but one of the biggest reasons that EVs will continue become more mainstream and eventually replace ICE engines. Total replacement will be long down the line, but there are so many examples that can be drawn upon even in current tech. How much heavy industrial equipment uses direct drive ICEs? Virtually none, they are all hybrid drives because electric motors (rapidly replacing hydraulics by the way) generate far more torque and are able to move these giant monsters. Yes, there are many challenges along the way, but none that seem unsolvable or insurmountable. There are far more issues making sustained fission reactions or practical fast breeder reactors, although these are coming, they are likely a lot further off. The future is bright.
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It's hard to beat the established petroleum infrastructure, arguments about efficiency aside. Especially with fuel as cheap as it is currently. I think as petroleum supplies dwindle, its use in making plastics will far outweigh propelling vehicles. I'm just glad that the total transition won't occur in my lifetime. Maybe an autonomous electric car would be the ticket when I'm 90 and unable to pass the driving test, but for the foreseeable future it's hydrocarbons over electrons.