Submitted by [deleted] t3_z7vsa6 in Futurology
Electric vehicles dependent on batteries that use rare earth minerals that are difficult to dispose of aren’t the answer. Wireless charging makes me think that electric highways with embedded current, powered by nuclear energy, could charge vehicles that would record and transmit their energy consumption. Consumers would pay their electric bills with current technology.
Producing solar and wind energies to satisfy our demands is very difficult as it requires implementation on a huge scale and we cannot produce them constantly, again store and using is another option for that we require batteries again for manufacturing batteries we need lithium which requires more energy and have x4 times more effect on the environment than fossil fuels.
The energy return on the energy invested is low for solar energy and other resources. As we move toward renewable we all should be ready to lose our comfort zone. If everyone uses renewable energy sources the demand increases and production decreases then need to reconstruct our society.
Difficult to dispose of, perhaps, but it's getting easier to recycle them and get a substantial amount of raw material back.
After witnessing Europe’s tram systems, which are old technology, I have to believe we can do better. Getting the federal government to approve a modular nuke design so they could be mass produced without the bureaucratic red tape would be a big step forward. I know they exist.
By do better, you mean do worse. Take a good thing and mess it up. What you are describing is called a "gadgetbahn".
The reason the trams and trolleybuses work is because they are big and carry lots of people. If you replace them with lots of crappy car sized vehicles then each one needs a separate physical connection to the electricity source.
That number of separate vehicles would very quickly wear through the contact material. Then of course you have other issues. Lots of trams can operate in one lane but lots of cars create congestion and then need multiple lanes, each with their own electrical supply. You will also have issues with connecting and disconnecting rapidly in the case of a potential collisions. Trams and trolleybuses generally don't need to worry about collisions.
Basically the problem is that you are restricting yourself to a specific set of dimensions for your vehicle (about 2metres wide and 5metres long). If you consider vehicles which are 50cm wide or 50metres long, then there are many more solutions.
Lithium is very common, not at all rare, but much of it is underground. Cobalt isn't used very much in batteries nowadays, as their are alternatives which work just as well.
Lithium in batteries can be reused in new batteries with proper care. There is no such thing as wireless charging for cars at the moment. I doubt that will come to pass. Nuclear energy produces nuclear waste which is incredibly dangerous, as it has to be stored underground, in deep bunkers, but it's not known what will happen in the future, or if earthquakes will sooner or later destroy a nuclear storage site and leak nuclear waste into the ground water, poisoning millions. Solar and Wind are our only options for clean energy
Maybe in a sci fi movie but infrastructure to create and support that even if the tech existed seems impossible. Hard enough to get potholes repaired.
Remember Dick Tracy’s watch? My grandson has one!
That’s a product you can manufacture and sell through a private company as you scale the business. An electric/nuclear powered road system would have to be installed and maintain by the government at a state level. Good luck getting taxpayers to sign off on that let alone trust your state to maintain the roads and have them not electrocute and kill everyone or break down and just become inoperable
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Implementing this first would have been absolutely logical. But no immediate return. $$$
I’ve been finding it hard to believe the answer to too many cars is more cars. Electric vehicles is a play that will take decades of behavioural change.
How far will we have moved on by then?
Who says there are too many cars lol? The people who do not like cars? No one listens to them. Most drivers think the issue is too many cyclists and buses, also called moving roadblocks.
stellarinterstitium t1_iy8dlx7 wrote
It doesn't need to be nuclear, it could be solar or wind, which, at the proper scale, make use of alternative battery topologies such as flow batteries.