151–160 of 211 posts
Hey scythe, write a blog abut this. This seems like semi-decent conjecture that'd get a lot of pull with the electric car crowd on the Fediverse, and you'd get a fair number of eyeballs pointed in the same direction.
A Tell HN is basically a blog post right? Permalink, comments, it’s got it all. There’s even an RSS feed.
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Exactly. Gasoline is much, much more energy dense than Li-Ion batteries, but in terms of dollars per mile, an electric car is 2x-4x cheaper to drive than an ICE car. That's because an internal combustion engine wastes the majority of gasoline's energy as heat, while electric motors use most of the battery's energy to move the car.
> That's because an internal combustion engine wastes the majority of gasoline's energy as heat, while electric motors use most of the battery's energy to move the car. I guess that depends on your perspective and/or where you live. I rented a Tesla in December once and was freezing the whole drive. A gasoline engine generates extra heat you can use to heat the cabin, whereas an electric car needs extra heaters (whic…
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If it could only reduce the weight of current EVs that would be a win. Most electric vehicles weight 1000 lbs or more than their ICE counterparts, and in the extreme case of the Hummer, the total weight is over 9000 lbs. Vehicles seem to be continuously ballooning in size, so whether that continues or eventual legislation forces more reasonable sizes, higher energy density would be very welcome.
Yes this is the real win. Lighter smaller batteries. Better efficiency and easier to design around for safety and maintenance.
Many households have two cars, one for errands and one for work/travel, so if that's true it helps on both accounts.
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energy density hasn't really changed for 15 years, price dropped a lot though, but price drop has also paused recently. There is no telling if any progress will be made or not. Maybe! Maybe not.
Actually, when demand for EVs goes up, lithium mining won't be able to keep up, so in the next decade or so we'll see steep increase in battery prices.
a solid sulfide electrolyte isn't necessarily fatal to claims of safety i can't tell which sulfide it is from the nature link, but many metal sulfides release hydrogen sulfide only very slowly in contact with water, sometimes over geological timescales. it only becomes a problem if you, say, grind them up and mix the finely divided powder (which is also often pyrophoric!) into sheetrock consider for example https://e…
> it could release highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas. How bad is it in real world conditions? Because from what I'm reading it's not the "it makes you sick" kind of toxic, but rather the "it kills you in seconds" kind of toxic.
Current lead acid batteries can do this as well. Smells awful and pretty unsafe situation. H2S is quite dangerous but it’s rare that they’d create an IDLH situation as long as there’s a bit of breeze.
> 750 Wh/kg is great. To put it mildly. Energy density in the current leaders in that category, lithium ion batteries, 250-270 wh/kg. So, provided a similar or better ratio of watt-hours to unit of volume, we’re basically looking at tripling the energy storage of EVs or significant weight reduction, in the ideal scenario of this design being a safe and cost effective replacement for current batteries.
I think for the EV skeptics it’s easy to forget how fast battery chemistry has been evolving. There’s an common assumption that the EV status quo of 300 mile range at barely-affordable prices will continue forever, and therefore with all the woes surrounding charging and bad weather affecting range, EVs are dead in the water. Ten years ago $30k got you 75 miles of range out of a Nissan Leaf. Fast forward to present d…
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I remain skeptical until the products are real and affordable. No reason to buy an electric car now if they'll have potentially double the range in a few years.
By that logic it never makes sense to buy a computer. It'll be obsolete in 18 months! Electric cars are cheaper to operate that gas RIGHT NOW, with less maintenance. No reason to hold off just because they're going to get better.
I don't drive very much, under 10,000 km per year.
I've done the maths and for me an EV is more expensive over an expected 10 year lifespan.
Granted I drive significantly less than average, but fuel costs here are a fair bit higher than in the US so for a lot of people buying at the bottom end of the market it may still not be true that an EV is cheaper.