Toyota has stepped up lobbying to preserve its investments in hybrids, hydrogen

Post by WorldMaker » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 6:38 PM UTC

XorNot wrote: post #24

modeless wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hydrogen for cars was an obvious boondoggle for a decade or more. There's making guesses and then there's ignoring obvious trends. Toyota did the latter. Edit: And to prove that I thought it was obvious a decade ago, here's my opinion from a decade ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3070004

I'm not sold that this has been established yet: technology moves in mysterious ways. For example EVs don't have an answer to long distance transportation yet (it should be trains, that are easily automated, but I'm not god emperor). You could imagine a future where greening that industry necessitates a storable, pumpable fuel and suddenly hydrogen infrastructure is a thing that personal vehicles could be built again…

Post by relaxing » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 6:42 PM UTC

acjohnson55 wrote: post #124

winternett wrote: post #117

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3 major problems none of the EV evangelists are addressing about with EVs are 1. What happens to all the giant lithium batteries on these vehicles after they reach end of life? 2. How will people be able to evacuate a city or state in an emergency situation when charging/electric supply is not present (which is always likely to happen)? 3. Coal burning infrastructure is still inextricably involved in generating the p…

For #2, I'm not so sure the situation is strictly worse than with gas. I lived in NYC during Hurricane Sandy, and it took many days for gasoline to become available (a few weeks, IIRC). Electricity was plentiful, though.

Post by relaxing » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 6:47 PM UTC

robotnikman wrote: post #187

stuaxo wrote: post #121

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1. They will be recycled. 2. Never heard this one, what kind of apocalypse are you foreseeing ? 3. Centralised generation is easier to mitigate, and later replace with clean generation.

For #2, I think it might be valid for areas which experience hurricanes or other natural disasters. Though, couldn't you charge your car with a gas generator in an emergency if you really needed to?

Post by mikepurvis » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 6:53 PM UTC

Robotbeat wrote: post #181

mikepurvis wrote: post #86

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I feel like at least some of this depends on whether the ICE in a hybrid is coupled directly to the wheels or not. I believe in all current consumer vehicles it is, but there are other applications like hybrid trains and city buses where the engine is just running a generator at a constant RPM. Surely that kind of configuration would be the absolute best case scenario for ICE efficiency, and probably even for overall…

In a Chevy Volt, there’s a mechanism that mechanically attaches the motor to the wheels at speed above 35 mph for greater efficiency but below that it is a pure serial hybrid, disconnected from the wheel directly. But it rarely ever runs the engine. Pretty much only if you run out of charge.

Post by Robotbeat » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 6:58 PM UTC

mikepurvis wrote: post #227

Robotbeat wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a Chevy Volt, there’s a mechanism that mechanically attaches the motor to the wheels at speed above 35 mph for greater efficiency but below that it is a pure serial hybrid, disconnected from the wheel directly. But it rarely ever runs the engine. Pretty much only if you run out of charge.

Ah, spiffy— that's neat to know that it can switch modes like that. Looks like this has been a matter of evolution over time, too: https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096942_2016-chevrolet-... I guess if you were only connected at higher speeds, that would also greatly simplify the transmission story, since you probably no longer need 1-3.