Yes I think it will be another 20 years before these alternatives are in full swing. First, it’s going to cost a lot of money and take a lot of time to put these stations all across the country. Secondly, these cars cost way too much so it’s going to take time for them to become affordable.
Hydrogen plane?
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What are our energy companies in Houston doing? Sitting on their thumbs. I hope they are looking into alternative energy before we are left behind.
Reasonable guess. For the technology to takeoff, I think it will need
public support for infrastructure buildout. Something along lines of what was done for solar and wind electricity generation. I doubt we have the public will and leadership in place to accomplish that.
Oddly enough, or as a counterpoint, electric vehicles have taken off with what I would call lack of a robust refueling infrastructure in place. But electric cars can get topped off daily at the owners home. But still who wants to take an extended family trip in one ? But early on there were electric vehicle rebates in place and I think these are pretty much all gone at this point ?
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Bingo, that’s my take as well ! They will make some small investments
in alternate energy, but more or less it’s a token gesture for PR. Big oil
is…wait for it…addicted to oil. The leadership in those companies know
That business well and overall execute it successfully. Not sure the leadership is composed of visionary and out of box thinkers that can
Commit to longer term projects that bears fruit.in 15 to 20 years. Until
their market demand dries up will they become multi source energy companies.
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Lack of refueling infrastructure? Everyone’s house is a refueling structure! Just plug it in overnight like your mobile phone.
Sorry Norbert if I didn’t write that clearly. Yes, as I stated, everyone can top off their battery nightly at their home. And that is good and great. But if taking a long trip with one, it’s a different situation. Charging stations are few and far between and still take a long time to refuel, compared to pumping a
liquid into a fuel tank. From a 2019 source, up to
10 hours with 110v at home; 6.5 hours with 220v, and even up-to 1.5 hours at a supercharger station.
Tesla’s Supercharger stations are scattered throughout the country, making it possible for you to take your Model S or Model X on a road trip. These stations are only compatible with Tesla vehicles, and can charge your car fully in an hour to an hour and a half.
If you don’t mind a part of your car being ugly, there is an electric car out right now that has solar panels built onto the roof of the car so the car can be charging as you drive. There are electric trucks with a system that allows for 1,000 miles before needing to be recharged. And there is a company(not investing in them just yet) that has portable electric charging stations that can be put in place and set up within a matter of hours and moved with a very small down cost in moving them. I told my wife the next car I want to buy needs to be a fully autonomous one that is electric. She told me I would be using that one by myself. I think she would go with a level 4 which allows a person to take over for the autonomous setup if they wish to do so.
All good to hear, but I’m inclined to jump on the electric car bandwagon when the next generation of
solid state batteries pans out in next few years( < 5 ) hopefully.
One problem with current electric charging stations is they are not standardized . Only Tesla’s at their
Charging stations??? Standards, standards, standards are necessary imho for wide scale rollout of infrastructure refueling stations - whether talking batteries or hydrogen or whatever. But I suppose one could carry a bag of adapters for brand x to work at Charging stations designed for brand y, z, or w…but that is troublesome.
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Takes a lot of hydrocarbons to mine for and produce those batteries for electric cars. Not the mention the hydrocarbons used to power the grid to “fuel up” those cars.
Also need hydrocarbons to make the synthetics, plastics, fibers, electrical components, paint, all-weather coating, manufacturing, transportation and delivery of those electric vehicles.
I’m for all sources of energy, especially domestically produced energy (hydrocarbon, solar, wind, hydro, nuclear). And I’m jumping into the lithium battery world with both feet this year with a whole new set of cordless tools and a sweet battery powered snow blower. I’m also a big fan of the hybrid vehicle we own and all the rechargeable gadgets I depend on daily (smart phone, laptop and tablet) … all of which also contain their fair share of hydrocarbons to produce.
I love the renewable technology and its potential to be even better as I get older, but I also appreciate the hydrocarbon resources we use and we need to provide ratable, reliable energy to sustain our current life of convenience.
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Snow blower!! Oh, you are in the midwest.
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Yep, in I’m in Iowanois … or Illiniowa. Both.
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What’s your point here? Do you think people don’t know that electric cars are manufactured the same way as regular cars? That they just magically appear out of thin air?
Not at all. Just making a long winded point. No need to look further.
There is a new company with the ticker symbol of EXROF from Canada that has made an improved on the internal combustion engine and now has found a way to also improve battery usage. They say that their process and product can increase the efficiency of all four main components of the process. For electric cars they are saying they can renew the life of every battery to make it have a second lifetime use. Just adding to the discussion. I love new stuff. My wife loves and only buys oil and gas stocks. I tell her to diversify her portfolio and she says that I am her diversity in the stock market. I think that is true.