Bentley / VOLVO say, no pistons after 2030

[freebeard]

Sometimes it just seems there are other motives behind things besides the claimed goal.

"Ya don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" Dylan

This seems as good a thread as any for this:

• Audi abandons ICE development
• make electricity with wood
• Toyota Mirai $20K price cut
• Ox truck goes crowdfunding
• ElectraMecchanica moves US production to Mesa, AZ

Were the OX electric, it would be an ICE-free list.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

We all know the real reason companies say things. They say it to make money. Not that they can't try to do good things for the environment too. But they do it and say it so people will but their products.

Right, Volvo is doing this because they have nowhere to go at least in the US market but up. They need to find a different niche becuase whatever they are doing or have been doing hasn't been working here for 20 years. They see what Tesla has done in 1/2 that time and think what could have been and maybe could be with them. And they may be right.

My point applies to more than just companies. It certainly applies to politicians 100% both sides and the middle. It also is rampant with "scientists", professors, and just average citizens as well. People will just drive evidence that supports that which for some reason, they really want to be gospel, when there is evidence and support that should be addressed for other possibilities. I really think this the the fault of the politicians and those that profit and control that game. No matter what side you are on, they need you on one side or the other, then play the importance of that division. So EVERYTHING becomes politics, everything.

[freebeard]

Culture is upstream from politics, but if you can use politics to drive culture, you can set up a positive feedback loop. So say goodbye to Dr. Seuss.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Right, Volvo is doing this because they have nowhere to go at least in the US market but up. They need to find a different niche becuase whatever they are doing or have been doing hasn't been working here for 20 years. They see what Tesla has done in 1/2 that time and think what could have been and maybe could be with them. And they may be right.

Volvo has been doing very well globally. They have been steady growing from 374K vehicles in 2010 to 705K in 2019.

This move isn't out of desperation. Volvo's major markets of Europe and China are going EV and Volvo is following along.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Many of the people who defend batteries as being a budding technology, seem to lack the same vision when looking at ways of dealing with CO2 positively as also a new and developing technology.

CO² could even serve as a refrigeration gas, instead of those synthetic ones. And even though some synthetic refrigeration gases are claimed to not damage the Ozone layer, they're still quite energy-intensive to manufacture. Sure a commercially-viable CO² sequestration might also have its cost and energy consumption, but it still makes sense.

They seem to jump right into the 'ban it is our only option' camp. Sometimes it just seems there are other motives behind things besides the claimed goal.

I always take the ban approach with a grain of salt, exactly because of some practical disadvantages.

If lower CO2 levels was the only goal then a complete ban on fossil fuel would not be the best solution.

Considering the biogas released at sewage treatment stations and landfills have a longer half-life than CO², using it either as a feedstock for synthetic fuels or burning it directly makes more sense than looking at EVs as some sort of "magical" solution.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

CConsidering the biogas released at sewage treatment stations and landfills have a longer half-life than CO², using it either as a feedstock for synthetic fuels or burning it directly makes more sense than looking at EVs as some sort of "magical" solution.

Toyota is building a facility they call Tri-Gen in the Port of Long Beach that will take biomethane and use it in a 2.3 megawatt plant that produces electricity, water, and compressed hydrogen for their fuel cell semis used in the port.

It is currently on hold due to a dispute with the local electrical utility SCE about how much they should pay for the generated power.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by JSH

Toyota is building a facility they call Tri-Gen in the Port of Long Beach that will take biomethane and use it in a 2.3 megawatt plant that produces electricity, water, and compressed hydrogen for their fuel cell semis used in the port.

Interesting. And I'm sure some of the CO² output could also eventually get trapped and used for industrial purposes.

[hotshoetom]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Apparently they can make synthetic gasoline from CO2 directly captured from our very own atmosphere. Not that it's cheap to produce, but maybe in some future, internal combustion engines will be a hardcore enthusiast's hobby that requires a very expensive, carbon neutral fuel.

Ya, the whole "it's not currently up to the task" sales pitch is basically the same as saying "innovation has no purpose." I'm not saying the future is definitely electric or that it's going to be synthetic gasoline. But if we don't try to look for better ways of doing things then there's no progress. Maybe the future is neither electric nor internal combustion. Maybe it'll be something else that hasn't even been thought of yet. Or something that's been right there under our noses the whole time.

Personally I think there's too much emphasis on what cars look like and the pride of owning a car, which is really just a tool to get from point A to point B, and not enough emphasis on trying to figure out what would be a beneficial to everything form of transportation or if our insaciable glut for highspeed transportation is even necessary at the scale it is now.

Maybe figure out first where people and goods need and want to be. Offer incentives to make those places as close as possible. Then figure out what would be the best form of transportation between those points, as well as those places not in the usual routine, that not only makes everyone happy but is good for the environment.

Careful there what you are suggesting might take away some basic freedoms we as Americans hold near and dear...especially if it’s implemented by our not so well intentioned government

[freebeard]

Elon Musk Tunnel Trillions Through The Bering Strait?*

Bucky Fuller used to advocate for an electrical intertie across the Bering Strait because when you look at the world with his projection...


wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_map]

...the Bering Strait is at the center of everything.

The Boring Company alleges to cut tunnel cost to 1/10th what it was. The video suggests instead of just under the Strait, go from LA to Shanghai. Subsonic 40ft shipping containers. This will would replace transoceanic shipping [polution] and high atmospheric [airline] pollution.

*
05:07 some estimates say that shipping emits
05:09 18[%] of all air pollutants in the world
05:11 when you get to fund numbers[?] container
05:13 ships emit more greenhouse gas emissions
05:15 than some small countries
05:17 and that one ship may have as much
05:18 greenhouse gas emissions as 50 million
05:21 cars

[redneck]

.

Tunnel ?

The U.S.A. does not need a tunnel to any other country.
Especially to those that are hostile, wish to overthrow or control the government and by extension, it’s people. (us)


Thanks, but no thanks...


In case anyone needs a reminder.

Russia - Holodomor

China - Uyghurs


Also.

The Pacific plate may have something to say about it feasibility as well...





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