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Caleb James DeLisle

With the evolution of batteries, it looks as though internal combustion engines will be relegated to some pretty narrow niches - if not supplanted entirely.

But there's something about them that EVs can never really replace, and it doesn't seem to even have a name. Internal Combustion Engines are "alive" in a way that electric motors can never be.

> That's just how you perceive it, human

Don't care. It's our world, technology should exist on our terms.

Even if electric motors and batteries win every race, (video) is something they can never really do (unless through a pathetic bunch of fake technological theater).

Sir ReadyKilowatt

@ReadyKilowatt@noauthority.social remote

@cjd "But there's something about them that EVs can never really replace,"

The energy density and easy transfer of gasoline?

Caleb James DeLisle

@cjd@pkteerium.xyz remote

Transfer rates of pumping gasoline are actually solved. The amount of voltage and amperage in the cables is terrifying, but it does work and it's in production now.

Energy density of gasoline (30% usable) is about 4 kWh/kg, and current batteries are about 0.25 kWh/kg. 0.5 is in the lab, 1 is probably attainable this decade. However, nobody outside of aviation really cares.

The BIG convenience of gasoline is you can carry it in a jerrycan. But again, the places where this is really important are very niche.

EVs don't have to beat ICEs on every metric, they just have to win at enough to be a better deal. A horse can use grass as fuel, and grass grows everywhere - yet cars still replaced horses.

🌈ᚩ🌈

@bonifartius@noauthority.social remote

@cjd @ReadyKilowatt if i'd have the time and space i'd get a horse ;)

🌈ᚩ🌈

@bonifartius@noauthority.social remote

@cjd @ReadyKilowatt and, like i wrote, i think big part of the push for EV is that it makes control more easy. fuel is in a jerrycan, batteries are incompatible proprietary stuff. you won't get charge and you will like it and your neighbor can't help you.

the only ones that will have IC engines will be the police etc. for precisely this reason.

maybe i shoul take off the tinfoil for a while.

Caleb James DeLisle

@cjd@pkteerium.xyz remote

The push for EVs (at least in Europe and Asia) is that governments are sick of oil being used as geopolitical leverage by the US.

As you said, you'd get a horse... There are people who will do that, but it's pretty marginal. Most people care about cost and convenience, and that's it.

🌈ᚩ🌈

@bonifartius@noauthority.social remote

@cjd @ReadyKilowatt that might be a part, that it's more easy to control could be just a very welcome side effect.

"most people" usually is a terrible argument, "most people" injected themselves with a substance of unknown composition and now we have sudden death of people in their 30s in the news on a weekly basis..

Replying to @bonifartius@noauthority.social

Caleb James DeLisle

@cjd@pkteerium.xyz remote

Well, "most people" define what is widely available. If 90% of car drivers switch to electric, you're going to have to drive 3x as far to find a gas station...

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