ICE v Electric: Cost and Emissions

[Ripitz]

Is a cannonball one driver in a car?

In modern times it is a team effort, historically it is not. The Cannonball Run is named after Erwin “Cannonball” Baker who rode his Ace motorcycle cross country in 6 days, 22 hours, 52 minutes in 1922. This was before the interstate highway system and he was self supported, making gas caches himself ahead of the effort. In all he made 143 coast to coast motorcycle speed runs totaling about 550,000 miles. What a friggin badass.

His best-remembered drive was a 1933 New York City to Los Angeles trek in a Graham-Paige model 57 Blue Streak 8, setting a 53.5 hour record that stood for nearly 40 years. This drive inspired the later Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, better known as the "Cannonball Run"

Erwin Baker - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[DomB]

In modern times it is a team effort, historically it is not. The Cannonball Run is named after Erwin “Cannonball” Baker who rode his Ace motorcycle cross country in 6 days, 22 hours, 52 minutes in 1922. This was before the interstate highway system and he was self supported, making gas caches himself ahead of the effort. In all he made 143 coast to coast motorcycle speed runs totaling about 550,000 miles. What a friggin badass.

His best-remembered drive was a 1933 New York City to Los Angeles trek in a Graham-Paige model 57 Blue Streak 8, setting a 53.5 hour record that stood for nearly 40 years. This drive inspired the later Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, better known as the "Cannonball Run"

Erwin Baker - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I worked in the Rochester area for a year as one of my first jobs out of grad school.

There are multiple good interstates in the area. For fun, I drove from conesus lake (the spot of my 750/mo apartment) to Rochester on local thruway type roads. It is A LOT slower to travel that way.
Thanks for sharing these fun facts.

 

[TheGreatAbyss]

Ahh, Norway.
Make trillion$ drilling and marketing oil&gas, then try to pretend they’re going green.

This dude doesn't even attempt to ask why or break down the numbers. What % of total oil consumption did personal vehicles even make up, and within each size segment? How does that segment % consumption change over time?

Would not hire.

 

[Andy_ROC]

Another thing to keep in mind is that EVs have been failing since the 1800's.

Lots of things wouldn't/couldn't work 50 or 100 years ago. For example the original computers ran on diesel engineers and turned gears and were the size of a building. Then they went to vacuum tubes and magnetic drums for storage. I'm glad they just didn't stop there simply because semiconductor production was so complicated, unreliable and expensive.

I think it's important to listen to Toyota. Arguably one of the best car manufacturers in the world. They may have some insight regarding EVs. EVs won't go away, too much has already, foolishly, been invested.

Total EV Adoption Is Not The Way Forward, Says Toyota Chairman

Former Toyota CEO, Akio Toyoda, believes that battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are not the final answer, and is not afraid to say so.

www.forbes.com

What's interesting about this is that Toyota is currently one of the leaders for solid state battery dev. This could be a game changer with 900 mile range and 20 min charge time. Is he soft pedaling because they are way behind and problematic to make? Or is he trying to be deceptive for the competition or downplay for the financial market expectations? I guess time will tell on that one.

But overall I'd agree that for the foreseeable future there is not one magic bullet for reducing carbon emission, and maybe never will be just one best option. We should let science, manufacturers and consumers explore the many options and not just be fixated on batteries and electric motors.

 

[takeahike46er]

Whether you are team ICE or team electric, this thread’s popularity (at nearly 3.8k posts) makes clear to me that North America’s love affair with the automobile isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Personally, I’d love to see less reliance on cars in general and start designing communities that are more walkable/bikable. I also think there should more of a focus on quality mass transit in metro areas across North America. Maybe if those options were more readily available, more people could choose (like I have) to not to own a car.

I totally agree that there isn’t one magic bullet to reducing emissions, but frankly there needs to be more options on the table other than just swapping out an ICE vehicle for an electric one.

 

[Andy_ROC]

Can't wait for Mr. Fusion! I've had one of these on pre-order for decades

 

[TheGreatAbyss]

Can't wait for Mr. Fusion! I've had one of these on pre-order for decades

Not quite 1.21 "Jiggawatts" but it's a real possibility

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/climate/nuclear-fusion-energy-milestone-climate/index.html

 

[tirolski]

Ahh, Norway.
Make trillion$ drilling and marketing oil&gas, then try to pretend they’re going green.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is ~$1.5 Trillion for a population of ~2.5 Million = ~$600K for each citizen.
Do they keep on pumping for more?
Yup.

Norway production up in March, NOD says

Norway’s daily production averaged 2.086 million bbl in March 2024, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) reported.

www.ogj.com

& Viktor almost won the PGA tournament yesterday. He knows green.

 

[TheGreatAbyss]

More forbidden fruit. 500+ miles of range for 34K.

 

[Peter Minde]

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is ~$1.5 Trillion for a population of ~2.5 Million = ~$600K for each citizen.
Do they keep on pumping for more?
Yup.

Norway production up in March, NOD says

Norway’s daily production averaged 2.086 million bbl in March 2024, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) reported.

www.ogj.com

& Viktor almost won the PGA tournament yesterday. He knows green.

I don't blame Norway for drilling for oil. Somebody's gonna do it.