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virtualdom | 5 years ago

> we believe electrification won't work for long-haul trucking. Bill Gates agrees.

is very different from

> we ... think electrification is going to be trickier for long-haul trucking than for cars

Electrification will be trickier for long-haul trucking than for cars; no one would disagree with that. That doesn't imply that electrification "won't work" for long haul trucking (a statement that many would disagree with).

I hope your system does work, and that it's cost effective! It will allow us to start decarbonizing earlier! But medium to long-term, it's pretty clear (to me at least) that all forms of ground transportation will be battery/electric powered.

discuss

order

paulgross|5 years ago

Totally. We'd genuinely love to be wrong - electrification is a great solution where it works! But our team has built battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell class 8 trucks, and our experience suggests they’re decades away from competing for long haul transport (given range, charging time, payload capacity, etc.). Even if that day comes, our solution is a fraction of the cost, works today with existing fleets, and with biofuels, it can make a truck carbon negative! That's something electrification wouldn't be able to achieve even if we did manage to overhaul the world's grid so that it's completely renewable, which we think will take decades, especially in the developing world.