[Viker]

Hmm... Hard to beat that energy density when the workload is large.

Trucks, tractors, planes, ships. Sure consumer cars will be EV but ICEs are not going anywhere

[dahfizz]

This sparked my curiosity...

Currently gasoline has about 50x more energy per unit weight than a tesla battery pack.

Battery energy densities have tripled in the past 10 years. Keeping on that pace, it would take over 30 years for batteries to be competitive with gas.

When you account for the astoundingly bad efficiency of ICE, though, the gap in usable energy decreases. This is why a tesla can go 300+ miles with a battery that can only store the same energy as 2.4 gallons of gas.

[Hypx_]

You're likely to hit a hard limit to what battery energy density can reach. The next step will be fuel cells which don't have the efficiency limits of traditional internal combustion.

[rsj_hn]

The Tesla can go 300 miles by making it light, aerodynamic, brakes that recharge the battery, not turning on the heater, etc. Yes, it's a significant engineering accomplishment, but in the heavy long haul world when analyzing break-even points what matters is range improvements due to an increasing energy/weight ratio, not range improvements due to reducing air resistance and inertia. This is because the form factors of the boxcar are basically set by shipping container needs and the weight is going to be determined by the load you are carrying. Munro is advocating for hydrogen powered trucks and planes as hydrogen has similar power/weight characteristics to gas -- electrification of these is going to be a challenge.

[whatever1]

People have hard time grasping how much energy chemical bonds can hold. 15 gallons of gasoline store 500kWh of energy. That is 5 tesla model s worth of energy.

Efficiency plays role for our day to day car tasks, but when you have to deal with external forces or higher requirements of momentum, then you need more energy period. Towing, beating high-speed drag / waves, climbing high, cannot be addressed with smarter design. You need to be able to store somehow enough energy to deal with these external forces / additional required momentum

[outworlder]

> 15 gallons of gasoline store 500kWh of energy. That is 5 tesla model s worth of energy.

Yes. However, the Carnot efficiency means that most of it is lost as heat. Suddenly the advantage is not that large anymore.

[legulere]

Don’t forget to talk about rockets! Although there weight is more important than volume.

[jabl]

Volume matters too, especially for lower stages. There's a reason for the lack of success of hydrolox 1st stages.

[Hypx_]

ICEVs will outlast BEVs. Just like it did 100 years ago.