Just a reminder that even if you have a fusion generator that reaches over unity, untill you can fit that in the space and weight of a car or truck engine, you still need a lot of oil, and you still need a lot of rare earth minerals for batteries.
Either that or a whole new transit / economic trade paradigm.
Not saying that it would not be great to be able to retire coal oil and gas power plants from the grid as a theoretical over unity fusion power source someday becomes a thing…
The whole initial pitch from Tesla, that basicslly got EVs conceptually over the hump into being potentially practical… at a paradigmatic level…
… was Elon saying he was gonna build a whole network of infrastructure for that, charging networks.
… and then 90% of that never happened.
Remember when we were gonna have basically a carwash type thing but it would just do a battery swap on your car?
Remember when he was all giddy about the SOLID METAL SNAKE that was gonna basicslly just be a robot tentacle that would automagically plug in to your charging port?
Yeah, basically none of that shit happened, similar to all that money we gave to the ISPs and such to build out fiber networks, most of which just went into stock buybacks, not infrastructure.
So my point is, you run into the same fundamental problem with hydrogen, now you need to build a whole new set of infrastructure.
… Who is going to pay for that?
Oh and also power would not be free.
Not for a long long time, not untill you solve capitalism.
Even with the magical thinking of an over unity power generator, you have do another order of magnitude of magical thinking to think that that somehow just makes power, in general, free, in a capitalist system.
They’ll find a way, many ways, to make it cost money.
No no no. You just use the fusion to heat the water to make the steam to turn a turbine and then distribute that energy. Boom electric cars are a thing. While it’s technically possible to make a car with 0 petroleum products, it’s not financially viable in the current market.
Oil is remarkably cheap. I always find it funny that a gallon of gas and a gallon of water stay about the same price when one literally falls from the sky for free.
Seems obvious to pick a new transit paradigm for personal cars, obviously trucks can stay.
Also in the current era, coal plants already have a good replacement: nuclear. At least for bigger countries, but most are shutting down rather than improving. This might be (hopefully) starting to change though in recent times.
Also I don’t know what fusion power is, I shall be on wikipedia now. Good day sir.
Assuming you mean commericial grade hauler trucks and such, I absolutely agree with all your points.
… Are we running commercial trucks on biodiesel yet?
But yeah, for personal transit… a huge amount of the world gets around on bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles. Cars are basically a luxury, like, any car.
Of course that works because public transit over long distances tends to work, and the whole country tends to not be laid out as just a cancerous mass of utterly useless suburubs, strewn out around urban cores that are half parking lot.
I dunno, if we just say, banned pickup trucks and SUVs for private use, well, that’d cut down on road maintenance a good deal, would make being a moped or bicycle or motorcycle commuter a bit more feasible.
I mean, if we’re in the sci fi timeline where fusion is a developed technology to the point where energy is effectively free with no env impact, then we can still do a lot to avoid that. Cars don’t need huge batteries when your roads are powered, etc.
Just a reminder that even if you have a fusion generator that reaches over unity, untill you can fit that in the space and weight of a car or truck engine, you still need a lot of oil, and you still need a lot of rare earth minerals for batteries.
Either that or a whole new transit / economic trade paradigm.
Not saying that it would not be great to be able to retire coal oil and gas power plants from the grid as a theoretical over unity fusion power source someday becomes a thing…
But I am saying its not a cure-all.
If the power is free, you can synthesize hydrogen or even hydrocarbons from captured CO2.
Cool and hows all that coming along?
Hydrogen vehicles?
The whole initial pitch from Tesla, that basicslly got EVs conceptually over the hump into being potentially practical… at a paradigmatic level…
… was Elon saying he was gonna build a whole network of infrastructure for that, charging networks.
… and then 90% of that never happened.
Remember when we were gonna have basically a carwash type thing but it would just do a battery swap on your car?
Remember when he was all giddy about the SOLID METAL SNAKE that was gonna basicslly just be a robot tentacle that would automagically plug in to your charging port?
Yeah, basically none of that shit happened, similar to all that money we gave to the ISPs and such to build out fiber networks, most of which just went into stock buybacks, not infrastructure.
So my point is, you run into the same fundamental problem with hydrogen, now you need to build a whole new set of infrastructure.
… Who is going to pay for that?
Oh and also power would not be free.
Not for a long long time, not untill you solve capitalism.
Even with the magical thinking of an over unity power generator, you have do another order of magnitude of magical thinking to think that that somehow just makes power, in general, free, in a capitalist system.
They’ll find a way, many ways, to make it cost money.
No no no. You just use the fusion to heat the water to make the steam to turn a turbine and then distribute that energy. Boom electric cars are a thing. While it’s technically possible to make a car with 0 petroleum products, it’s not financially viable in the current market.
Oil is remarkably cheap. I always find it funny that a gallon of gas and a gallon of water stay about the same price when one literally falls from the sky for free.
Its not ‘funny’, its the result of enormous structural subsidies for the oil and gas industry for … what like 125, 150 years now?
Brought to you by all the people who preach the merits of the perfectly competitive free market for everyone else.
… Its a multi generational, ongoing crime.
I wonder what Smedley Butler would have to say about the Trump-ezuela operation.
… on the other hand, nuclear fusion powered steam engine car… what could go wrong?
Seems obvious to pick a new transit paradigm for personal cars, obviously trucks can stay.
Also in the current era, coal plants already have a good replacement: nuclear. At least for bigger countries, but most are shutting down rather than improving. This might be (hopefully) starting to change though in recent times.
Also I don’t know what fusion power is, I shall be on wikipedia now. Good day sir.
Assuming you mean commericial grade hauler trucks and such, I absolutely agree with all your points.
… Are we running commercial trucks on biodiesel yet?
But yeah, for personal transit… a huge amount of the world gets around on bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles. Cars are basically a luxury, like, any car.
Of course that works because public transit over long distances tends to work, and the whole country tends to not be laid out as just a cancerous mass of utterly useless suburubs, strewn out around urban cores that are half parking lot.
I dunno, if we just say, banned pickup trucks and SUVs for private use, well, that’d cut down on road maintenance a good deal, would make being a moped or bicycle or motorcycle commuter a bit more feasible.
I mean, if we’re in the sci fi timeline where fusion is a developed technology to the point where energy is effectively free with no env impact, then we can still do a lot to avoid that. Cars don’t need huge batteries when your roads are powered, etc.
Your… roads are powered?
Via what, a third rail, that can electrocute anyone who touches it, does ‘funny stuff’ in snow or rain or ice?
Every road segment has a… gigantic cellphone style wireless charger?
That sure wont be a nightmare to maintain.
… Car somehow become maglev trains?
What are you talking about?
You know, the fictional concept of cars being powered by the road, via whatever technobabble the author writes