Re: Copper can't be mined fast enough to electrify the US

On 18/05/2024 7:15 am, Joe Gwinn wrote:

On Fri, 17 May 2024 09:36:37 -0700, John Larkin
<jjSNIPlarkin@highNONOlandtechnology.com> wrote:
 

On Fri, 17 May 2024 05:04:00 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:
>

Copper can't be mined fast enough to electrify the US
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/05/240515164309.htm
Source:
University of Michigan
Summary:
Copper cannot be mined quickly enough to keep up with current U.S. policy guidelines
to transition the country's electricity and vehicle infrastructure to renewable energy,
according to a new study.
>
OK, alternatives:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind-powered_vehicle
?
>

>
At least it dosn't need air conditioning.
>
Car power, worst to best, roughly:
>
Rubber bands.
Springs.
Animals (humans included).
Sails.
Compressed gas.
Steam engines.
Solar cells.
Batteries.
Electric trolleys.
Cable cars.
Funiculars.
Fuel cells.
Gasoline turbines.
Coal dust turbines.
Hydrogen turbines.
Gasoline piston engines.
>
Did I miss any?

 Vacuum on one side of a tunnel, air on the other side, car in middle.
 Linear electric motor with stator in roadbed and "rotor" in the car.
Often combined with magnetic levitation ion a monorail setup.
 Stretching the definition of Car, big rockets powered by burning
liquid Methane and liquid Oxygen?
 

The battery thing may have peaked. Manufacturers are leasing underused
parking lots and airports to store unsold cars.

 Yes.  Hybrids are what will survive, if anything  Various friends have
asked me about EVs, and I always warn them away from pure BEVs,
because with a BEV one spends far too much time dealing with keeping
it charged up.

Which is a problem that is going to go away as they get more popular.
Gasoline powered cars are going to get harder to fuel as their population declines,

(Not to mention dealing with the possibility of
burning the house down.)  So far, they have all gone with hybrids.

Foolish. Electric cars catch on fire less often that gasoline-powered cars. The "burning the house down" problem is one that they already have, but the media isn't as enthusiastic about reporting domestic fires started by internal combustion-engine cars as they are about reporting fires started by lithium ion  batteries.

Pure BEVs can make sense for local delivery vans; this was the
original use, in the days of Edison.

And the days of much lower capacity batteries. The technology has moved on a bit since then - you need to pay closer attention.
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney