Quote:
Originally Posted by Efthreeoh
Yeah, me too (physics major). But education acumen aside, I'm not talking about fuel efficiency of electric vehicles vs. gasoline vehicles, but rather energy density of hydrocarbon fuel vs. electric battery storage. Just merely trying to point out that maybe as a society we should use R&D dollars from Government to research better ways to convert the stored energy in hydrocarbon fuel (since it has one of the highest energy density coefficients) of mobile-based fuels (i.e. fuel you can take with you) rather than trying to advance battery technology, since I think battery technology has materials limitations on reaching the energy density of hydrocarbon fuel.
You had to go and take this to some stupid hybrid vs. ICE discussion I guess to defend your purchase of an i3 and a Lexus 450h. Still not sure why you can't comprehend the Tesla S battery has the equivalent stored energy of around 2.5 gallons of gasoline; it's been published as such.
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I understand what you are saying about the 2.5 gallons of gas, tell me how far will that 2.5 gal of gas take you in a ICE powered car with the same specs as the Tesla S, weight, size and performance. Maybe 60 miles if you are lucky, compared to the 200 mile range of the Tesla. So yes I understand if you could release that energy efficiently, but you can't. Many companies have spent millions over the years trying, not just car companies either.
What you apparently don't seem to get is that the internal combustion engine has been around a long time and continued R&D is not going to improve the efficiency to any
significant extent. Don't you think that with the government mandated efficiency requirements as they currently exist; that the car companies are currently trying to squeeze out as many mpg as possible right now. I worked in this industry my job was in the R&D lab doing exactly what you suggest. Let me tell you, there is not much room for additional efficiency gains. Plus you still have the (pollution) emissions from the ICE.