Reply To: Fusion Oil

[Brian H]

JimmyT wrote: I think diesel engines are going to be very difficult to replace in some applications. Earth moving equipment. Probably large farm equipment too. Of course the fuel these use can be synthetic, or will be much cheaper due to the displacement of demand from other applications. But I can’t see any battery technology in any form which will provide the energy density necessary for these uses.

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The Stanford nanowire anodes and, say, http://www.enableipc.com/microbattery.html nanowire cathodes should produce energy densities around 10x that of current LiIon batteries, with much safer charge/discharge characteristics. Generalizing from the ESS system used in the TeslaMotors Roadster EV, that would mean a 1 ton battery would hold over 1000 kwh. Electric motors have big advantages, such as 100% torque at all speeds; the Roadster’s graph is basically flat from 0-120 mph or 0-13,000 rpm, single gear. 280 HP from a 115 lb motor. Compared to the performance of the roaring, snorting, spewing shovels I’ve seen, this sounds pretty good.