Zero-emission vehicles, their batteries & subsidies/rebates for them.- No politics regarding the subsidies!

[blueone]

Well, yeah, but it's going to have to have a pretty big diameter!

That's what a Dyson Sphere does; it encloses a star. This is a moderately interesting article about it.

Would building a Dyson sphere be worth it? We ran the numbers.

Here's the math behind making a star-encompassing megastructure.

arstechnica.com

What's amazing is that for a short time astronomers actually thought the Kepler Space Telescope might have detected one.

The Scientific Quest to Explain Kepler’s Most Enigmatic Find

Some 1,500 light years from Earth, a mystery of stellar proportions is playing out. The world has the chance to watch, as the scientific process and the mystery continue to unfold.

www.nasa.gov

 

[blueone]

Your sarcasm is a bit too dry for the internet. This is what emojis are for.

I think my humor was only a bit too dry for someone looking to shoot first and think later.

The NCCC banning the E-Ray is anti-science. MDs are not usually scientists. Engineers aren't usually scientists either. When those in power who aren't in the know but think they are make poor decisions, people suffer.

You're kidding, right? You're implying that anyone who isn't a scientist by whatever arbitrary (and probably inaccurate) definition you have is anti-science? Such nonsense.

As for the NCCC's decision, that made me laugh yesterday. Today you get a facepalm.

 

[Newman]

I think it's very interesting how little notion we as humans give to long term survival. And strange too.

Makes perfect sense to me. As animals, we are hard wired to prioritise short term survival and reproduction. Natural selection doesn’t seem to see any advantage in prioritising timeframes longer than one’s life.

 

[Marc v E]

Makes perfect sense to me. As animals, we are hard wired to prioritise short term survival and reproduction. Natural selection doesn’t seem to see any advantage in prioritising timeframes longer than one’s life.

Well, it's a nice reason, but I don't know. I see people take bad decisions even in timeframes of 10 years, even 5, some even 2 or 1. Seems just a lack of understanding to me.

That there are so many, doesn't make it proof of an advantage in evolutionary terms imo. Rather an attribute to modern day society, where there is enough food, health and social support for natural selection to have less of an effect than without these social securities and advantages of a highly organised society.

 

[RayDunzl]

Human is not animal. Human is the most precious of God creation.

I wonder what held the title before we came along?

 

[Blumlein 88]

I wonder what held the title before we came along?

Neanderthals. But homo sapiens killed them and took the crown.

 

[j_j]

I think it's very interesting how little notion we as humans give to long term survival. And strange too. Given that we seem to have trouble to maintain a technological advanced society for 150 years, and max a millenium in the past, 5 billion years seems to be a long stretch.

There's a great reply to that, but it might tread into politics.

 

[j_j]

That's what a Dyson Sphere does; it encloses a star. This is a moderately interesting article about it.

Well, yes, but it has to enclose a red giant, not normal Sol. Well, at least when He4 burning starts.

 

[blueone]

Well, yes, but it has to enclose a red giant, not normal Sol. Well, at least when He4 burning starts.

But then the diameter would be even bigger…

 

[Blumlein 88]

Plans for charging infrastructure for large commercial trucks.

Daimler is setting up a $650 million charging network for commercial EVs

Greenlane will build sites along freight routes, starting in Southern California.

arstechnica.com

Was wondering what connection they will use for megawatt charging. Apparently there is work on a developing standard which Tesla is also on board with.

Megawatt Charging System - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I do still wonder about a large charge area depicted in the above article in regards to power to supply it. Seems it would need to have one of the major power lines nearby to be of enough capacity.

 

[j_j]

But then the diameter would be even bigger…

That's my point. You'll have to ship materials in from outside the solar system.

 

[beefkabob]

On the subject of sarcasm...

This is the Car and Driver audience response to whether the California ICE truck ban will be good or bad. I suppose 64% of people are being sarcastic.

 

[beefkabob]

 

[Spocko]

Yeah, by that point we'd better have perfected force field domes and some really, really good insulation for mother earth!

lol i assume when you say "we" you mean the race of beings collectively still living on earth - no guarantee that it's humans either!

 

[beefkabob]

Cockroaches with forcefields, most likely.

 

[Ron Texas]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/cars/ford-job-cuts-europe/index.html

Ford has announced plans to axe 3,800 jobs across Europe, citing difficult economic conditions and its major push toward electric vehicles.

The US carmaker said Tuesday that it would cut about 2,300 jobs in Germany, 1,300 in the United Kingdom and 200 across the rest of Europe over the next three years. The layoffs will be made in the company’s product development and administrative departments.

The cuts amount to about 11% of Ford’s staff in the region.

Collateral damage, or was it going to happen anyway?

 

[Blumlein 88]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/cars/ford-job-cuts-europe/index.html

Ford has announced plans to axe 3,800 jobs across Europe, citing difficult economic conditions and its major push toward electric vehicles.

The US carmaker said Tuesday that it would cut about 2,300 jobs in Germany, 1,300 in the United Kingdom and 200 across the rest of Europe over the next three years. The layoffs will be made in the company’s product development and administrative departments.

The cuts amount to about 11% of Ford’s staff in the region.

Collateral damage, or was it going to happen anyway?

Ford is not alone nor the auto industry. It is happening in all business sectors with an apparent slow down in the economy. McDonald's is laying off hundreds of their staff. Is that collateral damage from electrification of automobiles? If anything, it indicates that Ford thinks EVs are important enough they'll cut in other places. The fact there are cuts is not due to a push toward EVs.

 

[Doodski]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/cars/ford-job-cuts-europe/index.html

Ford has announced plans to axe 3,800 jobs across Europe, citing difficult economic conditions and its major push toward electric vehicles.

The US carmaker said Tuesday that it would cut about 2,300 jobs in Germany, 1,300 in the United Kingdom and 200 across the rest of Europe over the next three years. The layoffs will be made in the company’s product development and administrative departments.

The cuts amount to about 11% of Ford’s staff in the region.

Collateral damage, or was it going to happen anyway?

Interesting... Perhaps it is part of the migration to populate North American auto manufacturing and it's battery fab too. Lots of investment occurring right now in the North American auto sector.

 

[Marc v E]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/cars/ford-job-cuts-europe/index.html

Ford has announced plans to axe 3,800 jobs across Europe, citing difficult economic conditions and its major push toward electric vehicles.

The US carmaker said Tuesday that it would cut about 2,300 jobs in Germany, 1,300 in the United Kingdom and 200 across the rest of Europe over the next three years. The layoffs will be made in the company’s product development and administrative departments.

The cuts amount to about 11% of Ford’s staff in the region.

Collateral damage, or was it going to happen anyway?

According to what I learned from watching Munro, an ev is more akin to a computer on wheels than an ice car.

I'm not surprised at all by this news abour layoffs. In fact I'm pretty sure Ford divided its company into 2 entities, one for ice manufacturing, one for evs to make rapid and necessary changes.

China sales for ice cars are dropping fast.
Ev sales and especially their own are rising.

The US has more financial incentives to manufacture batteries and evs than any country in Europe.

So I'm definately in the "was going to happen anyway" corner.

 

[beefkabob]

According to what I learned from watching Munro, an ev is more akin to a computer on wheels than an ice car.

Pretty much every ICEV made today is a computer on wheels. The 90s was around when the last new car was sold in the US without computers to run the engine.