seahorse3 wrote:Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but there's not a single EV big rig or plane is there?
There are EV big rigs out there. But they are range limited, mostly used for shipping contains around ports and to nearby rail yards.
Heavy Duty Electric TruckThere are even bigger EV vehicles than that used in the mining industries. But those are usually tethered to electric cables or trolley lines.
An iron ore mine, the typical haulage route from shovel to crusher at mid-1971 was anticipated as 8,000 ft with a vertical lift of 400 feet and a cycle time of 26.6 minutes. They were looking for ways to reduce their cycle time, and felt that their trucks needed more horsepower. As a result, all of QCM's trucks were converted to trolley in December 1970 - including KW Dart 85 ton, Unit Rig M85 (85 ton), and Unit Rig M100 (100 ton) trucks. Trolley continued to operate successfully until the iron ore deposit was depleted and mining activity ceased in 1977. Over the life of the system, QCM realized a 23% improvement in productivity and an 87% decrease in fuel consumption on the grade.
By October 1981 all 75 of the 170 ton Unit Rig trucks were converted to trolley, and 2.7 kilometers of overhead lines were installed along selected in-pit ramps. Installation of Phase III trolley ramps began in June of 1982.
Trolley History"Today’s large electric mining shovels represent peak loads of more than 3.5 MW"
Mining ShovelsLike the mining trucks that use trolley assist when available, there are hybrid buses that use electric trolley power when available and switch over to diesel when on the open road:
There is however a technology which has been around for decades which would enable trucks to climb hills with ease without using their diesel engines. That technology is the traction system used in electric trolley buses which are used in some American cities especially those built on hills where electric motors can produce more torque than a diesel engine and temporarily operate overpowered for a short period of time when climbing a hill. Boston for example is using dual-mode buses on its new Silver Line that run on overhead electricity on a fixed right of way and then switches to regular city streets using their diesel engines when overhead power lines are not available. 300+ cities around the world use electric trolley buses so the technology for powering large vehicles using overhead power lines is well proven.
Hybrid Diesel Electric Overhead Power System for TrucksThere are also electric planes. But they are small experimental models, not full size commerical aircraft.
NASA today awarded what it called the largest prize in aviation history to a company that flew their aircraft 200 miles in less than two hours on less than one gallon of fuel or electric equivalent. Their aircraft is the Taurus G4 by Pipistrel-USA.com. The twin fuselage motor glider features a 145 kW electric motor, lithium-ion batteries, and retractable landing gear.
Two years ago the thought of flying 200 miles at 100 mph in an electric aircraft was pure science fiction," said Jack Langelaan, team leader of Team Pipistrel-USA.com in a statement. "Now, we are all looking forward to the future of electric aviation."
It is hoped by NASA and Google that the technologies demonstrated by the CAFE Green Flight Challenge, sponsored by Google, competitors may end up in general aviation aircraft, spawning new jobs and new industries for the 21st century. NASA noted that there is great evidence such aviation awards can change history. The Orteig Prize changed the public's expectations of flying. Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic created the expectation that anyone could fly.
NASA, Google award $1.35M prize for ultra-cool, mega-efficient electric aircraftseahorse3 wrote:When windmills make a dent in our fuel consumption, I'll be a believer in the alternatives. Until then, we have lots of coal and NG for our electricity. In fact, why build solar and windmills with 100 years of NG laying around idle doing nothing?
The amount of fossil fuels still laying around in the ground is enough to cook the earth 4 times over if we burned them all. For this reason alone, it is a good idea to shift our energy consumption away from fossil fuels, even if there are abundant supplies of fossil fuels still remaining in the ground.
And less we forget, the predominant method of moving goods and people around in this country was via trolleys and trains before a coalition of oil and automobile moguls got together and conspired to cripple the trolley and train industries in this country:
...Few Americans understand why those quiet, non-polluting electric rail system (trolleys) which once served all our major cities suddenly disappeared like the dinosaurs, and most accept the automobile as the evolutionary replacement. However, no asteroid from outer space wiped out America's trolleys. It was General Motors.
In 1922 only one American family in 10 owned an auto. Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., GM's president, decided to change this. With friends at Firestone Rubber, Standard Oil, Phillips Petroleum and Mack Truck, Sloan began secretly, first to buy up and then destroy the rail systems in America's cities. To hide his campaign from the public eye, he hired an unknown, E. Roy Fitzgerald, as a figurehead, advertising him as an entrepreneur from the sticks. They formed a company, National City Lines, and quickly purchased Yellow Bus, America's largest diesel bus builder, and Omnibus, a bus-operating company.
National City Lines, headed by Fitzgerald, but privately funded by a consortium organized by Sloan and friends began buying up the rail systems in America's cities, one by one. Their approach was simple: using political know-how and money to influence city councils, while they paid Madison Avenue to tell the country "the trend was away from rail," they systematically destroyed America's clean, electric rail systems, replacing them with their polluting diesel buses. By 1941, National City Lines owned the transportation system in over 83 American cities across the country.
The day National City Lines signed a purchase agreement, their staff took over. Rail management was fired, and the process of piecemeal destruction set in motion: Fares were increased, routes cancelled and trolleys were taken out of service, schedules were reduced, salaries of workers cut, maintenance neglected. As rail systems thus self-destructed, a nationwide media campaign offered "modern, non-polluting diesels." Eventually, the last trolley disappeared, along with the tracks. An independent observer, Commander Edwin Quinby, caught onto GM's plot and took it upon himself to warn the city fathers across the country. At his own expense, he mailed out a 31-page brochure, outlining the takeover plan. GM hoisted an expensive public-relations campaign to discredit Quinby. Some readers, however, got the news, and a grassroots protest finally brought an investigation by the Justice Department.
In 1936, National City Lines, along with General Motors, was found guilty. The two were fined $5,000 apiece, while their management staff were fined $1 each. Later Justice Department investigations got nowhere, because by 1932 GM had created the National Highway Users Conference, a powerful Washington lobby to push for more freeways and silence discussion of diesel or gasoline pollution. Alfred P. Sloan headed the conference for 30 years until another GM man took over.
With the post-WWII boom in home construction, President Eisenhower, in 1953, appointed the then-president of General Motors, Charles Wilson, as Secretary of Defense and DuPont's chief, Secretary of Transportation (DuPont was GM's biggest investor). These two set out to pave over America for the auto. DuPont got Eisenhower to set up the Highway Trust Fund which funnelled gasoline tax money into highway construction. Two thirds of these funds went to build inner-city freeways. Meanwhile, GM, recognizing the limits of bus sales as contrasted with automobiles, changed its tactics, and in 1972, convinced the House of Representatives to deny all funding for public transportation, hoping to reduce bus service. The money was diverted to freeways. By the 1950's buses were disappearing and everyone wanted a car. Thus while post-war Europe and Japan were rebuilding their rail transit, America was destroying hers.
Though the House of Representatives in 1972 blocked monies for rapid transit, public pressure was making itself heard. San Francisco's Mayor Alioto, in the 1974 Senate hearings, publicly questioned whether what was good for General Motors was good for the country. By 1992, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) allowed local input into transit decisions, and by 1991, 25 cities across the country were experimenting with light rail systems....
The Conspiracy to Destroy America's Trolley SystemsThe oil barrel is half-full.
