Renewables overtake oil
- Thread starter mentalfloss
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How many batteries and solar powered panels will it take to keep a 400 hp truck on the road for eight hours in July in beautiful weather (?), and the same question for January or February and not so beautiful weather??? Just a 400 hp truck with a combined gross weight of 40,000 pounds or less, instead of 600 hp with a combined gross weight of 80,000 pounds??? Let’s even assume that wind is not a factor which it always is....
Assume even that all trucks are governed to 50 mph (80 km/h) so there are two speed laws on every highway, creating unpredictable traffic flow, & assume safety is not a factor but mileage is with the solar power & batteries scenario above, to just go for 8 continuous hours at 80km/h with a 1/2 load so only a gross combined weight between vehicle & load of 40,000 lbs....does that technology exist even?
How many oil wells and refineries does a 600 hp truck have to carry to feed it's ICE?
Two drivers. Eat and pee while fuelling. How many hours of the day will be spent recharging batteries? How many tonnes of payload will be lost to accommodate batteries?
Another question that the oil spitters like to ignore is how much more are people prepared to pay for their so called clean power? Hydro is the only truly clean renewable power source and many places do not have that option so they must charge their electric toy cars with coal or gas fired generators.
It's only clean if you discount the thousands of acres lost to flooding.
Zero. On average a Class 8 Tractor would have to stop once a day (call it 15minutes for fueling assuming two 100 gallon fuel cells, and a walk around checking load securement, that the tires are round, & there's no puddles under the truck), & then they get going 'cuz the clock is ticking.
Let's stick to the US HOS Rules to not complicate it with the Canadian HOS Rules & how they play with each other. Currently in the US there is a 14hr window for a Commercial Driver from the time they start their day until the time they shut down, regardless of what happens (there's a 2hr exception for unforeseen circumstances but if you actually use it you're looking for a financial pee-pee whack and a hit to your safety rating, etc...so I'll leave that alone).
The US HOS Rules say a Driver has to be "Off-Duty" 10 Consecutive Hours between work shifts regardless of personal Circadian rhythms (for safeties sake, etc...), then your "14 hour window" can start. A Driver can be "On Duty" a Maximum of 14hrs, and of those he/she can drive a Maximum of 11hrs, and a 1/2 hour break of a Minimum of 30 minutes HAS TO take place before 8 hours of driving in a single shift. A driver has to track their "On Duty" time (anything work related like fueling, a Pre or Post trip inspection of their truck and trailer and load, loading or unloading, maintenance on their vehicle, or anything else that could be classed as 'work related') and of those 14 hours, they can drive a maximum of 11 of those hours. That's the basic basics of the US HOS (Hours Of Service) Rules for a Commercial Trucker. Any variance or violation from this can/will result in being put "OUT OF SERVICE" for a minimum of 10 consecutive hours (& time=money) & a financial spanking, & a hit to their safety rating (which brings on further audits = more financial penalties).
On that note, the longest that truck can be moving in a single stretch after a pre-trip inspection and assuming they fueled up the night before or before they started moving that day...is 8 hours before their Mandatory Minimum 30 minute break (& with an ELD 29 minutes instead of 30minutes means you start over on your Minimum 30 minutes break = whoopsie and again time equals money) before the 8hr point in a work shift....is 8hrs, assuming all goes perfectly, and they don't have to stop for loading or unloading or traffic or construction or a washroom break or a service issue or a scale inspection or....etc...& thus where I came up with the 8hrs continuous outlier of time in my previous posts.
Assuming no wind (which almost never happens) as a variable, a truck (ICE Powered) gets better mileage at 55mph than it does at 70mph (air resistance increases with increased speed decreasing mileage) but creates a dangerous situation on highways with different vehicles moving at different speeds instead of all vehicles moving at generally the same speed....so assuming all trucks moving a 50mph and that safety isn't a factor to gain the most distance/unit of energy was the other imposed assumption in my previous posts.
Most Truckers are getting paid 'Per-Loaded-Mile' so the more loaded miles they are able to run legally in that tightly regulated window (vs fuel economy with the flow of traffic not being impeded which is also a no-no) directly affects their profit margin in a business of very tight profit margins. That's where that variable comes from. Hauling 40,000lbs instead of 80,000lbs will also increase their mileage and thus where that variable comes from.
On that note, does the technology even exist for a highway truck to move at a reduced speed with a reduced payload for just an 8 hour continuous period utilizing strictly solar & battery power under perfect ideal conditions (flat ground, no hills or valleys, no wind, reduced wind resistance due to a slower speed, no other traffic, no stop and start issues that would decrease mileage, fresh new batteries, not in winter so dry clean pavement, etc...) ??? That's what I was trying to ask above in the previous posts without being as long-winded as I am being here.
Two actually...I can go into the semantics or you can trust me on this....and that would be for 6 and a bit days....& then they're maxed out on their Max Hrs cycles and have to be off-duty for 34 consecutive hours in the US (or 36hrs in Canada on Cycle 1 or a 24hr consecutive break on cycle 2 before they max out and have to take 72hrs consecutive off duty, but that's another story), as 1 driver in a sleeper at a time while the other is driving, unless there are separate beds in the sleeper (Bunk-beds?) as whomever is in the passenger seat would be "On Duty Not Driving" but that's almost becoming a sidetrack in such a highly regulated industry.
The Bot thing, as this point in time, is still pretty much theoretical due to cost and still evolving regulations and the semantics that revolve around this. It's, at this point anyway, unrealistic, & with a driver shortage and the cost of vehicles and maintenance and fuel and wages and such, the reason there are turnpike doubles and such to keep the economy from grinding to a halt.
Veg oil is problematic outside of the Sun Belt in anything more than a few percent mixed into Diesel fuel in cold weather (gelling & waxing). Hydrogen & Hydrogen Fuel Cells come with their own inherent safety issues. Methane & Alcohol (or Methanol) require feed-stock that can decrease food supplies with a growing global population. I'm not outright discounting any of these potential options, but pointing out that none of them are the magic bullets that the uneducated or uninformed might latch onto without further research of their potential advantaged without looking at the negative consequences of their potential use.
Some clever lass or lad is going to come up with an engine that can eat anything: oil from any source, alcohol, hydrogen. Another clever lad or lass will come up with hyper-efficient photovoltaics.
Some of us will stand in awe, and some will piss and moan.
So it goes.
Like the Banana Peal being fed into the Flux Capacitor in one of the Back to the Future sequels. I like the idea.
Nukes and everything electric is what Id like to see but it makes the most sense so I dont expect it to happen.
Eventually, but at present we are in the here and now .