Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 19:12:33 JST Rich Felker

   @ariadne I await EVs that charge purely from the PV panels on them not a silly theft-ridden charging infrastructure. And that have batteries whose mass is measured in kilos not tons.

   • Embed this notice
     Howard Chu @ Symas (hyc@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 21:01:27 JST Howard Chu @ Symas

     in reply to

     @dalias @ariadne the surface area of a vehicle isn't enough for panels that can produce enough power to produce a useful range. Cars would have to shrink by an order of magnitude for that to be possible, like with the Sunraycer which only weighed 265kg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunraycer

     You can get about 1500W if you cover the entire surface area of a car with panels. I.e., basically 2hp, which won't even get you moving on a flat road.

   • Embed this notice
     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 21:01:27 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • Howard Chu @ Symas

     @hyc @ariadne "Cars would have to shrink by an order of magnitude..."

     Bingo.

   • Embed this notice
     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 21:10:17 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • Howard Chu @ Symas

     @hyc @ariadne "Basically 2hp, which won't even get you moving on a flat road" is inaccurate. Arbitrarily low power can get you moving on a flat road with suitable reduction gearing. But in particular, 1-2 literal-horse power moves a horse drawn carriage made of dense legacy materials. It's plenty for an efficient CF frame.

   • Embed this notice
     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 21:17:51 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • Howard Chu @ Symas

     @hyc @ariadne You could if the battery provided enough burst power, or if on-ramps had overhead or inductive power transfer for the acceleration.

   • Embed this notice
     Howard Chu @ Symas (hyc@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 21:17:52 JST Howard Chu @ Symas

     in reply to

     @dalias @ariadne If you're talking about a vehicle capable of carrying 4 occupants, I suspect the 0-100km/h acceleration time would be so slow you could never safely enter a major highway from a feeder road.

   • Embed this notice
     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:08:13 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • Henri
     • Clive Thompson
     • Howard Chu @ Symas

     @hyc @clive @ariadne @slyecho Mine is electric and runs easily on shared 15A circuit so can't be more than 1hp or so.

   • Embed this notice
     Howard Chu @ Symas (hyc@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:08:14 JST Howard Chu @ Symas

     in reply to

     • Henri
     • Clive Thompson

     @clive @ariadne @slyecho @dalias I think the lawnmower I used back in Michigan had more power than 2hp. ...

   • Embed this notice
     Clive Thompson (clive@saturation.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:08:15 JST Clive Thompson

     in reply to

     • Henri
     • Howard Chu @ Symas

     @hyc @ariadne @slyecho @dalias

     I’ve read a little bit about the trend towards having a solar roof on golf carts – if they have lithium ion batteries apparently it can extend the range a non-trivial amount; but again, that’s because the vehicle itself is very lightweight

     (and slow: not something you’re going to use to accelerate on to the highway 😂)

   • Embed this notice
     Henri (slyecho@mdon.ee)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 23:08:16 JST Henri

     in reply to

     • Howard Chu @ Symas

     @hyc @dalias @ariadne Maybe they could unfold like the panels on satellites and stick 30m up in the air. Wind could be a problem, though