EVs Will Soon Be Vastly Cheaper To Own Than Carbon Fuel Vehicles

It's an interesting idea, but is it viable? The weak point is Scandium. According to the Wikipedia Scandium entry, current world production is around only 10 tonnes! That wouldn't go very far, if you consider that the magnesium-scandium-selenide spinel contains around 22% scandium if you look at a typical formula - MgSc2Se4 - from the original Nature article () . So, currently, if all the world's Scandium was turned into batteries, it would probably make enough for a few hundred cars at most.

And then you have consider where the Scandium would come from. Again, from the Wiki, commercial production is at present from only three sources - Ukraine, Russia, and China. Looks like we'd need a lot more sources for production and price stability if it's to be used in a mainstream battery. More info here:

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Jeff

a's e-Semi is based does not exist. Tesla isn't just hoping a better batte ry will appear, however. They have good information on it and it isn't all that insider:

From your link:

"Resources of scandium are abundant in relation to demand. Scandium is rare ly concentrated in nature because of its lack of affinity for the common or e- forming anions. It is widely dispersed in the lithosphere and forms soli d solutions in more than 100 minerals."

It seems like 1 cent/kW-hr power could really lower the cost of a lot of co ncentration processes.

For some reason this fact is never in the media.

"There are identified scandium resources in Australia, Canada, China, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Norway, the Philippines, Russia, and Ukraine."

John Larkin wrote on 12/8/2017 8:48 PM:

At least they can be doused with water. Gasoline fires are much harder to fight. There was an accident on the DC beltway some years back where a car cut off a gasoline tanker at the 270 split and the truck ended up straddling the guard rail. Its momentum rammed it into the overpass abutment and it came apart all over the highway. A number of people were maimed and killed. The car that caused the accident was never found. They closed the overpass until they could be sure the heat didn't weaken the steel. Of course traffic was a total disaster.

At least car batteries won't release all the energy of a tanker filled with gasoline!

This happened some time ago so to be sure of the details I googled the accident. It was not so easy to find amongst all the many other gasoline tanker accidents on the highways.

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Rick C 

Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms, 
on the centerline of totality since 1998

"electric-cars-already-cheaper-to-own-and-run-than-petrol-or-diesel-study"

That's good news. Then we don't have to subsidize it.

Hurray!! Good news! ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| STV, Queen Creek, AZ 85142    Skype: skypeanalog |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
     It's what you learn, after you know it all, that counts.

Tesla's e-Semi is based does not exist. Tesla isn't just hoping a better battery will appear, however. They have good information on it and it isn' t all that insider:

right now as they generally don't go far.

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One must-do if not entirely formal study would be to compare the stats on t he number of lives lost developing and using fossil carbon technology, i.e. , black lung, mine, boiler, drill rig and other explosions & fires, to numb er of deaths from non fossil tech, i.e., dams, Solar City, wind turbines, G alaxy cell phones, etc.

The basis would be life-years / joule.

Researchers could even include Dutchmen falling off old timey windmills, da re devil swimmers sucked through the turbines swimming across Lake Mead, wh atever. You could easily get 2 sig fig accuracy.

Hyping such a study would hamstring snow trollers because they must at leas t pretend in their talking points no process can involve more than one step or involve more than one effect ("8 feet of Gore Bull wammin' just fell on Buffalo! BWAHAHAHAHA!").

Once you force them to open the door to consider multiple factors like the advances in safety regulations, tort law as well as the technology, it star ts to drain the fun out of their "it's simple" shtick.

Bret Cahill

We used to have driverless cars, which could bring you home when you were asleep or drunk. Then they got rid of the horse.

Bring back the Horse and Buggy! Horses are solar-powered! They eat grass, which grows from sunlight!

4 hp Horse and Buggy! Now with steel ball bearings! Charge your cell phones with the onboard brushless motor alternator!

Michael

How much insurance does a horse need?

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   precision measurement  

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

Ford might not be quite as "hidebound" now as in the past.

I wish I had a < 5 week response time planning letters to politicians.

We're living in a philosopher-engineer's paradise. Just daydream out loud and it becomes reality in real time.

Bret Cahill

I think we will need additional power generating plants. Some reduced need because of night time charging. but at some point there will be increased demand.

Mikek

Bret Cahill wrote on 1/19/2018 12:30 PM:

I'm sure you know what you are referring to, but I don't. I can't see inside your head. Care to explain what you mean?

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Rick C 

Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms, 
on the centerline of totality since 1998

One concern.

It may be some situation where they just cannot adapt.

There is some "invisible psychological hand" as with the Vega:

Astonishing nonsense.

Subsidies make things cheaper? Gosh.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics

"Elon Musk is now the richest person in the world, passing Jeff Bezos"