Mission Motors: Developing a Future For Electric Vehicles

[lennyhome]

Why don't these guys get a job? Who's paying them to waste their time on useless and expensive toys like electric vehicles? Do they realize that neodymium isn't abundant on earth and that they require it for the magnets in the motors? Do they realize how environmentally unfriendly batteries are? And how much oil goes into the production of a single battery?

[foojoku]

If the fundamental technology using batteries is already in place, then research in batteries becomes much more worth while. Think of it of developing the chicken so the egg can come to be.

[lennyhome]

The need for batteries has been "in place" for a century. Not that much has changed despite billions already thrown at the problem. Sure modern batteries are better than old ones but for this application you really need a breakthru that, as I said, hasn't came in a century. Also, batteries degrade in performance over time, some degrade regardless if you use them or not.

[foojoku]

You don't get it. One, as mbruck77 points out, the video doesn't mention neodymium. Second, the need for batteries has indeed been in place, but vehicles are the first instance where a combination of high power consumption and long term power delivery was a genuine application requirement. You actually admit your own counter argument: "for this application you really need a breakthru". The more enticing such a breakthrough becomes, the more financially viable it gets.

[mbruck77]

When they talk about the motor selection they mention specifically that they avoided versions that require 'rare earth metals'. To an neodymium expert like Lenny the reference would have been obvious. That is why I asked if he actually saw the video.

[mbruck77]

Neodymium ? Have you actually watched the video before commenting ?

[lennyhome]

Yes, they say they want to use an induction motor. But it's you that don't get it. Vehicles aren't the first instance where a combination of high power consumption and long term power delivery is a requirement. Satellites, remote radio stations, you name it, there are a lot. Still, the history of a century proves that batteries, and therefore electric vehicles, aren't technologically viable.

[mbruck77]

Where did I say something about batteries?

Your "history of a century" argument is absurd. When penicillin was discovered, people had tried to fight infections for literally hundreds of centuries and failed. Should they have concluded that no solution would ever be found?

[lennyhome]

I don't see the logical connection between penicillin and batteries but whatever. The core of my argument is: people should be granted money to research something substantially better than current batteries, not to develop products based on them because current battery's technology is, in my opinion and given their history, unlikely to get substantially better.

[mbruck77]

I did not suggest a logical connection between batteries and penicillin. I recommend you re-read my comment. Especially the "Your 'history of a century' argument is absurd" part that explains what the analogy refers to.

Do you have any evidence to support your implied assertion that research of 'something substantially better than current batteries' is currently denied funding?

[lennyhome]

You're putting stuff into my mouth.

[foojoku]

Compare the dumbfoundlingly large number of cars and other vehicles with the niche applications you mention, spot why it differs.

[lennyhome]

I don't know. Why it differs?