Comment on Japan automakers play catch-up in EV race

• Hypx@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  It's fuel made using electricity as the energy source.

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  • You999@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The problem with fuels made from electricity is that pesky thing called thermodynamics. If an efuel was developed that was more efficient than electricity then we’d be able to use it to produce more electricity than we put in.

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    • Hypx@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You avoid the giant, expensive battery though. People are obsessed with efficiency in a self-defeating way.

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      • You999@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        People are obsessed with efficiency because it’s the only metric that matters. We have a finite amount of resources on this planet and efficiency is the only way we can make it last. If you aren’t a ‘save the planet’ type of person then efficiency still matters because it’s directly correlated with cost.

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    • Nighed@sffa.community ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Lots of fuels (like petrol) are a lot more energy dense than out best batteries. If we can synthesize fuels like that just using electricity as an energy source (that can be generated from renewables) then you have a carbon free dense store of energy that can be used to power a vehicle for a long distance without refueling.

      The problem with these (fuel cells etc) is that the conversation rate is inefficient, wasting a lot of energy. As we are not using 100% renewable energy this means carbon is being released still.

      If we had an entirely renewable energy grid (with oversupply when sunny/windy etc) then those energy losses would not matter.

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