[ExI] gas prices

Sat Mar 19 03:27:48 UTC 2022

From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of Henry Rivera via extropy-chat
Sent: Friday, 18 March, 2022 7:46 PM
To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Cc: Henry Rivera <hrivera at alumni.virginia.edu>
Subject: Re: [ExI] gas prices

Hey everyone. Long time no-write. 

>…Not to hijack the thread, I wanted to briefly tell   Spike that I bought a Tesla this week! I recall him talking about Tesla’s in the past. I got a Model 3 Long Range Awd 2018. My high performance modified 2006 wrx sti blew the motor so I’m coming from a beast. The Tesla is not leaving me feeling deprived with 0-60 in 4 secs!! In silence except tire noise. It’s a full self-driving model. It will come pick me up when it’s parked so I don’t have to walk to it. I’ve never been more impressed with a vehicle or piece of technology. Last time I felt that way with the iPhone I think. The prospect of no more gas and oil changes is great! Gas prices are so sensitive it seems. I feel blessed. It’s loads of fun. Elon Musk has a great thing going here. -Henry 

Cool Henry!  

I am a huge fan of Elon Musk.  I would urge him to run for POTUS were he eligible, or Peter Thiel, who is likewise ineligible.

Regarding Tesla: there are jillions of them whirring around here, and plenty of Tesla buyers are Tesla stock buyers, which is why we are seeing such marvelous prosperity around here.  A lot of the locals work at the Tesla factory, and I am cheering them in every way short of a poodle skirt and pom poms.  The fleet has really benefitted us here: our power prices have come down as we have found more efficient ways to utilize all that local wind power on Altamont Pass.

Reasoning: if you have flown across the USA, you have seen enormous wind farms where nearly all of the turbines are idle.  A few are spinning like crazy, but most are stopped, so you know there is wind.  There is just no demand.  It is better to either run those things at high speed or stop them.  So… wind farms, huge capital sitting there idle most of the time.  The big cost is not in generating the power, but in storing it.

But… if a lotta proles buy Teslas, then there is a good solid base load, which reduces the cost for everyone.  And furthermore… this is exactly the way I like to see development: paid for voluntarily by true believers.  My neighbor owns two high-end Teslas plus solar panels and a power wall, the latter being extremely cool: we all benefit from energy storage capacity, and even better if the proles pay for it themselves voluntarily rather than using tax dollars.  I am all for it.

Since you got me started on this subject, I thought I would share a fun little mechanical design project I have been working on: an internal combustion trailer to tow behind your Tesla if you want to do a cross country trip.

Before you laugh that off… think about it until you realize it makes perfect sense.  Charging stations are being built, but… electric cars take between 6 and 15 hours to charge, whereas dino-burners can be fueled in three minutes.  In the current situation, cross country trips in a Tesla just isn’t practical, however… if you do that a lot with your car, you could hitch up a gasoline (or possibly Diesel) generator, doesn’t need to be a big one, and charge as you go.

I did some calculations.  It is a mistake to look up the power use of a Tesla at freeway speeds (about 25-30 kw) then look for a generator to get that capacity, for the stationary generator has two capabilities you don’t need: it doesn’t need its own battery for starting and it doesn’t need to be able to generate power sitting still.  Any time this generator would run, it would have an air flow across it, so… that enable air cooling, which is simple, cheap and light.  It can even be optimized dimensionally, because it operates at a constant load and speed.  So… air cooling is not a big penalty, but it is a big cost and weight benefit.  

Bottom line: the trailer needed is low cost, and the entire rig is light weight enough one would never even know it was back there.

Elon of course will not even entertain the notion, as he hates internal combustion.  But I don’t.  I see it as a great complement to electric cars.  Most of the time you whir around in town, but occasionally you might want to do a cross country trip.  Hitch up your generator and go.

Henry don’t worry about hijacking threads.  Others can continue the discussion under the original subject line or refine and rename it if they wish.  Ideas are our friends.  Good ideas are our good friends.

Teslas are cool.  Buy em!

spike

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