We’ve gone full circle

  • xkforce@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The electric car predates cars powered by internal combustion engines. Before coal and oil took over, society was more or less powered with biofuels like wood and alternative energy sources like water wheels and windmills.

  • photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    Imagine if development of these electric vehicles continued back then - the internal combustion engine would’ve been rendered all but obsolete.

    • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Doubtful. Internal Combustion engines took off well before the petroleum industry was obscenely wealthy. Coal/Railroad had a vested interest in keeping cars as a rich person toy rather then as something to build a society around. ICE powered by Oil/Kerosene was and IS much more energy dense then batteries were then, and are today. You have more energy per unit volume in a gallon of gas then even the most exotic batteries. That directly translates to more power, more distance, and more opportunity for miniaturization.

      • Admetus@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        I reckon primarily the energy density and the convenience of merely filling up. Electric cars would not have had the raw power and ease of combustion engines. At least battery tech has now caught up.

  • Reality Suit@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    We’ve had many technologies that would drastically help humanity, but capitalistic assholes have to constantly fuck it all up. Money is not the problem, but the greed for more will kill us all.

        • bob_wiley@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Musk didn’t invent the electric car, but he did make it cool, which was ultimately what was required to get it into mainstream adoption.

          Electric cars and hybrids were always weird looking and slow, which gave them a stigma that most people didn’t like.

          Elon shows up with an electric car made from a Lotus, then makes a family sedan that looks pretty normal and puts up super car numbers. That makes the electric go from a hippie option to tech that enables a better, faster, more fun cars for everyone. The whole fuel saving thing is just a bonus.

          A person doesn’t have to be the original inventor of all the underlying tech. Sometimes all it takes is packaging things in the right way for people to start caring about it. This is what Steve Jobs was good at too.