Matrix 4 confirmed with both Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss. While I'm interested by extra content of this universe... aren't they both supposed to be dead in the last movie?
IIRC, we don't know for sure for Neo; but Trinity is definitely dead. I need to rewatch those 3 movies now...
Same WTF kind as the previous eco-sailboat but in a different way: car manufacturers are promoting "eco-friendly SUV" I have to admit that putting together such contradictory words is pretty bold.
One of the most echo friendly cars ever made is an old Jeep Wrangler. Sure, the emissions are shit, but their long life, simple construction, and lack of plastics means the majority of the car can be recycled and has very little impact once it's gone, as opposed to a hybrid or electric car that leaves behind a bunch of incredibly toxic batteries. This is sometimes known as "dust to dust" environmental impact. Now, I doubt this is what was meant, more likely "our new SUV is a little more fuel efficient than the old one".
Rivian is currently trying to break into the market with electric SUVs and trucks They actually look pretty awesome too
That's like saying that "guns are so safe, apart from that bullet business". There's a truckload of problems with electrics, because of the batteries and the power generation, no one is denying that, but emissions matter a lot. That Jeep could easily last decades, all that time spewing stuff. During the same time, assuming the electric cars last, it won't have released even a fraction of pollutants. Electric cars are a net positive for the environment. Here's a blog post on the topic.
I wasn't intending to imply electric cars aren't efficient, just that the old Wrangler is surprisingly efficient over the whole lifetime. Electric cars are a net win, but they do bring challenges, especially what to do with all the batteries once we start seeing significant numbers getting to their end of life. Currently only about 10% of lithium batteries are recycled and we've not yet hit end of life cycle for the first batches of Teslas batteries. Then there's the heavy use of plastics but that's an issue with all modem cards. I know Tesla have started their own recycling facility, and the US gov is encouraging more lithium battery recycling, hopefully we get to the same recycling levels as existing lead acid (~90%).
To be fair there's definitely a market for more economical SUVs. We inherited my Mother In Law's Toyota Land Battleship when we moved and I really appreciate the ride height, especially when the roads are flooded after heavy rain (which happens a LOT), ability to seat 7, and added cargo space in the back, we've been able to do a lot of stuff that wouldn't have been possible in a smaller car. But at the same time, it's old enough to go to college, I'd really appreciate it using less gas, and the 4WD is completely useless here. We did look a Toyota Rush that one of the dealerships was selling off cheap but it had leather seats which is an absolute no-go.
Love that great one sided blog post only concentrating on greenhouse gas emmisions. Not to mention between 6000 and 30000 litres drinking water for a 15 kg car battery (best guess for actuall mining technologies) for the Lithium which is mined in a dessert. Or cobalt mining in the DRC https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/cobalt-mining-human-rights But hey, its not at our front door, so keep your untainted green vision. But personly you can get SUV more eco friendly with modern hybrid motorization and a if you would build more efficent fuel motors until you come to point for realy eco friendly cars with wahtever motorisation is the best.
Dunno how well those would do here, a lot of people have SUVs to go out into the woods and wilds, far from any friendly charging station. Now, for heavy trucks, I have no clue why we aren't doing diesel-electric like in trains. All the torque in the planet to get a load moving, and your diesel usually gets to spin at it's 'best-economy' RPM.
There is an easy solution for that: Its pretty simple. Its an unwanted option by the management in the car industrie, cause noone wants to combine a diesel engine of the devil in a hybrid car. First the fear is, it wouldnt make the money and the company would get a shitstorm for keeping the evil tech in their cars. There are like 4 or 5 cars in the hybrid section with a diesel engine and after the VW scam i doubt they will be kept when the manufactureres renew their model palette. To be honest, the actual diesel hybrids are on the expensive site too (BMW X5, Volvo V60, Mercedes E300)
I'm not talking passenger cars or even pickup trucks here, I'm talking Peterbuilt, Mack, Freightliner, Scania, and the other semis. The really big cargo haulers.
@Section9 The answer is pretty simple. Weight and cost. A battery with enough power to move a cargo hauler would go into tons of weight. Weight you lose in transport capacity. You may have an eco friendly cargo hauler but it will cost more with less cargo capacity. I doubt companies will buy such a semi voluntary. The other option would be reconciliation which would need smaller batteries but a complete new infrastructure. So yeah for paying more to the electricity companies and probably taxes to build it. Scania build to test trucks for that, They havent been cheap.
Umm... I'm not a technical person, so please explain it to me: why would a diesel-electric truck need those huge batteries? I mean... as far as I can think, it would need just a regular (if truck-scaled) car battery to start the diesel engine. Then, disesl engine runs the electric generator (as @Section9 mentioned, running at diesel's optimal rate) which in turn powers a very effective electric drive... Such things were intended to run heavy armored vehicles in late WW2 (just turned to be too complicated and too expensive for thed day back then)... we're now 75 years later and with more advanced engineering, aren't we?
