Is it possible for Electric Cars to become the standard?

kernals12

Banned
What about the stirling engine? There were many experiments with stirling powered automobiles. NASA did a lot of work in the 1980s and produced several prototypes
 

Driftless

Donor
Inspired by this post, I did a post in the ASB section where someone from 2030 time travels to 1908 and gives Henry Ford the instructions on how to make lithium air batteries. The electric transportation revolution IOTL will have very disruptive impacts (cities will be quieter and have super clean air, we'll need fewer mechanics, we won't need gas stations etc.) but if it had happened in the early 20th century, it would've just been seen as a continuation of the electrification revolution that was hitting everything else.

Rural electrification sooner? In some areas old school tin-vaned windmills could be used as a supplement.
 
Rural electrification sooner? In some areas old school tin-vaned windmills could be used as a supplement.

Those were 32 volt, and 20 amps
WCFamous650%20watt.jpg

$69.99 F.O.B, tower and accessories extra

Most were used for running small appliances.
Smaller 12V ones were used for batter recharging and running radios. $15
 
Despite my focus back into the Great war I do not see much chance for electric until maybe the 1960s if we saw an earlier environmental movement and oil price rise. Then I could see electric "reinvented" for urban delivery vehicles and use of electric trolley buses versus diesel. Even so I see this as a more European and Japanese niche than USA outside the obvious NYC. But that might give us a few decades jump into the later R&D to accelerate better batteries, charging and management, then we might see more widespread use by delivery such as Postal Service, local operators like tradesmen, utilities, and then taxicabs? Later we start to get consumer electric cars in the 1980s really competitive by the 1990s versus waiting to today?

As to steam, I know it is not directly comparable, but the water heater industry seems to mass produce a low pressure boiler rather cheaply, would that not argue for mass production being simpler than assumed compared to locomotive or power generation? The tankless water heater industry shows us how compact one might make the boiler. Again, might this be better in delivery vehicles before cars?
 

SsgtC

Banned
later R&D to accelerate better batteries, charging and management, then we might see more widespread use by delivery such as Postal Service, local operators like tradesmen, utilities, and then taxicabs? Later we start to get consumer electric cars in the 1980s really competitive by the 1990s versus waiting to today?
I doubt it will work well for taxis, they get used too much over the course of a day to make it practical (too many miles, too long to recharge). But I really like the idea of a better EV for various delivery services and the Post Office that will return to a central terminal every night to be recharged. That proposal could work really well. And, in turn, it would lead to better personal EVs. Especially for people in major cities, where the charging infastructure is already present, it just needs to be expanded.

As to steam, I know it is not directly comparable, but the water heater industry seems to mass produce a low pressure boiler rather cheaply, would that not argue for mass production being simpler than assumed compared to locomotive or power generation? The tankless water heater industry shows us how compact one might make the boiler. Again, might this be better in delivery vehicles before cars?
With steam, it's a matter of efficiency. Low pressure steam won't be very efficient to use for motive power. You're also comparing a stationary boiler to one that is expected to move and deal with constant vibrations, shocks, impacts, etc. As for tankless heaters, it's literally copper pipping over an open flame. And it never gets heated above the boiling point, so pretty useless in a steam powered vehicle.

To me, the biggest issue to overcome, other than cost and manufacturing, is that an ICE is inherently safer than live steam. Check out what happens to a locomotive when it suffers a crown sheet failure. That's a risk for a steam powered car as well. Obviously not quite as bad as say a Super Power 4-8-4 blowing, but bad enough.
 
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As to steam, I know it is not directly comparable, but the water heater industry seems to mass produce a low pressure boiler rather cheaply, would that not argue for mass production being simpler than assumed compared to locomotive or power generation? The tankless water heater industry shows us how compact one might make the boiler. Again, might this be better in delivery vehicles before cars?

There's a world of difference between a commercial heating boiler at 15psig and a Stanley boiler running at 600psig
 
To me, the biggest issue to overcome, other than cost and manufacturing, is that an ICE is inherently safer than live steam. Check out what happens to a locomotive when it suffers a crown sheet failure. That's a risk for a steam powered car as well. Obviously not quite as bad as say a Super Power 4-8-4 blowing, but bad enough.

Firetube boilers are bombs waiting to go off.
Flash tube boilers have such small amounts of steam in the system, a breach won't be like a few sticks of dynamite going off.
That said, there's no record of any Stanley tube boiler blowing.
 

SsgtC

Banned
Firetube boilers are bombs waiting to go off.
Flash tube boilers have such small amounts of steam in the system, a breach won't be like a few sticks of dynamite going off.
That said, there's no record of any Stanley water tube boiler blowing.
I did not know that the Stanley's used a flash tube. I honestly thought they were fire tube
 
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