Interesting Articles Relating to EVs

Gr8ful said:

Depleted Uranium Battery

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Link?

depleted uranium is ... depleted, an isotope not useful for nuclear reaction. That's why it is so cheap - it is leftover from processing (finding useful isotopes).
Many links about radioactivity-powered batteries are talking about "diamond battery" using radioactive isotopes. Technology which still powers Voyagers, launched in 1977 as mature enough technology, so no breakthrough.
The only link specific to uranium was this which says about using depleted uranium as kathode material

I'd like to see the time when engineers like Bartholomew make a break thru with a paving material that would in itself be conductive. No need to embed and pave over a conducting grid work.
Thus if the paving material had to be torn up for some reason, it could be recycled and put in use again. Opposed to being disposed of in land fills.

A close friend of mine worked in Tennessee where they made .30 and .50 caliber shells.

wanderlust said:

Link?

depleted uranium is ... depleted, an isotope not useful for nuclear reaction. That's why it is so cheap - it is leftover from processing (finding useful isotopes).
Many links about radioactivity-powered batteries are talking about "diamond battery" using radioactive isotopes. Technology which still powers Voyagers, launched in 1977 as mature enough technology, so no breakthrough.
The only link specific to uranium was this which says about using depleted uranium as kathode material

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2 links
https://www.energylivenews.com/2020...lear-waste-that-could-last-up-to-28000-years/

Gr8ful said:

2 links
https://www.energylivenews.com/2020...lear-waste-that-could-last-up-to-28000-years/

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Nuclear in homes? What could possibly go wrong?

Reminds me of an Austin Powers movie and Musk is Dr. Evil

Nuclear diamond battery - funny when I google for it, between top suggested searches is "Nuclear diamond battery hoax"

Do you know snopes.com? A website to bust hoaxes by fact checking?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/radioactive-diamond-batteries-real-thing/

Physics: it is possible, but what energy density it will allow? And on what caost?
"one battery, containing 1g of carbon-14, would deliver 15 Joules per day. This is less than an AA battery."
Yes, it will have half-life of 5000+ years. I understand that AA battery which can last 5000+ years has applications, but is it to power van? And would you want to live in such radioactive van?

For years I've known of Nuclear Batteries for Heart Pacemakers.

Generally these are used in younger patients who would have a longer life expectancy.

Nuclear Pacemaker Reuters com

Gr8ful said:

I guess you're going to deny they're using depleted uranium in tank & gatling gun ammo also.

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Why I would deny it? Depleted uranium is EXCELLENT material for ammo, ESPECIALLY for subcaliber armor piercing ammo. Not for the batteries, tho

wanderlust said:

Why I would deny it? Depleted uranium is EXCELLENT material for ammo, ESPECIALLY for subcaliber armor piercing ammo. Not for the batteries, tho

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Maybe not yet but it may be soon even if it's just cell phones, etc. Musk thinks it will power EVs. we'll see.

Musk thinks a lot of things. Some is correct, and some isn't. Just saying.

Gr8ful said:

I guess you're going to deny they're using depleted uranium in tank & gatling gun ammo also. Ron what your story have to do with anything or was it just another senior moment? You could be president

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What made me think of it was the "one battery, containing 1g of carbon-14, would deliver 15 Joules per day. This is less than an AA battery."
Yes, it will have half-life of 5000+ years."

That is a matter of understanding math and actual impact. In this case, it's understanding the referenced nuclear diamond (depleted uranium) battery is equivalent to a AA battery with a very long life. The words might be scary (like 1,700 milligrams of cocaine) but once we unpack the actual hazard - maybe not so much.

Gr8ful said:

You do know they are using depleted uranium to make bullets & lifetime batteries. Musk is working on making EV batteries with it. Google Depleted Uranium Battery

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Those nuclear batteries use radioactive isotopes, which are a waste product of nuclear power - but they are not depleted uranium. The new "nuclear batteries" encase those isotopes in artificial diamond or manmade ceramics to make them "safe"(ish). They are actually just heat batteries with a radioactive heat source.

Depleted uranium is the by-product of enriching uranium for nuclear power (or weapons). Depleted uranium is mostly the left-over non-radioactive isotopes that can't be used for fission. It is much heavier than lead, so useful as projectile mass in things like artillery shells - it can not be used for "nuclear batteries".

I think there is a valid connection to EVs. Allowing new technology and its development to be regulated by a government that can be bought by corporations may speed up the process but at what cost? Why do we allow that to happen. Is it really necessary or is it just another example of the bad effects of having really smart rich corporations taking advantage of really poor uninformed poorly educated people as well as unions and our government failing to regulate corporations. It also highlights the importance of a good working unbiased free press. Nuclear energy could be the solution to our energy needs as well as saving the environment allowing human society to advance. Apparently in our present world we are still killing each other off for money and power instead of even attempting to advance our society. There are lots of obstacles that need to be overcome in this country as well as the world before regulation and controlled development of technology can advance society. It maybe technology will advance and take over human society as some have predicted if we don’t start to deal with our human problems using technology sensibly and safely. We had nuclear weapons with few safeguards many years ago and still have them. You would think we would have figured out that something was wrong by now since our government didn’t develop nuclear power and use it to prevent the oil and coal companies from polluting our world along with other less polluting energy sources. In my opinion we will be dealing with a nuclear problem to either to produce electricity or to eliminate each other eventually if we don’t unite to control and use our government to control corporations money and power. I’ll get off the soapbox now! Lol!!! Sorry for the long post. Carry on. I’m taking my grown grandkids to visit my old nuclear missile silo this weekend.

I went back through this thread and I see no mention the work being done by those college folks in The Netherlands, Eindhoven University I think, which has already produced solar vehicles that are street legal on European roads. They made an SUV sized vehicle and drove it 1000 km through Morroco with no need of special roads of charging stations. Then they produced a full-sized RV and drove it from Amsterdam to Malaga, Spain, again, without replacing the roadways or needing the use a charging station.

Does anyone know more about this program? What are the practical downsides that are not being spoken about?

Google "Stella Terra", "Stella Vita", or "Solar Team Eindhoven"

Walt said:

I went back through this thread and I see no mention the work being done by those college folks in The Netherlands, Eindhoven University I think, which has already produced solar vehicles that are street legal on European roads. They made an SUV sized vehicle and drove it 1000 km through Morroco with no need of special roads of charging stations. Then they produced a full-sized RV and drove it from Amsterdam to Malaga, Spain, again, without replacing the roadways or needing the use a charging station.

Does anyone know more about this program? What are the practical downsides that are not being spoken about?

Google "Stella Terra", "Stella Vita", or "Solar Team Eindhoven"

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I liked this vehicle and would buy one if it was available and in my price range. But after watching more than half the video and doing several searches I could still not find a price. That's one of the things I hate about watching videos. Their objective is more about keeping us watching the video than actually providing information. GRRRR...

However, it does show people are trying to make this possible. That's a good thing. - IMHO.

wanderlust said:

Sorry for getting even more off-topic, but this is literally life or death (of western civilization) problem

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No, it is not. But climate change is .

Carla618 said:

Because we are killing thousands in countries where we do not belong . Obama was bombing seven countries at once. Two million killed if you count our attack on Iraq.

And people here don't want to know about it. They accept what the gov and MSM tell them without ever asking questions . And then bro brothers discussing weapons like war is just another football game. Our team v. theirs .

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You are correct that our country has done "bad things." But under both parties and multiple Presidents. My own experience during the Vietnam War proved that much to me. So, while you have made some good points, I think they would be better made without casting them as specific to one President or political party.

I think this might be of interest to some.
My Insane 100% Solar Camper.

Carla618 said:

No, [the war is literally life or death (of western civilization) problem] is not. But climate change is .

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I agree with you that climate change is HUGE problem.
It would be less a problem (in the USA) if the Green party in the USA did not voted the way they did in 2000 and 2016, in both cases the less green candidate winning, because the losing candidate was not green enough for them. Or if the Green Party in Germany did not insisted on turning off their nuclear reactors. Then Germans had two options: power from lignite, which is "young coal" containing 20-30% of water and extremely polluting, or switch to Russian gas, what they did as "cleaner" variant.

Again, I am all for solving global warming, decrease greenhouse gas etc. Problem is, how to do it at the scale necessary.

You might be interested to know that Green Parties in several countries (including USA) receive financial contribution from pro-russian interests (and useful idiots). Did you know that Jill Stein was sitting with Putin in 2017 together with Flynn? Russia's politics works hard to increase any disagreements, sharpen the differences in open societies. For decades.

And yes, I want to solve climate change, I posted about the technologies to do that. Climate change is challenge of the century. War is challenge of THIS DECADE. And we can do both.

I deleted a series of off-topic posts. Some posts may have been caught up in that series and deleted because they no longer made sense without the context. Please try to stay on topic. Thanks!

RonDean said:

I liked this vehicle and would buy one if it was available and in my price range. But after watching more than half the video and doing several searches I could still not find a price. That's one of the things I hate about watching videos. Their objective is more about keeping us watching the video than actually providing information. GRRRR...

However, it does show people are trying to make this possible. That's a good thing. - IMHO.

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That is really their point. This is a group of college kids, not a company. They hope to inspire companies and others to start making real solar vehicles. Rather than stop to try convincing each skeptic, they put together at least 2 vehicles, fully licensed and roadworthy and drove them on public roads for long trips.

It's not about selling them, that's an American thing, throwing money at things has been our contribution to civilization. These are college kids hoping to inspire others to what is clearly possible. There's a lot of FUD and this is the clearest way I can think of to try to cut through it all.

At least they aren't stuck on a tangent arguing while spinning down the drain.