Category Archives: Electric & Hydrogen trucks impossible

Since oil, coal, and natural gas are finite trucks need to run on something else. Hydrogen is an energy sink, not an energy source, and biomass doesn’t scale up. That leaves electricity, but battery or catenary trucks don’t look possible

What would happen if trucks stopped running?

Posted on October 1, 2017 by

Preface. In “Why You Should Love Trucks” I showed that essential supply chains depend on trucks nearly completely.  Because of little inventory and dependence on just-in-time deliveries, our civilization would almost immediately feel the repercussions of trucks stopping. In fact, … Continue reading →

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Hybrid electric trucks are very different from HEV cars

Posted on June 7, 2016 by

Preface. The National Research Council paper I review in this post explains why it is hard to transfer auto hybrid technology to trucks.  They are entirely different animals — medium-duty trucks weigh up to 10 times more, have up to … Continue reading →

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Electric truck & car range less in cold weather

Posted on June 4, 2016 by

Preface. What follows are two articles. The first has excerpts from Calstart’s study of the effects cold weather had on lithium and Sodium Nickel Chloride e-truck batteries. The second article is from Consumer Reports, which says that half of driving … Continue reading →

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When Trucks Stop Running, So Does Civilization. Energy and the Future of Transportation.

Posted on January 16, 2016 by

When Trucks Stop Running. Energy and the Future of Transportation. Available at Springer, Amazon, Google Play, Barnes & Noble, Alibris When Trucks Stop Running: Table of Contents, Preface, References Book review: “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of … Continue reading →

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The periodic table limits battery development

Posted on December 15, 2015 by

Preface. My book, When Trucks Stop Running, makes the case that civilization ends when trucks stop running.  The replacement for diesel fuel that everyone expects, especially because Elon Musk has told them it’s on the way, are battery electric trucks. … Continue reading →

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Just 16,000 catenary trucks (out of 5.6 million) would use 1% of California’s electricity generation

Posted on August 22, 2015 by

Preface. We must electrify trucks since fuel from oil, coal, and natural gas is finite, and biomass doesn’t scale up.  Without transportation, electricity contraptions like wind turbines, solar facilities, and nuclear power plants can’t be built. A wind turbine, for … Continue reading →

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