Starting another book Simon Winchester’s Perfectionists, on the history of precision. I think recommended it to me.
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About 50% done. Finished chapter on Rolls Royce vs Ford and into chapter on jet engines. The book itself is a bit too pop-tech style for me (I prefer less style, richer detail/insight, this is all “on a sunny day in March, a gangly man shuffled…”). Still, thought provoking.
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General theme that occurs to me is that hardware progresses when you can make things mechanically/geometrically simpler and accommodate more extreme physics through increased precision.
Eg: jet engines are simpler than reciprocating, but work at far higher temps/pressures.
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Though the big reason for EVs is emissions, the transformative impact is coming from the vast simplification. 1 complex engine+transmission is replaced with 4 simpler motors, intelligence moves into electronics and software, physics gets more extreme (lithium battery charging).
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Unfortunately it means that the physical limits of batteries are much more cruel than that of fuel systems. Battery density will likely never be better than 1 kWh/Liter, only more efficient engines and frames will produce the scaling of efficiency we need to continue improvement.
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Much like nuclear power, fossil fuel engines began with horrible inefficiencies that were gradually eliminated. You might say we needed the fossil age in order to make engines efficient enough to be powered by electricity.
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In what sense? The working principles are unrelated and motors and batteries have been on an independent evolutionary track over the same period….?
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In the sense that gasoline contains about 13 kWh per liter. Chemical engines start at an enormous power advantage. The raw physics sets the ceiling for each technology.
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