The Transportation Revolution

[TBoneTX 44,672]

(I almost didn't read this.)  This piece contains some eye-opening revelations about the future of transportation.  Comments?

Quote

The Transportation Revolution

by Edward Ring - July 4, 2021

 

[...] As with water and energy, the conventional wisdom that governs current planning is exactly the opposite of what is coming.  The conventional wisdom is that abundance—in this case in the form of inexpensive, uncongested transportation options—is impossible.  But, as with water and energy, this is false.  The primary reason this is false is that new technologies make the common road the future of transportation, not the past, and because there are leapfrog technologies that will render most forms of passenger rail obsolete within a few decades, while also taking additional pressure off of roads.  [...]

 

Continues here:   https://amgreatness.com/2021/07/04/the-transportation-revolution/  

 

[Crtcl Rice Theory 2,432]

15 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

(I almost didn't read this.)  This piece contains some eye-opening revelations about the future of transportation.  Comments?

Several tantalizing bits in here, of note.

1. The author totally neglected to cover hydrogen and fuel cells as a rapidly developing set of technologies that could give you electric power with clean generated liquid fuel. Hydrogen also has the opportunity to displace natural gas while utilizing the NG infrastructure. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it was a lynchpin of GW's energy vision before 9/11 punched us in the face and set us on a disastrous Mideast military for oil venture.

 

This would also deal with the "sun not always shining, wind not always blowing" issues as the surplus energy can be used to synthesize hydrogen.

 

Green hydrogen is not here yet, but we are not decades away. 

 

2. It is encouraging to see conservative voices take on the environment, carbon footprints, congestion and the need for government investment while leveraging and encouraging private enterprise innovations. Don't forget most of these core technologies come out of our government funded university research system which allows the Elon musks of the world to build into new applications. The article clearly calls for more investment in smart roads which means fuel,/road tax or Federal investment. 

 

3. Missing in the discussion is the geo- political advantage we will gain by weaning us off of oil, but that is an entirely different problem that gets solved with NT.

 

4. I really think if we simply returned to calling CO2 emissions air pollution, we would get the public marching I the right direction.

 

5. EVs kick-blnk in so many areas, we just need to see the Vette , 911 and Mustangs get mind share with the public. The f150 due next year is a watershed product, but the one I "need" is 85 k do there is a way to go on the price/value offering.

 

 

[TBoneTX 44,672]

Excellent points.  It's unknown whether the author faced word-count limits that precluded discussing the extra areas that you raise.

 

I gained a lot from the article and from your response to it.