Tow Vehicles - Toyota Goes Turbo

I do think that nuclear energy has not been explored enough. All the early nuclear power plants were monstrous affairs that just made it even more unpalatable. I've see some new designs for smaller neighborhood-size micro-nukes that look like they could solve a lot of problems. The disposal issue is still there, but I think it is solvable as well.

People are nervous about nuclear power. Nuclear accidents such as Windscale (Great Britain), Three Mile Island (US), Chernobyl (USSR), and Fukushima Daichi (Japan) have made people leery of nuclear power. However, fusion is still a dream. We need energy and we need it to be clean, safe, and inexpensive. If we learn hte lessons of the past and design new nuclear power stations to be inherently safer and get over the fear, we can have nuclear power as a viable option. 

I used to oppose nuclear power for the same reasons raised here. But I changed my mind about 20 years ago. The problem with these discussions is that they are theoretical in nature, theres no sense of urgency.

It's not an either or thing anymore, it's all of the above. We are out of time. Any viable low or no carbon energy source needs to be deployed as soon as possible. All of them have downsides, but none of the downsides are as bad as flooded cities or whole states turning into cinders.

Storage is not a restriction on the deployment of renewables today. On a local scale in a few areas yes but nationally and globally not at all. Plenty of electricity markets with low renewable penetration that can handle much more. A kw of solar in say Appalachia reduces carbon emissions by about the same amount as a kw in northern California does.

The benefit of doing that is that it's very fast, cheap, and not subject to much in the way of NIMBY issues. Other low or no carbon options, especially nukes, take much longer. We should do them, but not wait for them. We should deploy grid storage too, and utilize vehicle to grid (V2G) technology with EVs for storage as well. Those should be deployed first in those markets that are already saturated with renewables, so that they can continue to add solar and wind.

I think a better term that white elephant would be niche vehicle. As the manufacturers transition to EV's which all the major ones except Toyota have stated they will do, those will become significantly cheaper than ICE vehicles, as predicted by Wright's law which has been a very good predictor of solar costs for about 40 years and EV battery cost for the 10 years or so they have been in the market.


EV/Battery learning curve

PV learning curve

Once they are cheaper then the range differential will disappear (there are already 500 Mike range EVs) and ICE tow vehicles will become a market niche.

We'll also get more efficient travel trailers with battery sleds.A large battery capacity in the trailer will enable an all electric camping experience as well as EV range extension.

Low drag trailers are achievable too, here is an interesting trailer that is available now, inspired by Tesla owners apparently, just too expensive for the average owner. No reason that shape can't be made available in a mainstream trailer design. I really like the internally mounted heat pump/ air conditioner. Now if they would just get rid of the crappy "flexible" PV modules and cut the price in half (another learning curve) I might get one..,


Alto A2124

How much does a "battery sled" weigh?  Seems to me, if the 1200 lb. Tesla battery is any indication, the battery weight may present some some design challenges.  That's not to say that the challenge cannot be overcome, but as always, what seems an obvious solution at first glance may more complicated than initially believed.  Once again, there is no such thing as a free lunch.