[UnknownJinX]

I'ma just gonna quote myself from another thread:

Originally Posted by UnknownJinX

If you want to discuss EVs...

It's very hard to say, since batteries aren't going to realistically get any significant improvements. I personally think BEVs, (P)HEVs and ICEVs will live alongside each other for a good while. Maybe ICEVs will be phased out, but (P)HEVs, no.

The trouble with batteries is that it is not just hitting some technical bottlenecks(better, cheaper materials, etc.), it's starting to hit physical(breaks the laws of physics) bottlenecks.

Lithium batteries are as troublesome as they are when they fail. Basically when EVs catch fire, the current solution is to... Just wait it out. Now imagine bigger and more frequent fires with the higher energy density batteries. Just safety alone makes such a battery impractical since it is closer to a grenade than it is to a battery. One of the reasons why solid state batteries are eternally "five years away" is because the problem with stability, not to mention cost and other such things. Now Toyota is saying that they are going to make solid state batteries happen in their production cars, but if solid state batteries are happening in a practical form, I would expect a much bigger buzz from the tech world. I will believe it when I see it.

(Just in case someone asks, hydrocarbon fuels have high energy density, yes, but they require oxygen to really be able to do any damage. This makes them a lot more manageable than batteries where all you need to start a fire with is a short.)

FCEV is another idea but that has its own share of technical challenges, and since most hydrogen in the world is made from steam reformation of natural gas, the emission problems are still present, let alone the transportations and storage emissions.

I used to dump on fuel cells a lot but after knowing that batteries probably won't get any better? It's not that bad of an idea.

And I think we are probably beginning to hit the plateau for battery prices. Some of that already comes from unethical slave labours so not sure how much lower can the cost go. At some point, you gotta pay for the labour and such properly.

Of course EV has some uses but jumping straight into it is not gonna happen. Again, why (P)HEV is just being glossed over is beyond me.