Posted on 01/28/2016 8:53:32 AM PST by BenLurkin
Nye recently penned an op-ed for digital culture magazine Aeon, in which he argues that NASCAR should make the switch to electric-powered vehicles. In his mind, NASCAR is a celebration of "old tech," one that reinforces the automotive status quo and hinders progress from a social standpoint. And while the environmental benefits of an industry-wide change are obvious, the former mechanical engineer sees another benefit of the EV switch.
"Just think what an electric race would be like," Nye wrote. "It would be faster, and quiet. You could talk to the person next to you. The drivers could probably hear the roar of the crowd rather than having to imagine it as they do now. And most significant from my point of view, everyone in the crowd, every race fan, would want an electric car! The market for electric cars would go crazy."
"I wish NASCAR were more like NASA"†he continued. "I wish NASCAR were more about the future instead of the past. I am trying to envision the smart, efficient transportation technology of tomorrow, and there is NASCAR doing the opposite – celebrating a very old transportation technology of yesterday."
(Excerpt) Read more at digitaltrends.com ...
Boy... I want to see Joey Logano drive a golf cart around Daytona for 250 laps... It should be sponsored by NoDoze since it will put people to sleep...
Bill Nye is a quintessential propagandist.
What if the used Nikoli Tesla atmospheric charge tech to keep the cars running?
Nascar would just change the rules everytime a team got an advantage to keep “parity” and more fans watching.
Sorry to learn of your loss. Thank you for your son’s service and sacrifice. God bless the Marines!
Meanwhile I see seven individuals in need of serious denerdification. Noticed the California tag, too.
Boy... I want to see Joey Logano drive a golf cart around Daytona for 250 laps... It should be sponsored by NoDoze since it will put people to sleep...
Yup. People would be dying in these contraptions when caught in blizzards on the road.
That’s the headline of headlines, hahahaha!
If NASCAR embraced nitromethane it would change the world too. NOT.
To be fair I would think that they would invent replaceable batteries...have some spare batteries on hand and swap them out like tires. Still a dumb idea though.
Yeah. Bill Nye, the liberal Obama ball-washing moonbat who couldn’t even figure out how to correctly apply the Ideal Gas Law before he shot off his mouth about football pressures is someone NASCAR should be listening to.
That’s why refill was in quotes. It’s not necessarily a dumb idea, it’s just 2 or 3 technological leaps premature. Nye isn’t realizing that the reason the electric car isn’t taking off in public is the same reason NASCAR won’t touch it, it’s just not ready for prime time. Guarantee when electric cars are ready some level of NASCAR will be racing them, and eventually they might even take over the big league. Heavy on the “eventually” though, it’s a move that’s decades out.
Electric automobiles have all suffered from the same limitation since the beginning - the vehicles rely entirely on however good the battery pack is, and have no on-board means to generate the electricity needed in the amount needed unless they go to an auxiliary power train that relies on some form of an internal-combustion engine and on-board generation system.
Battery technology is woefully far lagging even after a couple hundred years since the first galvanic cells were demonstrated by developing a voltage potential between unlike metals and a salt bridge. The chemistry has grown much more sophisticated, but the energy density per pound of voltaic cells or batteries is still actually pretty low.
Now, electricity is still highly efficient as a means of transmitting power, and is a matter of keeping resistance within the circuit low enough for nearly 100% transmission of the voltage made available. Electricity moves with almost instantaneous response time, getting to full potential in such a short time as to be negligible. Merely mechanical systems of power transmission are relatively slow, subject to many power-robbing points of degeneration into heat energy, through friction or actual but minor damage being done to the mechanical components themselves as they engage. Gears need lubrication, otherwise they grind themselves down to razor edges. Even fluid transmission systems are subject to a choke-off of power due to constriction of the supply lines from the drive motor to the slave unit, and resulting heat generation.
Conversion of gaseous elemental hydrogen into water vapor in the presence of oxygen probably has very good energy efficiency, except that elemental hydrogen exists only under very special circumstances, as part of syngas, or as a result of electrolysis of water, both of which require a great deal of external energy to force the reaction to create elemental hydrogen, more than what is recovered by recombination of hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell.
Besides which, hydrogen is a real b!+<# kitty to work with, as it is extremely explosive in confined spaces, it leaks out of just about every threaded seam ever devised, it forms compounds with metallic elements that have little ductile strength and are subject to fracture, and it requires a large volume to provide adequate storage even under extreme pressure, as it does not liquify until a very low temperature is attained, -423 degrees F (-253 gradients C)
But man, does it ever have great potential for providing on-board power generation using fuel cells.
I can feel the palpable current of thrill on hearing the director say “gentlemen, start your engines,” followed by... a barely audible hum and a total lack of vibrations in the stands. Oh, yeah, soundless NASCAR races are definitely the future. The fans in the stands can catch up on their sleep, which, of course, has always been the goal of those attending NASCAR events.
Typical of a liberal to want to hijack someone else’s money to implement their brilliant idea instead of putting their own money where their mouth is.
Nascar: Just hear the silence of the engines as the cars go round and round.
If bill nye, the anti-science guy, took a leap of a tall building, who would care?
I think it would be an excellent idea to start a Nascar electric racing circuit......
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.