Infiniti switching to electric and hybrid by 2021

2011 Nismo#91

Electrics and hybrid cars have many issues with them including what you mentioned.

First almost all hybrids fundamentally work wrong. They use a gasoline engine to charge the battery and a complex gear box to deliver power. The correct way is to have a diesel charge the battery and the electric motor drive the car. It weights a bit more but you have a more efficient more reliable and more powerful car. The reason why it's not done is diesel in the US has an image problem of being dirty less fueling ability.

The other fundamental problem of all electric cars is that batteries are horrible. Lithium batteries are better but still are not great for hi demand needs and have fire risks unlike other batteries. The fire issue can be reduced enough to make them as safe as a tank of gas but it's an issue the won't completely go away and as you add more batteries for more power the larger the concern is. Next batteries suck at charging you cannot charge them remotely close to the rate you can fill your tank and there is nothing coming in the future to fix that. Next their life span, yes I see sales saying they last 10 years only losing 20%~ of their initial capacity. But that comes with the caveat of never rapid charging, never quickly discharging, never getting too hot, and never getting too cold. Finally they can't work for millions of people in urban areas, and/or people who need to drive more in one day then a single charge can provide, and the massive infrastructure change needed to get everyone else on board.

So what to do? Can't keep fossil fuel cars for ever. So there are 2 ways both need massive infrastructure change but don't make everyday cars worse in any way. Fuel cell cars, yes they have fire issues but so do gasoline tanks and lithium power packs. Production of hydrocarbon fuels through nuclear power and carbon capture. I don't see any other option that doesn't make cars worse then they are currently.

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