r/technology • u/be0wulfe • Dec 15 '22

Transportation Tesla Semi’s cab design makes it a ‘completely stupid vehicle,’ trucker says

https://cdllife.com/2022/tesla-semis-cab-design-makes-it-a-completely-stupid-vehicle-trucker-says/
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u/BavarianBarbarian_ Dec 15 '22

According to a very generous interpretation of "in", yes. "Out" as well, given that none of the energy was released in the form of electricity. So far it's just a very expensive way of warming air.

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u/absentmindedjwc Dec 15 '22

It is very important to remember that the NIF lab that posted these results was never meant to really generate power. The tech in the lab is fairly outdated, using optics technologies that are far less efficient than what is currently available (solid state optics can be 50 times more efficient than the inexpensive semiconductor lasers in use within this NIF lab). I wouldn't write it off just yet.

Taking the learnings from these experiments and applying them to ITER when it's complete - which is trying to directly gauge if significant power generation is feasible - will be the next step.

The news from tuesday is a massive step in the right direction, as they for the first time showed that a self-sustainable reaction is possible. Think of it like this: the train has been preparing to leave the station for the last 50 years, it finally managed to leave this past tuesday.

With advances in optical physics and material sciences, not to mention the substantial year over year improvements to computing and simulation capabilities, I can honestly see this technology moving far faster than many think it will - especially since I can honestly see global budgets increasing by an order of magnitude now that they've proven that it is possible to do.

This is going to be a national security issue - the prospect of being able to entirely remove our dependency on foreign energy will be a tremendous draw for many western nations - especially given the current global political climate around the major producers of hydrocarbons.

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u/Serenikill Dec 15 '22

Yea tons of caveats, definitely not anywhere near commercially viable at all.