this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2024
1104 points (96.3% liked)

xkcd

8792 readers
89 users here now

A community for a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
koraro
1104
xkcd #2948: Electric vs Gas (xkcd.com)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/xkcd
738 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Alt text:

An idling gas engine may be annoyingly loud, but that's the price you pay for having WAY less torque available at a standstill.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 55 points 4 months ago (18 children)

Real answer: power density. Pound for pound, gas still contains more energy than our best batteries. The weight of energy storage is still a massive deal for anything that cannot be tethered to a grid or be in close practical proximity for frequent recharging, from rockets, planes and cars (sometimes) to chainsaws and lawnmowers (sometimes).

load more comments (17 replies)