ON ELECTROMOBILITY....

Companies, small and big are increasingly subjected to various , often compulsory, audits : quality, environmental, financial... usually with stress&costs attached.

But sometimes major economical decisions , influencing development of society for dozens of years , go often unaudited, as a result of fashion, trend ,hype or political skirmishes.

I still well remember, how after first petrol crisis in the 70-ties of XX-century, electromobility was announced. New batteries (Ni-Cd), several new electro-cars models , induction charging-on-the-go, promises, promises....,All quietly dried off when petrol prices fell and first sets of batteries retired, requiring replacement at cost of a new (petrol-driven) car.

Whereas electromobility is perfect for countries which produce electricity mostly from nuclear (as France) or wind (as Denmark) or water (as Norway), it makes very little sense in countries -still majority- burning fuels to make electricity, then transform it, then transport it, then convert it , then charge...

Modern piston motors are quite close with efficiency to largest straight-cycle combustion-fuel power plants. And dual-cycle power plants, involving large gas turbines are very ,very costly in (frequent) maintenance.

In case of wind energy, synergies are particularly high, due to storage. But Norway is already more questionable - the cold climate year around means that heating in the car uses sizeable portion of motive energy.

Of course, the big question is , when oil is finished ...? But, natural gas is a very good alternative ,and there is a plenty of it , still for good half-century as it seems.Or perhaps much, much longer, because theories of non-biological , terra-genic origin seem no-nonsense.Huge amounts of methane are released naturally to atmospheere as GHG, so better to burn it first for energy.

(Actually, CNG is much better to drive cars than petrol, diesel or LPG - but I mention this only under brackets and in half-tone, because the last time I said this aloud, authorities immediately increased excise tax on it).

Deep considerations on ultimate density of energy storage (apart nuclear) in the unit of matter (space&weight) show that it is nearly impossible to beat hydrocarbons, with their chemical energy (compare eg .TNT). Means: anything else is driving a camel with his water-tank on the back.

And wind energy can be as well used for heating when it blows (switching-off gas heater in semi-detached is easier than switching off power plant) - you regulate it with flexible tarriffs , or CAES-stored in large&cheap underwater-baloons.