this post was submitted on 06 May 2026
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I hate to imagine how much an Australian made battery would cost.
Diesel isn’t going anywhere in anyone alive now’s lifetime. There’s no replacement for it for many industries like farming and transport.
Yeah. Solar panels will fry the grid (oh no wait, we apparently can't build them fast enough now), banning plastic bags will be disastrous for the elderly and Covid vaccines will kill everyone who takes them
You guys don't have a accurate track record lol.
There is nothing inherently special about diesel, other than the fact it's carcinogenic.
Fortescue has 300 EV mining trucks on order, and 90% of new cars in Norway are EVs. BYD and CATL literally have announced cars that can be charged in 5 mins.
We spend 15billion a year on subsidies for a consumable fuel. That's equivalent to 1 million 20kwh batteries (conservatively). And we're the world's leader of lithium. There is no better place to build it. Instead of shipping it overseas, and then shipping the batteries back
In case you haven't been paying attention, truckies and farmers have been whining the most about the cost of fuel (even before hormuz). Fuel is so expensive, that long term, particularly for transport, it is cheaper for truckies to wait an hour charging or battery swap than spend thousands on fuel
We're not even using solid state batteries yet, and we're already at price parity for cars. As time increases, it will dominate short range transport, and then most long haul (trucks already need to have long rest stops), or, other alternatives
For farmers, the only thing missing is tractors with easily swappable batteries and a bit more capacity. They have plenty of access to power (solar).
And, I suspect long term, our offspring will be wondering why we had carcinogens near our food at all
In only 10 years realistically, EVs are now cheaper than petrol/diesel for cars. Commercial vehicles likely aren't far off too
So much wrong with this but I’ll start with the biggest:
Because they don’t exist 🤣
You'll both start and end with the biggest, because, thats the only response you have
And they exist, just not commercially available yet. They're aiming for 450-500Wh/kg and expected to be piloted in 2027. So, that almost doubles the energy density/kg.. I'm not sure how old you are, but I expect to live at least 30 years. They're just working out kinks.
Even ignoring solid state batteries, they're RAPIDLY evolving: https://physicsworld.com/a/lithium-ion-batteries-break-energy-density-record/ .
Why not tell us what benefits diesel ACTUALLY provides? It's only cheap upfront at the moment (and that's with 15bil of subsidies). And, it doesn't offer fuel security, since they only burn 1 type of fuel (EV's can use ANY fuel as their power source). The economics are changing quickly
Solid state batteries have been releasing “next year” for at least 20 years at this stage. The latest “solid state batteries” are nothing more than lithium ion batteries and lies.
The benefits of diesel are that it’s cheap, plentiful, takes seconds to refuel, and powers engines that are easy to repair and source. It’s performance isnt affected by the weather like batteries are.
You guys were ALSO saying Sodium batts were always getting delayed too, and were vaporware. They're not anymore. The graph I posted prove that battery tech is evolving fast. Solid state batteries simply be the next evolution to help improve stability, safety and density. Again, they're just not being commercially produced yet. And, you're focused on that part of the argument because it's all you have
If Diesel is cheap, why is every truckie whining about the costs of fuel (especially after Hormuz)? We're literally all spending $500 in taxpayer money a year, to subsidise fossil fuels. And, that excludes all the hidden costs. Diesel has been around for decades, and they simply haven't evolved. Some manufacturers are starting to use diesel to run a generator, to power a EV engine at this point lol.
EV's are MUCH cheaper to run, and they have far less parts to maintain. How much does it cost to travel 1000 km in a diesel compared to an EV (even with a super charger). There is substantially less that can go wrong in an EV. Take it from someone who had a transmission failure in their car, and drove without a clutch for 200km. The work ford transit blew its turbo within 6 months, and I know someone else who had the EXACT same issue. And Diesel jeeps are known for blowing their engines.
Also, you live in Australia bro.. We barely get subzero temperatures here (90% of Norway uses EV's, so that proves they work in cold). In hot temperatures, AC also uses fuel. On a hot day, you'll see plenty of ICE cars on the side of the road from overheating. In summer, solar is at its peak, so lots of excess solar (thats why most, if not all states are going to be getting 3 hours of free solar every day)
The only benefit of Diesel, is upfront cost. However, you can now buy a EV (car) for 23K. In the US, Slate is building EV Utes which are designed to be f**king cheap upfront too.
Diesel is just a bad hybrid. You still need power to start it, you need power to run it (alternator) and a battery to start it. But, the ev motor (starter motor) is just under powered
If we charged the full cost of health, pollution, etc, the full cost of diesel becomes substantially higher (it just doesn't show up on your bill directly).
No doubt you'll be one of those people whining for government money when everyone has shifted away and you're no longer competitive because they're all using solar, and you're spending thousands on diesel. You'll be blaming everyone but yourself no doubt