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Pretty much the bold bit. The energy density of batteries is still a couple of orders of magnitude short of jet fuel, nowhere near enough to power a large plane for long. From Science Direct:

One other drawback is that planes get lighter as they burn fuel, extending their range, whereas batteries maintain the same weight throughout the flight.

Isn't the energy output of batteries also affected by temperature?

 

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Didn't Popular Mechanics posit the existence of atomic powered airplanes in the future?

 

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Not gonna pretend to be an electrician, but I can guarantee you are not pulling 10 kW/h thru 14 AWG wire. Pulling 1.5 kW/h thru 14AWG is pushing it.


And yes, diesel is gonna be the big one. Fortunately the vast majority of the diesel is consumed by semi's, construction, and farm equipment so you have very specific islands that are going to be required for charging those in the form of the shipping hubs, truck stops, and major farms. Construction by it's nature will likely never transition off of dependence on diesel, even if the vehicles themselves are electric, diesel generators will be required to charge them anyway. Those other places though, given how much they have to spend on fuel anyway, have a pretty sizable incentive to go totally off grid anyway and just build their own solar array/battery banks anyway for that purpose, similar to how some fab plants already have their own off grid power plants. In fact, i would be shocked if major shipping hubs weren't already looking in to moving their hub next to good sources of renewable energy like rivers, or untapped geo-thermal vents in preparation for when the EV tech becomes financially viable for semi's. The best and worst part of renewable energy is the scaling and while the switch to electric over diesel transportation may not drive their power consumption up to the point of making building a full on traditional power plant for themselves, the renewable method will absolutely still be a viable option.

I can't imagine a semi-truck hauling 80,000 pounds using electric motors of any variety. The batteries required to haul loads like these would be astronomically heavy and/or the ranges ridiculously short.

 

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Wow, nice find, that's pretty slick. Scrolling through it appears to be still in testing/concept phase though

Looks like they are even closer to being on the road than I originally thought though.

edit: The price is actually reasonable too considering the savings on diesel at $150,000. Shame the drive distance is only 300 - 500 miles on a charge. If not for that I would say they are amazingly viable.

500 mile range for long haul trucking? Bwahahahahahahahahaha. And how long does it take to recharge those batteries as opposed to fill up two tanks full of diesel?