So if the on-board IT energy burden flows directly to the direct lifecycle cost/km (as it does today), and the off-board burden flows to subscription service expense (as it presumably does today), is this study then implying that autonomous vehicle economy is illusory (or will become so)?

Bolts or billets?

Any implications for tire wear particulates? (not mentioned on EPA page for this initiative)

The video, umm, neglected to show how the brake lines are handled for automated coupling. Can wagons be shunted without connecting the hoses? Alternatively, is there a proposal for auto-coupling of brake lines?

This doesn't appear at all resistant to cord theft & vandalism, and perhaps not to snow & ice either. I suspect that any pervasive park-spot charging solution is going to end up inductive, assuming questions of standards & coupling losses can be addressed.

More than a bit info-light. Heck, what is the fuel? And the link in the article requires a login at Yamaha.

re: 'Up to' 100 miles of range? This seems to be the FAR Part 121 "fuel" reserve lurking, which is presently a major challenge for ePlanes, requiring basically an extra hour of endurance that you {want to} never get to use. Rotary craft only get a 15min reduction.

As with highway vehicles, full autonomy is premature. Semi-autonomous, with on-demand intervention by remote operators, might be indicated initially, and perhaps indefinitely. Also needs fore/aft cameras, perhaps on fold-down end plates that also support the sat connect (and perhaps provide more battery volume).

e-performance: check e-reliability: check e-motive power economics: check e-safety: check e-virtue-signalling: well, sure 14 CFR § 91.167 endurance & divert-to-alt capability: not soon, if we're waiting for battery energy density to catch up

And 1 hour is really 2 hours. Scheduled airlines fly under IFR rules, which amount (in most places) to having another hour's reserve endurance.

40hp is enough for perhaps a 5- or 6-ft seed drill. No-till would be marginal. How many acres on a charge?

Oops, I now see the diesel engine mentioned in the GCC article.

Batteries? (presumably Li-ion, but they power the pumps too, so if they catch fire, this truck may not be able to put itself out), except that… Other articles are reporting that this "all electric" truck's configuration includes a "range extender". What might this be?

IEEE Spectrum had an overview article in 2020-01 about the various dry/mechanical gravity energy storage solutions. This one appears to have higher capital costs, due to the building, vs. say, mine shaft (where available) and other approaches. It's not clear if EVault has any sort of lock on the the market, as the basic concept seems to be public domain, unless they are bringing some unique advantages in terms of mechanical efficiency, life-cycle or input:output algorithms. There are even proposals to use pull-down&raise tethered balloon systems (which is fine until some airplane strays into the wires).

The business case for this aside, can Elon even fill that order?

This is definitely a "compared to what?" situation. Is the net outcome more or less dangerous than hand driving? I'm really surprised that they didn't appear to have "control" runs with the same vehicles driven with the same impairments and with the automation disabled. If a net degradation of safety, I'd also guess that looking forward, the suites need some threshold of sensor impairment below which the automation refuses to engage.

re: …in cars… That bit matters (vs. the headline here). 100LL is still being used in aviation, and will be for some time yet.

The linked page points out: Does NOT include: Traction inverter Control system Battery Those aren't trivial items, nor the are the questions of regenerative coasting/braking, instrumentation, charging port, dealing with a totally freaked-out ICE ICU. It will be interesting to see how buyers implement these not-exactly-drop-ins.

Has anyone worked out what the total endurance is in hours? Aircraft which always fly IFR (and that's most scheduled, regardless of weather) are burdened with a typical 1 hour extra endurance requirement (for missed approaches at primary, divert to alt, and then some time there). In addition, fuels burns off, reducing a/c weight non-trivially en-route. Battery mass doesn't change with discharge. Both of these factors make e-planes a tech challenge at the moment.

Tweel, is that you? I presume these are for low speed applications only, which dodges the noise and drag issues. How about wet & freezing conditions, mud, and gravel?

Sigh. Not needing a multiple-ratio transmission was one of the attractive promises of electric cars. I've always considered CVT to be a disqualifier on an IC car, for the reasons already enumerated in other comments (plus noise).

This of course potentially introduces yet another new form of EV Anxiety. You buy a new car with a very expensive new battery. At your first recharge, you kiss it goodbye, and enter a rotation of other people's used batteries. At some point you risk ending up with a worthless low AH counterfeit, due either to a crooked car owner or a crooked station operator.

NSAIDs are apt to prove a short-term bandaid for a chronic provocation. The pathway for the pathology is conjectured to be inflammation, and over time, NSAIDs aggravate that by inducing dysbiosis leading to endotoxemia (and more inflammation). Taking steps to optimize microbiome might be more effective, while we wait for the PM2.5 air to clear, so to speak. And even eubiosis is well down on the list of major things that modern settlers need to do to reduce needless inflammation.

Oxis, interestingly, lists their top 2 advantages as energy density and safety. Their site seems silent on charging rate. What are the expectations for Li-S on this?

Mahonj, although we occasionally see relaxation of rules (such as for ETOPS), and ICAO is already a bit more liberal for IFR reserve than FAA for turbine engines, if I were developing electric aircraft, I don't think I'd count on it happening. The reserve requirement arose from factors not necessarily related to motor & fuel type. … Moeller might still be waiting for {unrelated} regs changes to green light the Skycar.