this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2024
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So the energy this truck uses is harnessed via mining and loading... Essentially this energy was stored in the ore via geological processes.
This truck uses continental drift as his fuel.
In other words, OP's mom.
Boom
Or in physics terms, potential energy.
Since everything seems to be going downhill right now, how would I harness that power? You telling me the crystal peddling influencers were right all along? 🤣
I've seen a cable lift that worked basically like that. It transferred ore down the mountain, so heavy buckets going down lifted the empty buckets back up.
Didn't Tom Scott make a video about this?
Statistically, yes.
Yep.
I’ve heard of a diesel-electric logging truck that uses this concept as well. Use the batteries going up the mountain empty, charge them again going downhill loaded.
Kinda like the mine in the UK that use a cableway without a motor to bring ore down and empty buckets up
I saw that Tom Scott episode too. I’ll miss him.
Is that just a gravity battery that just so happens to be a dump truck as well?
So it was designed for this mine I guess?
I'm not sure there's a lot of mine you're going down filled up, the images I have in mind are quite the opposite, but that's a really cool idea!
There actually is some design to stock energy this way, with weights you lift while having excess energy
Depends on the scale of "going down". Many mines are in the mountains and the material has to be brought down to lower elevations. The mine entry may be lower than the nearest pass but still a lot higher than the destination of the ore.
Open pit is much more common for this type of equipment and it’s basically a reverse mountain. Still might be enough regenerative braking from just the weight of the truck though.
In that case no, because it'd be bringing the weight of the truck and the ore with it.
An open pit at an elevation of 1.5km still means the bottom of the pit could be 1km higher than the place the ore is processed at
If you're thinking of that CGI crane lifting concrete blocks, it's unfortunately a really bad idea.
Pumped hydro stores energy by lifting weight uphill, instead. Water is basically the cheapest thing you can get per tonne, and is easy to contain and move.
To store useful amounts of energy using gravity, you need pretty large elevation differences and millions of tonnes of mass to move.
I love that I knew this conversation was going to happen as soon as I read the article.
And, yes.
Reminds me of this ropeway thing that Tom Scott covered that doesn't require power input either, for similar reasons:
https://youtu.be/6RiYXI1Tfu4
Niche application but still cool.
ARGH Why did you have to remind me that Tom Scott is still missing from Youtube!
We achieved perpetuum mobile
Yes, but actually no.
I guess it all depends on the physical layout but this seems like a very complicated way to get material downhill.