this post was submitted on 24 May 2026
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[–] eleitl@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 weeks ago

Yes, you can use a massive brown coal excavator to feed an adjacent power plant with a conveyor belt that powers it. Since no storage needed. As you can run an electric mining truck that transports full from the quarry downhill, and goes back up back empty again, effectively mostly recharging on potential energy. These are very special cases.

The kind of mining trucks I'm talking about https://www.lectura-specs.com/en/model/construction-machinery/rigid-dump-trucks-belaz/75710-11738579 run 24/7. The giant size and the continuous mode of operation are due to economic pressures. Notice that without mining and manufacturing you cannot fabricate the renewable infrastructure.

For heavy long-haul trucks currently running on diesel you need some 1 MWh battery of several tons and according material footprint and price tag. Diesels are cheap and have more than 40 times higher energy density.

Small scale EVs are fine, though they have a material footprint and need for recycling most people ignore.