this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2025
1024 points (100.0% liked)
Showerthoughts
33087 readers
608 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
We are comparing attaching a diesel engine via a gearbox to attaching it via generator and electric speed controller.
Electrically driven wheels can deliver just the right amount of power at over 95% efficiency. Direct ICE suffers because it cannot always run the engine in ideal conditions, reducing its efficiency.
We do this in locomotives but not in cars because cars need to be lightweight. Actually, nuclear is clearly the best vehicle propulsion, almost infinite range and high power. It is only used in ships due to its weight.
I cant find a source for your claim, the best I could find Was that they can be more efficient under circumstances than diesel mechanic Systems. But it seems to be at least close. Do you have a source you can link?
The reasons theyre the choice number one are different. The Main reason, it doesnt have a Transmission and is easier to repair, while there's also less parts that can break.
I'm not claiming that electric transmission is more efficient always because it isn't. But as you say it is close.
In a scenario where a train drives at a constant speed forever, attaching the engine to the wheels directly is a clear winner.
However, with varying torque requirements, an ICE can't always operate at maximum efficiency. They are especially bad at starting from a standstill. You can get a good overview of the concept from this wiki article. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_band
You arent, but that's how the discussion started and why I joined that discussion.
Ive earned quite a bit though, because I was not entirely correct myself.