from the I'll-drink-to-that-but-I'll-pick-my-own-beer dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The next beer you crack open at the Enterprise Center may have an incredibly minimal carbon footprint, St. Louis Blues fans. Anheuser-Busch said on Thursday it completed the very first beer delivery using zero-emissions delivery vehicles.
Specifically, it hauled the shipment of beer in a Nikola hydrogen-electric semi, before its partner brought the adult beverage to its final destination in a BYD electric truck. Anheuser-Busch placed an order for 800 of the hydrogen-electric Nikola semi trucks last year as the beer brewer looks to turn its entire long-haul vehicle fleet into a zero-emissions one. By 2025, the company has committed to shaving 25% of its carbon emissions.
The beer brewer will run a fleet of Nikola Two hydrogen-electric trucks. These models do not solely run on hydrogen, but incorporate both a hydrogen fuel cell and battery-electric powertrain. On hydrogen, the Two should go up to 750 miles. With electricity from the battery, Nikola expects up to 350 miles of range. The BYD electric trucks, like the one used in this first shipment, are meant to complement the semis.
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Nikola Unveils Three Reservation Packages for the Badger Electric Pickup Truck
Nikola, the manufacturer of an electric version of the heavy-truck, experienced a phenomenal bull run last week, prompted by the news of an imminent opening of reservations for the much-anticipated Badger electric pickup truck. Today, Nikola Motors tweeted further details regarding the seminal event, currently slated for the 27th of June.
[...] The first Nikola Badger reservation package will cost $250 and will entail a $500 discount applicable to the Badger's MSRP – expected to vary between $60,000 and $90,000. The package also contains a ticket to the Nikola World 2020 in order to view the Badger in-person. Finally, the package will entail 2 entries into a ballot for the Badger giveaway.
[...] As a refresher, Nikola unveiled the Badger electric pickup truck back in February 2020 to compete with Tesla's much-anticipated Cybertruck. According to the details revealed by the company, the Badger will retail in two power configurations: an FCEV (Fuel-Cell Electric) or BEV (Battery-Electric). Though it sports a much more conventional design as opposed to the Cybertruck's sharp corners and the futuristic vibe, the Badger offers impressive specs. As an illustration, the electric truck will offer a headline range of 600 miles through either of the two power configurations. Moreover, it will offer an acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds, a torque of up to 980 pounds-feet, and a peak horsepower of 906.
Previously: Nikola Semi Startup Shines on Wall Street With $34BN Valuation
Related: Nikola Corporation to Unveil Game-Changing Battery Cell Technology at Nikola World 2020
Tesla Unveils "Cybertruck"
Budweiser Brewer Makes First Beer Delivery With Nikola Semi Truck
146,000 Preorders for Tesla's Cybertruck in 48 Hours
Tesla Beats Expectations with Strong First-Quarter Delivery Numbers
Tesla's Robotaxi Fleet Will be 'Functionally Ready' in 2020, Musk Says
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 24 2019, @08:59AM (5 children)
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_production [wikipedia.org]
Now, if they pay extra to sequester the CO2 somewhere, that might be news.
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Sunday November 24 2019, @10:43AM (2 children)
Isn't that dangerous? The CO2 can come back out of the ground and suffocate people. If people are worried about nuclear waste, which is a solid, why are they so gung-ho about putting underground lethal concentrations of gas that wants to come out?
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Sunday November 24 2019, @06:47PM
This is already being done:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_capture_and_storage [wikipedia.org]
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 25 2019, @11:29AM
No, they compress it and use it to carbonate fizzy drinks or freeze it to use in high school chemistry demonstrations.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday November 24 2019, @01:48PM
- 6X6 100% Electric drive
- Never plug-in – Turbine charges batteries automatically while driving
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 24 2019, @02:32PM
While mostly agreeing with your point, it should be noted (in all fairness) that if the hydrogen were produced by cracking H2O with solar or wind (or even nuclear) derived power that these vehicles would indeed approach a zero-emissions condition.
If left to the invisible hand of the market, though, I don't expect that to become a commercial reality anytime soon.
I will leave it to others to analyze the consequences to the total entropy of the universe of delivering a keg of beer with water-cracked hydrogen.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Mojibake Tengu on Sunday November 24 2019, @09:05AM (14 children)
Beer itself is technically climate-unfriendly, as cows or horses are. Electric beer trucks are insufficient solution to this problem.
Obviously, the fermentation process produces ethanol C2H5OH, and carbon dioxide CO2.
All those climate activists should stop drinking beer, effective immediately and forever. Be exemplary.
And please someone tell Greta about it.
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday November 24 2019, @09:31AM
Are you saying that beer farts are the environmentally-unfriendly aspect of drinking beer? Now that's hard to believe, tell me the last time you were in a bar and it smelled like a sewage treatment plant. I've been in lots of packed, cramped little bars during peak business hours and have never smelled any trace of fart. Well, wait a minute, one time I was in a bar and got a whiff of poo-poo but that was because somebody thought they farted but actually shit themselves. We call it "pants-chili."
(Score: 3, Informative) by canopic jug on Sunday November 24 2019, @10:32AM (3 children)
It's a completely different carbon cycle. The stuff in the ground has been sequestered for millions of years and unless we pull it up and burn it will stay there. The stuff in grain is in active circulation. That is a separate loop.
However, climate change will put an end to the availability of grains that we currently enjoy [dw.com]. The articles on the topic like to talk about beer shortages in the coming times but that's just a calm way of warning there won't be food to eat. Sure, there will be new places to grow grain but consider that the best fields have long been covered with asphalt and business parks and that our current infrastructure is based on the grain growing where it currently grows.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by Mojibake Tengu on Sunday November 24 2019, @10:38AM (1 child)
The same argumentation of yours is valid about cows, but clearly that does not stop the activists from agitation.
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Sunday November 24 2019, @10:59AM
Yep. The same problem applies to the debate about cows, though there is a different between methane and plain CO2. In general, there is a lot of noise out there instead of fact-based debate. Like with many other topics, people make up their minds and then ignore any data to the contrary. If they step back and take a calm look at what is what, then they'll see there are separate carbon cycles.
It's worth fighting for but once the methane hydrates boil on the sea bottom or the arctic peat burns, it's game over. Those, too, are outside of the carbon cycle containing cows and beer.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 25 2019, @11:41AM
That's a bit apocalyptic, canopic jug. People are adaptable. The first beer recipes from the Sumerians and Egyptians and such used different grains, that is, what they had at hand. It is possible.
Also, we have hydroponics and with modification can put more of our landscape under cultivation. The Incans and Balinese used terraces to grow food, but the modern world has chosen to get higher yields other ways.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday November 24 2019, @01:11PM (4 children)
You assume Budweiser is beer - when in reality it's closer to donkey piss.
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Sunday November 24 2019, @01:35PM
I am very aware the American so called Budweiser is a foul and fake beer with a stolen trademark.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser_trademark_dispute [wikipedia.org]
We call it Budvar for centuries, as shortening of Budějovický var since the middle age. Budweiser is just a name given to it by some barbaric tribe living west of us.
But those historical, technology and legal facts have no effect on climatic change, so far...
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday November 25 2019, @12:08AM (1 child)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 25 2019, @09:04PM
LOL! I have to admit I've never heard that one before.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 25 2019, @11:35AM
Beer enthusiasts who have traveled to Europe will note that how a brand tastes there can be remarkably different from how it tastes in North America. Warsteiner and Blue Moon were two of my absolute favorites in Europe, but in America they are rather meh. Budweiser, which tastes like donkey piss in America, is the favorite of many Germans there.
I don't know why that is. Maybe somebody with more specific knowledge will explain.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday November 24 2019, @01:45PM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 25 2019, @01:35AM (1 child)
OK, Boomer!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 25 2019, @11:31AM
Hork!
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 25 2019, @11:31AM
Don't. Your empty words will steal her dreams.
Washington DC delenda est.