Diesel-electric locomotives have been barreling along America’s wide-open spaces for generations, and the century-old combination of consistent, high-efficiency diesel engines spinning up generators to power high-torque electric motors has proven tough to beat. Now, Caterpillar is putting that century-old concept to work in an even bigger dozer – and the promised efficiency gains are incredible.

more…

On today’s time-traveling episode of Quick Charge, Tesla might be trying to erase evidence of FSD fraud, Caterpillar keeps trying to electrify the construction space, and time is rapidly running out on what’s left of the 30% home solar tax credit.

The new Battery Electric Power Unit (BEPU) from Caterpillar is a plug-and-play solution that can directly replace a diesel CAT engine in existing machines – occupying the same space, and even using the same motor mounts to make the conversion from diesel to electric (almost) as easy as swapping an engine.

I discuss my recent painting of butterflies, emphasizing the process of metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly as an example of irreducible complexity. This signifies intentional design rather than Darwinian evolution.