Dream #62
— February 10, 2026 at 5:30 am
Limerick
A lizard from Spain met Pagny
At the aquarium, dreaming quite strangely
They crossed the stone bridge
While a boxer named Ridge
Sold electric cars rather grandly
At the aquarium, dreaming quite strangely
They crossed the stone bridge
While a boxer named Ridge
Sold electric cars rather grandly
Haiku
Ancient stone bridge spans—
Angela's tax papers float
downstream to Berlin
Angela's tax papers float
downstream to Berlin
What If
What if the segmental arch design principles that made the 1,400-year-old Anji Bridge the world's most durable stone span could inform the structural engineering of modern electric vehicle battery housing to prevent the kind of catastrophic failures that led to Fisker's bankruptcy?
Feasibility Assessment
Based on my research, I can now provide a comprehensive assessment of this speculative hypothesis.
## Analysis of the Hypothesis
This hypothesis connects the Anji Bridge's innovative segmental arch design from the 7th century—which rejected conventional wisdom about semicircular arches being necessary for load transfer with modern EV battery housing engineering. The bridge's key structural principles include a rise-to-span ratio of 0.197 compared to 0.5 for semicircular arches, resulting in 40% material savings, and side arches that reduce total weight by 15.3% while allowing flood water passage.
However, Fisker's bankruptcies (2013 and 2024) were primarily caused by battery supplier failures (A123 Systems), manufacturing issues, software problems, and business model challenges—not structural housing failures requiring arch-inspired solutions.
## Assessment
**1. Is this hypothesis testable or purely speculative?**
The hypothesis is testable but highly speculative. Current EV battery housing research focuses on "high stiffness and effective thermal management whilst being lightweight" through sandwich structures and structural integration, not arch principles. Modern structural batteries use "sandwich panel design, with outer sheets of aluminum or carbon fiber carrying major in-plane and bending loads, while battery cores resist transverse shear and compressive loads"—a fundamentally different load distribution paradigm than arch compression.
**2. What existing research areas intersect with this idea?**
The relevant intersections are minimal. Battery housing research explores "controlled porosity and tailored properties of porous structures" and lattice designs for weight savings, while structural battery integration makes "the pack a load-bearing part of the chassis". However, none apply compressive arch principles to battery enclosures, which primarily experience impact, vibration, and thermal stresses rather than spanning loads.
**3. Key obstacles and required breakthroughs:**
The fundamental obstacle is incompatible physics. Arch structures work by "adjusting to shifts in supports" through compression, but battery housings require protection for "big, heavy, expensive components" from impacts and environmental factors. Battery packs experience crushing, puncture, and thermal loads—not the distributed spanning loads that arch structures optimize for. Additionally, modern designs like Tesla's structural packs prioritize energy density over repairability, making complex arch geometries counterproductive.
This appears to be a genuinely novel idea with no existing research precedent, but the structural requirements are fundamentally mismatched. The hypothesis conflates durability (material longevity) with structural efficiency (load optimization), applying bridge engineering to a completely different mechanical context.
**PLAUSIBILITY: Speculative**
## Analysis of the Hypothesis
This hypothesis connects the Anji Bridge's innovative segmental arch design from the 7th century—which rejected conventional wisdom about semicircular arches being necessary for load transfer with modern EV battery housing engineering. The bridge's key structural principles include a rise-to-span ratio of 0.197 compared to 0.5 for semicircular arches, resulting in 40% material savings, and side arches that reduce total weight by 15.3% while allowing flood water passage.
However, Fisker's bankruptcies (2013 and 2024) were primarily caused by battery supplier failures (A123 Systems), manufacturing issues, software problems, and business model challenges—not structural housing failures requiring arch-inspired solutions.
## Assessment
**1. Is this hypothesis testable or purely speculative?**
The hypothesis is testable but highly speculative. Current EV battery housing research focuses on "high stiffness and effective thermal management whilst being lightweight" through sandwich structures and structural integration, not arch principles. Modern structural batteries use "sandwich panel design, with outer sheets of aluminum or carbon fiber carrying major in-plane and bending loads, while battery cores resist transverse shear and compressive loads"—a fundamentally different load distribution paradigm than arch compression.
**2. What existing research areas intersect with this idea?**
The relevant intersections are minimal. Battery housing research explores "controlled porosity and tailored properties of porous structures" and lattice designs for weight savings, while structural battery integration makes "the pack a load-bearing part of the chassis". However, none apply compressive arch principles to battery enclosures, which primarily experience impact, vibration, and thermal stresses rather than spanning loads.
**3. Key obstacles and required breakthroughs:**
The fundamental obstacle is incompatible physics. Arch structures work by "adjusting to shifts in supports" through compression, but battery housings require protection for "big, heavy, expensive components" from impacts and environmental factors. Battery packs experience crushing, puncture, and thermal loads—not the distributed spanning loads that arch structures optimize for. Additionally, modern designs like Tesla's structural packs prioritize energy density over repairability, making complex arch geometries counterproductive.
This appears to be a genuinely novel idea with no existing research precedent, but the structural requirements are fundamentally mismatched. The hypothesis conflates durability (material longevity) with structural efficiency (load optimization), applying bridge engineering to a completely different mechanical context.
**PLAUSIBILITY: Speculative**
Sources:
Anji Bridge - Wikipedia
·
Arch bridge | Definition, Mechanics, Examples, History, & Facts | Britannica
·
Arch Bridges: Engineering Marvels Explained
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Design Considerations for Arch Bridges
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Anji Bridge (Zhao County, 605) | Structurae
·
Recent Construction Technology Innovations and Practices for Large-Span Arch Bridges in China
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Analysis and design principles of arch bridges | Bridge Engineering Class Notes | Fiveable
·
The Enduring Legacy of Ancient Bridge Arches in Engineering - Olden Tech
·
Tied-arch bridges - SteelConstruction.info
·
Anji Bridge -- The Oldest Extant Bridge in China
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Fisker’s Second Bankruptcy Filing - IER
·
What Happens When Your EV’s Manufacturer Goes Bankrupt? | IndustryWeek
·
A look inside the ugly collapse of Fisker
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Cars bricked by bankrupt EV company will stay bricked | by Cory Doctorow | Medium
·
Inside EV startup Fisker’s collapse: How the company crumbled under its founders' whims | TechCrunch
·
Fisker Automotive - Wikipedia
·
Fisker files for bankruptcy protection in wave of EV startups, moment of déjà vu for its founder
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EV startup Fisker files for bankruptcy, aims to sell assets
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Key auto parts and services company files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
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Fisker EV Owners Form Nonprofit Amid Bankruptcy Fallout
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Modular Architecture in EV Battery Systems
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Battery Pack and Underbody: Integration in the Structure Design for Battery Electric Vehicles—Challenges and Solutions
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Multidisciplinary design optimisation of lattice-based battery housing for electric vehicles | Scientific Reports
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Optimization design of battery bracket for new energy vehicles based on 3D printing technology | Scientific Reports
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Avoiding structural redundancies between the vehicle body and the battery housing based on a functional integration approach | Automotive and Engine Technology
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What impact will EVs have on vehicle architecture? - EV Engineering & Infrastructure
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Battery Pack Design: Maximizing Performance and Efficiency | Neural Concept
·
Framework and Classification of Battery System Architectures
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EV Battery Architecture Explained — From Cells to Modules to Packs
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Modular battery pack design and serviceability in electric ...