PROMPT Estimating the power consumption needs of Tokyo-3, a setting in Evangelion.
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Tokyo-3 is a fictional city that features prominently in the anime series. It is the headquarters of NERV, an organization that fights against the mysterious beings called Angels using giant robots called Evangelions. Tokyo-3 is also a fortress city that can transform into a battle mode, where buildings retract underground and defensive structures emerge from the surface.
One of the questions that fans of the series may have is how much power does Tokyo-3 need to operate normally and in battle mode? In this blog post, we will try to estimate the power consumption needs of Tokyo-3 based on some assumptions and calculations.
First, we need to estimate the size and population of Tokyo-3. According to the official guidebook, Tokyo-3 covers an area of about 280 square kilometers and has a population of about 2 million people. This is comparable to the real-life city of Yokohama, which has an area of 437 square kilometers and a population of 3.7 million people as of 2020.
Next, we need to estimate the average power consumption per capita of Tokyo-3. According to the World Bank, Japan had an average power consumption per capita of 7,848 kWh in 2018. Assuming that Tokyo-3 has a similar level of development and living standards as Japan, we can use this figure as a baseline. However, we also need to consider that Tokyo-3 may have higher power consumption due to its advanced technology and infrastructure, such as the Magi supercomputer system, the GeoFront underground complex, and the support system in place for housing and repairing EVAs, from hangars to powered catapults.
Therefore, we will add a 50% margin to the baseline figure and assume that Tokyo-3 has an average power consumption per capita of 11,772 kWh.
Multiplying this figure by the population of Tokyo-3, we get an estimate of the total power consumption of Tokyo-3 in normal mode: 11,772 kWh x 2 million people = 23.544 TWh per year, or 2.688 GW on average.
Now, let's estimate the power consumption of Tokyo-3 in battle mode. In battle mode, Tokyo-3 activates its defensive systems, such as the armor plates, the anti-aircraft guns, the missile launchers, and the positron cannons. It also deploys the EVAs, which are powered by umbilical cables connected to the city's power grid. Additionally, Tokyo-3 may have to deal with power outages or disruptions caused by the attacks of the Angels.
Unfortunately, there is not much information available on how much power these systems consume individually or collectively. Therefore, we will have to make some educated guesses based on their size and function. For simplicity, we will assume that each system consumes a constant amount of power when activated.
We will start with the armor plates, which are massive metal slabs that cover the buildings and protect them from damage. According to the official guidebook, there are 108 armor plates in Tokyo-3, each weighing about 33,000 tons and measuring about 200 meters by 150 meters by 18 meters. Assuming that each armor plate requires about 1 MW of power to move up and down, we get a total power consumption of 108 MW for the armor plates.
Next, we will consider the anti-aircraft guns, which are mounted on towers and shoot at flying targets. According to the official guidebook, there are 288 anti-aircraft guns in Tokyo-3, each capable of firing 120 rounds per minute. Assuming that each round has a kinetic energy of about 10 MJ (similar to a tank shell), and that each gun has an efficiency of about 10%, we get a total power consumption of 345.6 MW for the anti-aircraft guns.
Then, we will look at the missile launchers, which are hidden under the ground and fire missiles at incoming threats. According to the official guidebook, there are 144 missile launchers in Tokyo-3, each capable of firing 12 missiles per minute. Assuming that each missile has a mass of about 500 kg and a speed of about 1 km/s (similar to a cruise missile), and that each launcher has an efficiency of about 10%, we get a total power consumption of 259.2 MW for the missile launchers.
Next up are the positron cannons, which are huge railguns that fire beams of positrons at long-range targets. According to the official guidebook, there are four positron cannons in Tokyo-3, each capable of firing one shot every five minutes. Assuming that each shot has an energy of about 180 TJ (similar to a small nuclear bomb), and that each cannon has an efficiency of about 1%, we get a total power consumption of
720 GW for the positron cannons.
Finally, we have the EVA units, which are the main weapons of NERV against the Angels. According to the official guidebook, there are five in Tokyo-3, each weighing about 80,000 tons and standing about 80 meters tall. Assuming that each Evangelion requires about 10 MW of power to operate (similar to a nuclear submarine), and that each Evangelion has a battery life of about five minutes, we get a total power consumption of 50 MW for the Evangelions.
Adding up all these figures, we get an estimate of the total power consumption of Tokyo-3 in battle mode: 108 MW + 345.6 MW + 259.2 MW + 720 GW + 50 MW = 720.7628 GW on average.
This is about 268 times higher than the power consumption of Tokyo-3 in normal mode, and about 18 times higher than the total power generation capacity of Japan as of 2019 (40.22 GW).
Therefore, we can conclude that Tokyo-3 is a very power-hungry city that requires a massive amount of energy to function normally and especially in battle mode. It is unclear how Tokyo-3 obtains such a large amount of power, but it is likely that it relies on external sources, such as the S² engines of the Angels or the N² mines of the UN. Alternatively, Tokyo-3 may have some hidden or secret power plants that are not revealed in the series.
In any case, Tokyo-3 is an impressive feat of engineering and technology that showcases the human ingenuity and resilience in the face of an existential threat.
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