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by adrianN 2677 days ago
First you build a space elevator to geosynchronous orbit, then you can use full batteries as counterweight for lifting empty batteries. That way you only have to overcome friction losses.
1 comments

Even better! Now it's less of a joke idea. You still have a small shuttle transfer from geosync orbit to wherever the solar farm is (heliosync or a lagrange point to avoid earth shadow), but the delta-v for that is tiny.

However space elevators are still soft SF (still missing a material with enough tensile strength), whereas BFR cheap reusable launchers are hard SF, achievable with current known tech.