[baybal2]

Almost every type of DC-DC conversion requires some intermediate AC conversion anyway.

And surprise, a lot of DC-DC topologies require a transformer too.

Transformers still soundly beat solid state conversion on cost, and efficiency at above the wall outlet voltages.

You can't run away from that entirely. If you were to give a free hand to a good EE to redesign the electric grid from scratch, I doubt the result will differ much from what the world has already.

[dreamcompiler]

But that intermediate AC is square (not sinusoidal) which means the transistors spend almost no time in the linear range, which means they generate very little heat. And the frequency is much higher than 60Hz too. It's a very different kind of AC, with much more controllable and more efficient electronics.

Transformers still have their place but they're still basically big dumb (uncontrollable) chunks of copper and iron.

[bob1029]

> which means they generate very little heat

This is incredibly important to note. Buck-boost converters enjoy efficiencies beyond 90% in even the most pedestrian implementations. This makes their efficiency directly competitive with transformer-based designs (95-99%).