this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2024
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xkcd

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An idling gas engine may be annoyingly loud, but that's the price you pay for having WAY less torque available at a standstill.

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[–] alphafalcon@feddit.de 20 points 6 months ago (4 children)

My EV sits in the driveway and soaks up excess production from my PV setup.
My main problem is it's never really empty enough.

If I'm on the road, a high voltage DC charger gets me from 10% to 50% in about 10 minutes. Barely enough time for a coffee and a leak, then it's another 2 hours of driving. Rinse, repeat.

Sure, you can't barrel down the Autobahn for 10 hours straight without stopping but who wants that?

[–] Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I make a 9-10 hour drive to see my family multiple times a year. I normally stop twice to get gas and use the bathroom, and that's it. Sounds like you'd be adding most of an hour to my travel time each way. I've tried stopping longer and grabbing food, it's not worth it for me.

With that said, I drive 25-40 miles a day the other 360+ days of the year, so it'd really make much more sense for me to have a short range EV and rent something for travel when I have too much luggage to fly.

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Maybe don't do that? Catch a train it's significantly cheaper anyway.

[–] ThunderclapSasquatch@startrek.website 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

No passenger rail. It's car or a once a week bus that doesn't even stop in the town my family lives in.

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world -2 points 6 months ago

That's an infrastructure problem you can help solve and regardless going on long trips for most people is 100% optional.

[–] Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

That would become a 15+ hour trip then...

Edit: On further investigation, it's also not significantly cheaper than flying, and is much more expensive than fuel for driving.

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

But much better for the environment, sometimes others matter more and when more people use rail it's more likely our country will catch up and build hyper train networks.

[–] Saledovil@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 months ago

Sadly, yes. I live in Germany, and here you need a BahnCard50 (or better) for the train to be cheaper than the gas for driving.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 6 months ago

you really ought to be stopping a few more times, i don't understand how so many people are just completely fine with driving for 3 hours nonstop

[–] TheLowestStone@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

who wants that?

I do. We have family that we visit a few times each year. If I leave at 2am and drive straight through, we get there in 7-8 hours. If I make the drive during the day, it takes 10-13 hours.

[–] meliaesc@lemmy.world -2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Sounds like you need a train. Not a car.

[–] TheLowestStone@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Sure. But first you need to build one that takes me there.

[–] aidan@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

For various reasons a car is often better for that kinda trip

[–] TheLowestStone@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Some real examples that are specific to the trip I take:

There is no rail service that goes there. It would be a combo of trains and busses that takes significantly longer and costs more than the gas.

Our dog comes with us, generally isn't allowed on mass transit, and the much longer trip would stress her out if she was.

There is little to no mass transit in the town they live in to get around once we arrive so we'd end up borrowing or renting a car anyway.

With limited amounts of time off, making the trip overnight adds a full day of getting to see our family to the trip.

The only other realistic means of getting there is flying but, I enjoy driving and hate everything about air travel. It's a pretty cheap flight for one person but becomes more expensive once you add in the rest of the family and the dog can't come.

Edit: formatting

[–] derf82@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

I’m not wealthy enough for a PV setup.

And I love road trips. Some of the most beautiful areas of my country are 3000+ km from me.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

My EV sits in the driveway and soaks up excess production from my PV setup.

Yeah EVs are a great solution for homeowners.

Sure, you can't barrel down the Autobahn for 10 hours straight without stopping but who wants that?

As an Uber driver, I want that. I want to be able to gas my car back up and go back on he road and keep earning money.

[–] Strykker@programming.dev 7 points 6 months ago

Congrats your are not the market target for EVs then, guess what that doesn't mean that the majority of the population isn't though.