9 ms·

Coal miners help push tourists’ dead electric car in West Virginia

13 points by tomohawk 4y ago

abeppu 4y ago
> Because the vehicle was plastic underneath, there was no way to tow it, so a group of miners decided to push it. Is that a thing? Are there un-towable cars? What are you supposed to do if you break down and there _aren't_ 6 people to help push however far?
- Ancapistani 4y ago
  I’m guessing the “plastic underneath” is referring to a skid plate, but could be wrong. Presumably you’d tow it with a rollback wrecker, though.
- mikestew 4y ago
  I'm confident a flatbed tow truck could tow it. A tow truck with a wheel dolly could probably do it. If it were close to a coal mine, there were probably many, many vehicles that could have towed the car, but not a one of them could do it without tearing up plastic bits on the car. I also wouldn't base my knowledge of a vehicle's towability on the words of a television reporter. Could just as easily been the case that it was easier to push the car the 25m than to wait for Joe to get his truck, find his tow strap in that black hole he calls a toolbox, find a place to hook it on the car...
PaulHoule 4y ago
It's irrational for coal miners to be opposed to electric cars because electric cars can be powered by coal, unless the coal miners are huge fans of https://www.dakotagas.com/about-us/gasification/index https://www.dakotagas.com/about-us/gasification/index
- elil17 4y ago
  Coal gas isn’t petrol, it fills the role of natural gas.
  - PaulHoule 4y ago
    The syngas plant produces a stream of "synthesis gas" (hydrogen + CO) which is put through https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabatier_reaction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabatier_reaction to make methane. Similar catalysts at a lower temperature are used in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Tropsch_process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Tropsch_proces... to build up larger hydrocarbons from the same synthesis gas. These people run synthetic fuel factories in a few countries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasol I don't know the details but one of my tenants is a shareholder in Sasol and gets an unusual amount of mail connected with a shareholder lawsuit about that firm's poor performance.
    - elil17 4y ago
      TIL! Very interesting
mikestew 4y ago
Despite the recent controversy with coal power and the push toward alternatives that are more energy efficient like electric cars... Google Translate was at a loss to turn this into sensible English. Anyone? “Shows even though they aren’t crazy about electric cars they still have a good heart and treat people with respect and would help anyone in need.” Never mind, I see that there is narrative-supporting afoot. That's like saying oil rig workers aren't crazy about diesels.
- tomohawk 4y ago
  The statement is not about the tech involved but about the social groups that tend to use different tech. An EV in West Virginia would be pretty rare, as the range of EVs is inadequate for most uses and they are too expensive for most people. DC, which has considerably more wealth, and less distances to travel - there's a lot more EVs there. So the people whose EV ran out of juice are fish out of water, but they got a nice helping hand from people who likely have very different politics.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
michaelwww 4y ago
This is one of those times the reporter thinks they are saying something deep and profound when they aren't. I don't see the irony or the humor. "Energy workers push an energy consuming car." ok.
- cdot2 4y ago
  The whole purpose of the article and the original post is to show people who probably disagree on many things being kind to each other. It's rather unusual to see a piece of journalism that doesn't have the goal of making people angry.
- dr_orpheus 4y ago
  There's an electric car I have seen around my town a couple times that says "powered by coal" on the back.
  - Rygian 4y ago
    "and still greener than an ICE" below?
poopypoopington 4y ago
EVs can be powered by coal. ICE cars cannot. This is a dumb article.

13 points by tomohawk 4y ago

> Because the vehicle was plastic underneath, there was no way to tow it, so a group of miners decided to push it. Is that a thing? Are there un-towable cars? What are you supposed to do if you break down and there _aren't_ 6 people to help push however far?

Ancapistani 4y ago
I’m guessing the “plastic underneath” is referring to a skid plate, but could be wrong. Presumably you’d tow it with a rollback wrecker, though.
mikestew 4y ago
I'm confident a flatbed tow truck could tow it. A tow truck with a wheel dolly could probably do it. If it were close to a coal mine, there were probably many, many vehicles that could have towed the car, but not a one of them could do it without tearing up plastic bits on the car. I also wouldn't base my knowledge of a vehicle's towability on the words of a television reporter. Could just as easily been the case that it was easier to push the car the 25m than to wait for Joe to get his truck, find his tow strap in that black hole he calls a toolbox, find a place to hook it on the car...

PaulHoule 4y ago

It's irrational for coal miners to be opposed to electric cars because electric cars can be powered by coal, unless the coal miners are huge fans of https://www.dakotagas.com/about-us/gasification/index https://www.dakotagas.com/about-us/gasification/index

elil17 4y ago
Coal gas isn’t petrol, it fills the role of natural gas.
- PaulHoule 4y ago
  The syngas plant produces a stream of "synthesis gas" (hydrogen + CO) which is put through https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabatier_reaction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabatier_reaction to make methane. Similar catalysts at a lower temperature are used in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Tropsch_process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Tropsch_proces... to build up larger hydrocarbons from the same synthesis gas. These people run synthetic fuel factories in a few countries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasol I don't know the details but one of my tenants is a shareholder in Sasol and gets an unusual amount of mail connected with a shareholder lawsuit about that firm's poor performance.
  - elil17 4y ago
    TIL! Very interesting

mikestew 4y ago

Despite the recent controversy with coal power and the push toward alternatives that are more energy efficient like electric cars... Google Translate was at a loss to turn this into sensible English. Anyone? “Shows even though they aren’t crazy about electric cars they still have a good heart and treat people with respect and would help anyone in need.” Never mind, I see that there is narrative-supporting afoot. That's like saying oil rig workers aren't crazy about diesels.

tomohawk 4y ago
The statement is not about the tech involved but about the social groups that tend to use different tech. An EV in West Virginia would be pretty rare, as the range of EVs is inadequate for most uses and they are too expensive for most people. DC, which has considerably more wealth, and less distances to travel - there's a lot more EVs there. So the people whose EV ran out of juice are fish out of water, but they got a nice helping hand from people who likely have very different politics.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

michaelwww 4y ago

This is one of those times the reporter thinks they are saying something deep and profound when they aren't. I don't see the irony or the humor. "Energy workers push an energy consuming car." ok.

cdot2 4y ago
The whole purpose of the article and the original post is to show people who probably disagree on many things being kind to each other. It's rather unusual to see a piece of journalism that doesn't have the goal of making people angry.
dr_orpheus 4y ago
There's an electric car I have seen around my town a couple times that says "powered by coal" on the back.
- Rygian 4y ago
  "and still greener than an ICE" below?

poopypoopington 4y ago

EVs can be powered by coal. ICE cars cannot. This is a dumb article.