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It's worth pointing out that we managed to make cars for over a hundred years that didn't go even a little bit on fire if you got them wet. Remind me why EVs a

It's worth pointing out that we managed to make cars for over a hundred years that didn't go even a little bit on fire if you got them wet. Remind me why EVs are supposed to be good, again?

mattnewton 4y ago
Energy Efficiency? (In terms of the amount of the stored energy put into the car that actually goes towards spinning wheels and not making loud noises and lots of heat) Electrical energy can be renewable generated without carbon emission unlike hydrocarbon energy? Oh and better acceleration and handling in my experience. Early cars were also dangerous death traps, and modern ICE cars can't just drive away after being submerged either. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater; There is work to be done to mitigate water shorts of completely submerged batteries but this seems like an edge case to fix not a reason to throw out the idea of electric cars.
- acidburnNSA 4y ago
  EVs + batteries take a lot more energy and raw materials to manufacture but break even relatively quickly on both accounts since you get to charge them with electricity that may come from clean non-carbon energy sources like nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, geothermal as opposed to filling up regularly with dirty and high-carbon fossil and biofuel. If you charge with coal or gas-generated electricity the breakeven is slower but still generally does happen over a period of some years.
cmsonger 4y ago
Another poster already covered a number of the benefits. I'll add another: Never going to the gas station. If you've got overnight charging, your car is ready to go every morning. My wife and I bought an EV about 5 years ago. I go to the gas station about twice a year for our gas car that we use once in a while. And to reprise the other poster's point: If you are a car guy (I'm a car guy) you've not lived until you've stomped a Tesla's accelerator while going straight up a mountain. (Not sure about Taycan, think they have multiple gears.) OMGWTF, the direct drive surges the car uphill. No lag. No gear shift. It's like driving a 5 speed manual if you only had to say in one gear for the whole drive but I've never been in a sports car with a 5 speed manual and gotten to use just one gear up a mountain. EVs might be environmentally conscious. But don't miss the real headline -- they are spectacular cars to own. Best car I've had. (Sadly all their current offerings are moronic. Yoke? WTF. No display behind the wheel? WTF. I'd not buy a Tesla now because of unforced errors on behalf of Tesla.)
- Gordonjcp 4y ago
  I don't understand why ridiculous acceleration is supposed to be good. In something like 30 years of driving I've never felt the need to accelerate flat-out from 0 to 60mph. Why is this a thing?
smileysteve 4y ago
> for over a hundred years that didn't go even a little bit on fire if you got them wet. One thing that the article doesn't cover is how much ground and water the oil and gas from cars and boats have contaminated. If fire fighters were actively worried about the ecological disaster, they'd also be distracted by each boat.

It's worth pointing out that we managed to make cars for over a hundred years that didn't go even a little bit on fire if you got them wet. Remind me why EVs are supposed to be good, again?

mattnewton 4y ago

Energy Efficiency? (In terms of the amount of the stored energy put into the car that actually goes towards spinning wheels and not making loud noises and lots of heat) Electrical energy can be renewable generated without carbon emission unlike hydrocarbon energy? Oh and better acceleration and handling in my experience. Early cars were also dangerous death traps, and modern ICE cars can't just drive away after being submerged either. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater; There is work to be done to mitigate water shorts of completely submerged batteries but this seems like an edge case to fix not a reason to throw out the idea of electric cars.

acidburnNSA 4y ago
EVs + batteries take a lot more energy and raw materials to manufacture but break even relatively quickly on both accounts since you get to charge them with electricity that may come from clean non-carbon energy sources like nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, geothermal as opposed to filling up regularly with dirty and high-carbon fossil and biofuel. If you charge with coal or gas-generated electricity the breakeven is slower but still generally does happen over a period of some years.

cmsonger 4y ago

Another poster already covered a number of the benefits. I'll add another: Never going to the gas station. If you've got overnight charging, your car is ready to go every morning. My wife and I bought an EV about 5 years ago. I go to the gas station about twice a year for our gas car that we use once in a while. And to reprise the other poster's point: If you are a car guy (I'm a car guy) you've not lived until you've stomped a Tesla's accelerator while going straight up a mountain. (Not sure about Taycan, think they have multiple gears.) OMGWTF, the direct drive surges the car uphill. No lag. No gear shift. It's like driving a 5 speed manual if you only had to say in one gear for the whole drive but I've never been in a sports car with a 5 speed manual and gotten to use just one gear up a mountain. EVs might be environmentally conscious. But don't miss the real headline -- they are spectacular cars to own. Best car I've had. (Sadly all their current offerings are moronic. Yoke? WTF. No display behind the wheel? WTF. I'd not buy a Tesla now because of unforced errors on behalf of Tesla.)

Gordonjcp 4y ago
I don't understand why ridiculous acceleration is supposed to be good. In something like 30 years of driving I've never felt the need to accelerate flat-out from 0 to 60mph. Why is this a thing?

smileysteve 4y ago

> for over a hundred years that didn't go even a little bit on fire if you got them wet. One thing that the article doesn't cover is how much ground and water the oil and gas from cars and boats have contaminated. If fire fighters were actively worried about the ecological disaster, they'd also be distracted by each boat.