6 ms·

>48V architecture also potentially improves overall electrical efficiency for reasons that I am not sufficiently qualified to explain beyond a kindergarten leve

by jmrm 3y ago

>48V architecture also potentially improves overall electrical efficiency for reasons that I am not sufficiently qualified to explain beyond a kindergarten level This is double bad in a green energy and EV website: On one hand, they admit they don't now why that happens, but on the other hand, they also didn't research just a bit more on that, and that's bad journalism. Most of the comment threads in this HN post are a lot more informative than the article

CamperBob2 3y ago
Also, "But don't you dare threaten to replace me with an LLM. Journalism is a sacred cornerstone of democracy and intellectual life!"
- wnevets 3y ago
  I don't know if I would call a self proclaimed content marketer a Journalist.
  - ipaddr 3y ago
    He said "Journalism". A non-journalist can produce material that can be considered journalism. A student can teach. A homemaker can even write working code. The labels we give to others to divide us
    - wnevets 3y ago
      > The labels we give to others to divide us They gave the label to themselves
    - eternityforest 3y ago
      I always wondered why there's not some kind of nonprofit volunteer journalism organization you can get involved with. It doesn't appear to be something anyone tries to get normal citizens into, despite the fact that we constantly try to convince people to learn other stuff with much less individual scale value, sometimes even somewhat crazy stuff like home chemistry experiments with lead salts. I always thought that's what I'd want to do with my life if I wasn't coding, and maybe I'd be happier if I had gone to college and studied journalism...
      - commoner 3y ago
        Have you tried writing for Wikinews? https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page Unlike Wikipedia, Wikinews allows and encourages original reporting. You don't need a journalism degree to contribute an article.
      - niemandhier 3y ago
        Because it would probably be overrun by the very opinionated. This happens frequently with new political parties: Someone starts an organisation, it get some amount of traction. Suddenly a lot of new people join and turn the whole thing into a tool to spread their views. AFD in Germany started like this, it almost happens to The Pirate Party, one can argue that Green Parties tend to suffer from this phenomenon.
    - arcticbull 3y ago
      > The labels we give to others to divide us Labels are an optimisation, an imperfect shortcut. They are a way we represent ourselves to others. If you don't tell me you're an engineer, I have to ask a ton of questions to assess your area of competence and skill. If you tell me you're an engineer I can save minutes or hours by putting you in a rough box. If that box is unnecessarily constraining it'll become clear as we spend more time together.
      - ipaddr 3y ago
        When race, gender, sexuality are involved we agree that labeling to save time isn't something accepted. For all of the reasons why shouldn't label those groups applies other labeling.
        arcticbull 3y ago
        Most agree that we shouldn't actively do it, but we definitely do it consciously and subconsciously. It's a very human trait, even if we don't like it. The brain just doesn't have the capacity to evaluate everyone from scratch every time, so it takes shortcuts, and 'accepts' people based on the way they present themselves. The kinds of clothes they wear, shoes they're wearing, and accreditation from mutually trusted institutions. I agree the shortcuts that cause harm should be curbed to the best of our abilities but we can at best notice it and correct after the fact - but it'll still happen.
  - CamperBob2 3y ago
    (Shrug) He called himself one, although admittedly in a former role before moving to Electrek. The point stands. People who DGAF about their jobs are going to lose them, and that's not a bad thing.
    - jondwillis 3y ago
      In before the ex-content marketers are breaking into your house to steal things to fence on Amazon…
dududhxhd 3y ago
Nonsense. It’s a bit of self deprecating humor and gives readers enough information to follow along.
- rasz 3y ago
  "Before joining Electrek, David was a mobile technology journalist for over a decade at Android Police, where he started as a writer and went on to serve as Editor-in-Chief. He later accepted a side quest in the world of startup marketing, heading up content and product marketing initiatives at two SaaS companies."
vampiresdoexist 3y ago
I mean… it’s definitely more of a blog than a strict journalism outlet in the vein of say Bloomberg and whoever is on the EV beat. The writer isn’t publishing false information, and it’s good that the comments are able to add more value! It’s a casual style that has humility and a touch of personality. That’s ok!
NelsonMinar 3y ago
I wish the article had more info too. But I appreciate the author acknowledging the limit of their work and not trying to bullshit or skip over it. I read Electrek daily and find it very useful. They cover a broad range of topic with more insight and voice than the usual crappy blogs that just rewrite press releases or someone else's articles. I particularly like the articles (like this one) that have "Electrek's Take". The Weird Alibaba EV articles are good fun too: https://electrek.co/guides/alibaba/ https://electrek.co/guides/alibaba/
1970-01-01 3y ago
>potentially improves overall electrical efficiency Looks like he understood it the entire time :)
- accrual 3y ago
  I wasn't sure, so I asked: > Higher voltage systems experience lower power losses over the same distance compared to lower voltage systems. This is due to the fact that power loss in a conductor is proportional to the square of the current. By using higher voltage, you can transmit the same amount of power with less current, reducing resistive losses in the wires.
  - jdewerd 3y ago
    12 Volts is 12 Watts per Amp. 48 Volts is 48 Watts per Amp.
  - 1970-01-01 3y ago
    Woosh. There's potentially a joke in there if you read it again while understanding the applicable equation for electrical power. (V^2)/R
    - accrual 3y ago
      Woosh indeed, haha. I'm no EE but it sounded plausible. Maybe I'll get the joke if I do some actual reading. :)
bsza 3y ago
> they admit they don't now why that happens No, they said “not sufficiently qualified to explain”. Which is not the same as not knowing, given that the same phenomenon can be explained on a lot of different levels depending on when you get tired of asking “why?” - see this video of Richard Feynman “explaining” magnets: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MO0r930Sn_8 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MO0r930Sn_8
- kelnos 3y ago
  To me that difference doesn't really matter. At the very least they should have educated themselves, and then provided links to resources to allow people to understand if they didn't feel comfortable explaining it directly.
LeoPanthera 3y ago
This is not too surprising for Electrek, which is run by Tesla/Elon fanboys and mostly got popular by accident during the rise of the EV. I like Ars Technica's car coverage: https://arstechnica.com/cars/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/
justapassenger 3y ago
[dead]
patmcc 3y ago
Eh, I'm not sufficiently qualified to explain relativistic time dilation, but I'm quite certain it exists and we can count on it.
0xDEAFBEAD 3y ago
>Most of the comment threads in this HN post are a lot more informative than the article To be fair, how many commenters on HN would accept a job in journalism if it was offered to them? We're lucky that so many qualified people share their takes for free on this website.

by jmrm 3y ago

CamperBob2 3y ago

Also, "But don't you dare threaten to replace me with an LLM. Journalism is a sacred cornerstone of democracy and intellectual life!"

wnevets 3y ago
I don't know if I would call a self proclaimed content marketer a Journalist.
- ipaddr 3y ago
  He said "Journalism". A non-journalist can produce material that can be considered journalism. A student can teach. A homemaker can even write working code. The labels we give to others to divide us
  - wnevets 3y ago
    > The labels we give to others to divide us They gave the label to themselves
  - eternityforest 3y ago
    I always wondered why there's not some kind of nonprofit volunteer journalism organization you can get involved with. It doesn't appear to be something anyone tries to get normal citizens into, despite the fact that we constantly try to convince people to learn other stuff with much less individual scale value, sometimes even somewhat crazy stuff like home chemistry experiments with lead salts. I always thought that's what I'd want to do with my life if I wasn't coding, and maybe I'd be happier if I had gone to college and studied journalism...
    - commoner 3y ago
      Have you tried writing for Wikinews? https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page Unlike Wikipedia, Wikinews allows and encourages original reporting. You don't need a journalism degree to contribute an article.
    - niemandhier 3y ago
      Because it would probably be overrun by the very opinionated. This happens frequently with new political parties: Someone starts an organisation, it get some amount of traction. Suddenly a lot of new people join and turn the whole thing into a tool to spread their views. AFD in Germany started like this, it almost happens to The Pirate Party, one can argue that Green Parties tend to suffer from this phenomenon.
  - arcticbull 3y ago
    > The labels we give to others to divide us Labels are an optimisation, an imperfect shortcut. They are a way we represent ourselves to others. If you don't tell me you're an engineer, I have to ask a ton of questions to assess your area of competence and skill. If you tell me you're an engineer I can save minutes or hours by putting you in a rough box. If that box is unnecessarily constraining it'll become clear as we spend more time together.
    - ipaddr 3y ago
      When race, gender, sexuality are involved we agree that labeling to save time isn't something accepted. For all of the reasons why shouldn't label those groups applies other labeling.
      - arcticbull 3y ago
        Most agree that we shouldn't actively do it, but we definitely do it consciously and subconsciously. It's a very human trait, even if we don't like it. The brain just doesn't have the capacity to evaluate everyone from scratch every time, so it takes shortcuts, and 'accepts' people based on the way they present themselves. The kinds of clothes they wear, shoes they're wearing, and accreditation from mutually trusted institutions. I agree the shortcuts that cause harm should be curbed to the best of our abilities but we can at best notice it and correct after the fact - but it'll still happen.
- CamperBob2 3y ago
  (Shrug) He called himself one, although admittedly in a former role before moving to Electrek. The point stands. People who DGAF about their jobs are going to lose them, and that's not a bad thing.
  - jondwillis 3y ago
    In before the ex-content marketers are breaking into your house to steal things to fence on Amazon…

dududhxhd 3y ago

Nonsense. It’s a bit of self deprecating humor and gives readers enough information to follow along.

rasz 3y ago
"Before joining Electrek, David was a mobile technology journalist for over a decade at Android Police, where he started as a writer and went on to serve as Editor-in-Chief. He later accepted a side quest in the world of startup marketing, heading up content and product marketing initiatives at two SaaS companies."

vampiresdoexist 3y ago

I mean… it’s definitely more of a blog than a strict journalism outlet in the vein of say Bloomberg and whoever is on the EV beat. The writer isn’t publishing false information, and it’s good that the comments are able to add more value! It’s a casual style that has humility and a touch of personality. That’s ok!

NelsonMinar 3y ago

I wish the article had more info too. But I appreciate the author acknowledging the limit of their work and not trying to bullshit or skip over it. I read Electrek daily and find it very useful. They cover a broad range of topic with more insight and voice than the usual crappy blogs that just rewrite press releases or someone else's articles. I particularly like the articles (like this one) that have "Electrek's Take". The Weird Alibaba EV articles are good fun too: https://electrek.co/guides/alibaba/ https://electrek.co/guides/alibaba/

1970-01-01 3y ago

>potentially improves overall electrical efficiency Looks like he understood it the entire time :)

accrual 3y ago
I wasn't sure, so I asked: > Higher voltage systems experience lower power losses over the same distance compared to lower voltage systems. This is due to the fact that power loss in a conductor is proportional to the square of the current. By using higher voltage, you can transmit the same amount of power with less current, reducing resistive losses in the wires.
- jdewerd 3y ago
  12 Volts is 12 Watts per Amp. 48 Volts is 48 Watts per Amp.
- 1970-01-01 3y ago
  Woosh. There's potentially a joke in there if you read it again while understanding the applicable equation for electrical power. (V^2)/R
  - accrual 3y ago
    Woosh indeed, haha. I'm no EE but it sounded plausible. Maybe I'll get the joke if I do some actual reading. :)

bsza 3y ago

> they admit they don't now why that happens No, they said “not sufficiently qualified to explain”. Which is not the same as not knowing, given that the same phenomenon can be explained on a lot of different levels depending on when you get tired of asking “why?” - see this video of Richard Feynman “explaining” magnets: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MO0r930Sn_8 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MO0r930Sn_8

kelnos 3y ago
To me that difference doesn't really matter. At the very least they should have educated themselves, and then provided links to resources to allow people to understand if they didn't feel comfortable explaining it directly.

LeoPanthera 3y ago

This is not too surprising for Electrek, which is run by Tesla/Elon fanboys and mostly got popular by accident during the rise of the EV. I like Ars Technica's car coverage: https://arstechnica.com/cars/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/

justapassenger 3y ago

[dead]

patmcc 3y ago

Eh, I'm not sufficiently qualified to explain relativistic time dilation, but I'm quite certain it exists and we can count on it.

0xDEAFBEAD 3y ago

>Most of the comment threads in this HN post are a lot more informative than the article To be fair, how many commenters on HN would accept a job in journalism if it was offered to them? We're lucky that so many qualified people share their takes for free on this website.