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Why don't we just build high speed electrified rail and busses. Why this rollout of electrified golf carts? My car is fast and fun to drive, that's part of it's

Why don't we just build high speed electrified rail and busses. Why this rollout of electrified golf carts? My car is fast and fun to drive, that's part of it's job alongside getting me where I need to go. If I just need to get somewhere, I want to take a clean fast train like Japan and then walk.

Lio 25d ago
Why can't an electric car be fun to drive? I have an old car I'm not planning on changing but electric cars I've driven just seem quieter, smoother and just better than ICE vehicles.
eigenspace 25d ago
Is this implication here that you think this car is an electrified golf cart? What makes you think that it wouldn't be fast or fun to drive? Most electric cars are extremely fun to drive due to their extremely high acceleration. The development and building of newer, more efficient electric vehicles does not preclude the investment in more high speed electrified rail and busses. That complaint is a non-sequitor.
- crote 25d ago
  That depends on your definition of "fun to drive". Flooring it loses its charm within a week, and with the additional weight most EVs are awful when it comes to taking corners at speed. EVs might be fun for drag racing, but if you want to drive on a circuit ICE is still the better option for now.
  - eigenspace 25d ago
    Yeah I can't speak much to circuit racing (nor drag racing for that matter). I just know that the EV's I've driven have been fun to drive. I don't believe that most people talking about "fun to drive" are taking their cars to a racetrack either though. I guess I haven't taken any corners agressively enough to really notice the problems you describe with weight. I will say though that at least for non-racetrack scenarios, the extra weight isn't always as noticable as you'd think because the centre of mass tends to be extremely low relative to an ICE vehicle.
noir_lord 25d ago
More and more buses in my local mass transit system have moved to EV's (these specifically https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_GB_Kite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_GB_Kite) as they age out their older buses and build out the infrastructure they needed. I like them, they are smoother and quieter than the ones they replaced (in fairness that was the oldest diesel buses mostly), I don't like the new on board announcement "Next stop <X>, You are at <X>" style but that's because I'm not partially sighted/blind and it's a small price for making life a lot easier for those folks (and headphones exist).
oklahomasports 25d ago
How on earth would that work in Houston? Why on earth would people want to arrive at any destination soaked in sweat? Everyday on here someone makes a tendentious post about the viability of public transit.
- eigenspace 25d ago
  What does that have to do with being soaked in sweat? I could understand if they suggested everyone get around by bike, but this is just silly. Electric busses and trains can have quite powerful and good air conditioning systems. The problem with this in Houston is the disgracefully stupid urban layout that makes it very hard to effectively serve the city with public transit.
  - oklahomasports 25d ago
    Trains can only get you right next to a very small fraction of the city. The rest of the way you have to walk(I call it the “last mile” problem)
    - eigenspace 25d ago
      Mostly due to the poor design of the city, yes. Do we really need to turn this into a discussion of lost causes? Yes, you monumentally fucked up urban design in many parts of your country. Yes, fixing it is theoretically possible. No, it can't be done in any reasonably small time scale.
      - oklahomasports 25d ago
        Euros own hundreds of millions of cars
        eigenspace 25d ago
        What is your point?
  - 25d ago
swiftcoder 25d ago
> electrified golf carts I'm not clear how something that ran up to 138 kmph (85 mph) during an (intentionally low-speed) efficiency test, would be equivalent to a golf cart?
rtkwe 25d ago
That /just/ is bearing a lot of weight there. And what is Volkswagen going to do to build highspeed rail, they're a car company so they're making cars... The US is trapped in a local maximum due to history, geography and finally politics. There's a lot of local resistance specifically to highspeed rail because to stay highspeed the trains usually bypass smaller local towns so they don't get the benefit but all the negatives of it's construction.
kotaKat 25d ago
> Why don't we just build high speed electrified rail Good luck convincing all those Americans the rail line has to run through their property to freely give up the right-of-way. You're already dead in the first few hundred feet of rail when the first person says "fuck off, no" and starts challenging your eminent domain.

Lio 25d ago

Why can't an electric car be fun to drive? I have an old car I'm not planning on changing but electric cars I've driven just seem quieter, smoother and just better than ICE vehicles.

eigenspace 25d ago

Is this implication here that you think this car is an electrified golf cart? What makes you think that it wouldn't be fast or fun to drive? Most electric cars are extremely fun to drive due to their extremely high acceleration. The development and building of newer, more efficient electric vehicles does not preclude the investment in more high speed electrified rail and busses. That complaint is a non-sequitor.

crote 25d ago
That depends on your definition of "fun to drive". Flooring it loses its charm within a week, and with the additional weight most EVs are awful when it comes to taking corners at speed. EVs might be fun for drag racing, but if you want to drive on a circuit ICE is still the better option for now.
- eigenspace 25d ago
  Yeah I can't speak much to circuit racing (nor drag racing for that matter). I just know that the EV's I've driven have been fun to drive. I don't believe that most people talking about "fun to drive" are taking their cars to a racetrack either though. I guess I haven't taken any corners agressively enough to really notice the problems you describe with weight. I will say though that at least for non-racetrack scenarios, the extra weight isn't always as noticable as you'd think because the centre of mass tends to be extremely low relative to an ICE vehicle.

noir_lord 25d ago

More and more buses in my local mass transit system have moved to EV's (these specifically https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_GB_Kite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_GB_Kite) as they age out their older buses and build out the infrastructure they needed. I like them, they are smoother and quieter than the ones they replaced (in fairness that was the oldest diesel buses mostly), I don't like the new on board announcement "Next stop <X>, You are at <X>" style but that's because I'm not partially sighted/blind and it's a small price for making life a lot easier for those folks (and headphones exist).

oklahomasports 25d ago

How on earth would that work in Houston? Why on earth would people want to arrive at any destination soaked in sweat? Everyday on here someone makes a tendentious post about the viability of public transit.

eigenspace 25d ago
What does that have to do with being soaked in sweat? I could understand if they suggested everyone get around by bike, but this is just silly. Electric busses and trains can have quite powerful and good air conditioning systems. The problem with this in Houston is the disgracefully stupid urban layout that makes it very hard to effectively serve the city with public transit.
- oklahomasports 25d ago
  Trains can only get you right next to a very small fraction of the city. The rest of the way you have to walk(I call it the “last mile” problem)
  - eigenspace 25d ago
    Mostly due to the poor design of the city, yes. Do we really need to turn this into a discussion of lost causes? Yes, you monumentally fucked up urban design in many parts of your country. Yes, fixing it is theoretically possible. No, it can't be done in any reasonably small time scale.
    - oklahomasports 25d ago
      Euros own hundreds of millions of cars
      - eigenspace 25d ago
        What is your point?
- 25d ago

swiftcoder 25d ago

> electrified golf carts I'm not clear how something that ran up to 138 kmph (85 mph) during an (intentionally low-speed) efficiency test, would be equivalent to a golf cart?

rtkwe 25d ago

That /just/ is bearing a lot of weight there. And what is Volkswagen going to do to build highspeed rail, they're a car company so they're making cars... The US is trapped in a local maximum due to history, geography and finally politics. There's a lot of local resistance specifically to highspeed rail because to stay highspeed the trains usually bypass smaller local towns so they don't get the benefit but all the negatives of it's construction.

kotaKat 25d ago

> Why don't we just build high speed electrified rail Good luck convincing all those Americans the rail line has to run through their property to freely give up the right-of-way. You're already dead in the first few hundred feet of rail when the first person says "fuck off, no" and starts challenging your eminent domain.