this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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xkcd #3214: Electric Vehicles

Title text:

Now that I've finally gotten an electric vehicle, I'm never going back to an acoustic one.

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3214/

explainxkcd for #3214

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[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 18 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (5 children)

For the blackout concerns: if you have solar panels, irrelevant, actually you'd be in a better place than with an ICE car. Also, if you have a garage, a fairly powerful generator cost peanuts compared to the price of a car, and some can run on gas cilinders and gasoline. Way safer to store gas cilinders than gas.

Batery longevity: I read an article that reviewed longevity, now that there is enough data, and most cars had better longevity, by far, than expected, except for some early models, like 1st Gen leafs. These had lower longevity, attributed to lower capacity batteries that had to be recharged a lot more. Higher capacities, coupled with way better charging circuits and logic, make for way more durable batteries.

Public charging costs is a valid concern.

Long drives. Decades ago I drove with my ex and my in laws from Madrid to Brussels in one go. 2 of us taking turns.I swore to never do more than 800 Km in one go. We did it in a largish car, pretty comfortable. Yeah, no.

Recyclability: most of ICE cars are recyclable, even much of the plastics, which are used to make floor mats, soundproofing, etc. Most of the car is metal, copper and aluminum being especially valuable.

Joy of driving. Once you experience the insane torque and acceleration of EVs, even the smaller ones, you won't want a stick, unless you have a true sportscar.

I drive a 26 year old car, which I will keep until it has a catastrophic failure, love the thing. Not a major failure ever. Next will be an EV.

[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 hours ago

I have 25 and 23 year old cars. Pretty much the only thing that would cause me to get rid of them would be a crash or the frame rusting out.

I've replaced motors and rebuilt trans on each of them respectively. And I'll continue doing that. Parts are still easily accessible and when they aren't anymore, pretty much everything is metal and a machine shop can fab something up.

[–] waitmarks@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

People conveniently forget that gas pumps are powered by electricity also. A person with solar panels and an ev is going to be in a much better situation in a large scale power outage than someone with a gas car.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

The majority of people who happen to be in cities aren't helped by your setup.

[–] CADmonkey@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

I recall an ice storm where half the state was dark, and sure enough so were the gas stations. It was a fun conversation with my supervisor.

[–] SippyCup@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago

My next car is going to have physical fucking knobs and buttons.

I'm not buying another car with a tablet to control the media and the climate, regardless of power source. If I have to buy a 10 year old rust bucket I will. I'm not going back to the tablet until there's literally no other option available.

[–] myrrh@ttrpg.network 1 points 4 hours ago

...yeah, five hundred miles is a pretty good run, especially with slow speed limits...

...stateside i'm usually spent after twelve hours solo, which will carry you about a thousand miles, although my wife will power through 1250 miles driving in shifts (but that makes for an exhausting day)...

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Recyclability: most of ICE cars are recyclable,

There’s no reason to expect this will be any different with EVs. There are already companies claiming better recycling rates, but they can’t scale up yet because there are not enough retired EVs