@taylan I'm still bullish on hydrogen but a hype correction is needed. It was two decades ago when I saw the first fuel cell as a tech demo, now I want ICEs to be modified to accept hydrogen as a fuel source. EVs can sod off.
@thatbrickster Well if you want genuine sustainable eco-friendly personal transport, you'll have to go for one of these bad boys, optionally with a small battery, and a little trailer for transporting groceries and whatnot. Or you forego personal transport and embrace public transit...
So long as we're talking about an actual car, with all the comfort it offers, I think EVs are the least terrible option. I bought an MG4 at the end of 2023 and am OK with it. (The software is slightly buggy but oh well.) Not great for traveling long distances, especially in the cold, but if your travels stay under like 100km a day, it's fine.
@taylan To me, EVs trade one set of problems for another. They are transitional, a means to an end, rather than a comprehensive solution to sustainable travel at a personal level. I don't hate EVs, I'm just not sold on them.
> That aside, the batteries can't be entirely recycled and they all look ugly as sin. They want to drive themselves, park themselves, be keyless and have non-servicable parts.
The batteries are supposed to barely lose any capacity after 100Mm so they should be usable for 10+ years without any issues; possibly 20+ even, for a normal amount of driving.
I think the MG4 looks pretty slick. It doesn't have any self-driving ambitions and has a regular key. Don't know about parts but that's a more general issue with modern cars isn't it? All the manufacturers want to lock you into their certified replacement parts and sublicensed(?) mechanics and whatnot.
> For balance, they have instant torque and serve as excellent explosives once the cost of replacing the battery exceeds the car's value.
Good point. I'll keep that in mind in case my gf leaves me and I decide to become a terrorist. :blobcat-comfy:
@bonifartius That aside, the batteries can't be entirely recycled and they all look ugly as sin. They want to drive themselves, park themselves, be keyless and have non-servicable parts.
For balance, they have instant torque and serve as excellent explosives once the cost of replacing the battery exceeds the car's value.
Very few people regularly drive more than the typical EV range. Literally the only time I ever had to use fast-charging on a highway was when I was driving the car back from where I bought it. The average person probably doesn't even drive 200km a day, let alone your insane 1000km requirement.
Commercial truckers are of course an exception. Maybe hydrogen trucks will become a thing.
i don't care. it's like saying my boner is hard as diamonds but i last 30 seconds.
i _do_ care for that i can go about 1000km nonstop (which i have done). filling up takes 5 minutes including payment and piss break, then i can go for another 1000km.
@thatbrickster@taylan EVs seem like they are purpose built to make public transport look good. if you have to stop half an hour every few hundred km to ruin your battery with quick charging, trains filled with axe murderers and broken toilets start to look like a sane idea.
Yes I know regular cars can do that, but it's not typically required. And if the charging infrastructure is there, you can do it with an EV as well, just losing a bit of time. Fast charging doesn't seem to affect modern EVs much:
it isn't insane though. it's about what most diesel engine cars since the 80s or 90s can do with sane driving.
the point of a car is flexibility. it isn't about driving 1000km every day. the time i had to, i would've been fucked with an EV OR public transportation. my trusty diesel shitbox did 1000km/day easily.
Ok and I want my car to shit rainbows and serve me a McFlurry. I mean it's neat that your car can do that, but my point is that it's a nearly useless feature. Most people would probably rather have cheaper fuel, a smooth and silent ride, no local pollution, and the ability to charge at home. And then they can still go for the rare 1000km trip if the charging infra is there.
@taylan it isn't about how often i do these trips. it's about the possibility that i could go to my car now, drive to the nearest gas station to fill it up and then go for 1000km. i also can put a bunch of jerry cans in the back to extend the range even more. i could also store these jerry cans for years when adding 50mL conservation costing 50 cents.
@thatbrickster@taylan >I want ICEs to be modified to accept hydrogen as a fuel source You must be a hydrogen-embrittlement enjoyer - most metals exposed to hydrogen soon end up being embrittled by hydrogen.
Fuel cells are much more efficient than ICE's, thus you would want to use electric motors and a fuel cell, less proprietary software.
The main issue with hydrogen is actually keeping it in a dense form so the fuel tank delivers a comparable amount of energy to hydrocarbons, which is difficult and expensive.