I'm in me electric nerd car, broom broom [split topic]

[checkoutgirl]

Dunno who Douglas Coupland is but this is the biggest nonsense piece of shit I've ever read including anything by Adrian Chiles or Kaitlyn Moran.

'The smartest person in any room anywhere': in defence of Elon Musk, by Douglas Coupland

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/29/the-smartest-person-in-any-room-anywhere-in-defence-of-elon-musk-by-douglas-coupland

[Ferris]

christ.

[mothman]

christ.

Seconded. I used to be a big fan of Coupland's books but not read any of his recents. Just as well...

[idunnosomename]

I don't like Grace Dent. a void. wasn't her first big garun gig writing about soaps? as a teenager trying to be all grown-up reading a paper, I was like, why the fuck is here? I do not care, for I have read both Brave New World and Nineteen-Eighty-Four

[Sebastian Cobb]

Dunno who Douglas Coupland is but this is the biggest nonsense piece of shit I've ever read including anything by Adrian Chiles or Kaitlyn Moran.

'The smartest person in any room anywhere': in defence of Elon Musk, by Douglas Coupland

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/29/the-smartest-person-in-any-room-anywhere-in-defence-of-elon-musk-by-douglas-coupland

Speaking of Chiles I read this the other day, I think it's tongue in cheek:
https://www.gawker.com/media/adrian-chiles-does-not-miss

[PlanktonSideburns]

Fuck me, read that

I took drugs and it made me do an wiggly eyedozy

Article Chiles did. Amazing

[Ferris]

The pro-Musk one (in the graun of all places) was like the precursor to the old visual gag where the drunk does a double take, looks at his bottle and throws it away.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Don't have the strength to read the musk one

[Sebastian Cobb]

The stanning of musk is ridiculous and the more you passively absorb the more you find the shitter his cars are and the bigger the dickhead he is, baffling.

There's a proper stockholm syndrome thing with Tesla owners, and now they've allowed this beta test of autopilot they're all still saying they're "great cars" even though the self-driving stuff keeps trying to kill them. Not to mention the fucked up ethical stuff about every other fucker on the road being a non-consensual participant in these tests.

[Ferris]

We are tentatively looking for a car (will end up getting one in the next year probably) and considered a tesla because environment but the guys such a fucking cunt that we've gone off the idea.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'm no car expert and this is all through stuff I've passively absorbed through the internet rather than actively sought out; the self driving stuff seems murderous and the fit and finish of Teslas is shocking to the point doors barely fit and bumpers fall off. They have a normal car battery for all the ancillary electrics including the brains but that can go flat and the car needs to be taken apart to recharge it oh and they occasionally burst into flames, and if they do that when you're inside good luck getting the doors to open.

Loads of traditional car manufacturers are getting in on the EV game now and they already have lots of knowledge on the basics of "making doors fit" and stuff. Hyundai look like ones to watch.

Also the whole thing about buying new always being bad for the environment and especially if your mileage is relatively low it will likely work out more environmentally friendly to buy a used economical car or hybrid even if it needs fossil fuel.

[Ferris]

Toyota make a hybrid as well, and I understand they rarely become four-wheeled conflagrations of death when you're on the way to swimming lessons.

[beanheadmcginty]

I was reading about the new Rivian electric pick ups today. They look well good. Much better than a Tesla. Get one of them.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I was reading about the new Rivian electric pick ups today. They look well good. Much better than a Tesla. Get one of them.

Ford released this as a concept pickup recently:


Yeah, total marketing gimmick I know but still.

Hyundai did similar with this:


look i know even electric cars are bad but both of these are cool as fuck and smash tesla vaopourware cars.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Toyota make a hybrid as well, and I understand they rarely become four-wheeled conflagrations of death when you're on the way to swimming lessons.

Toyota (and the rest of the Japanese manufacturers) know how to make a car. Even the shit/boring ones are reliable.

I quite like this new Honda electric:


Again I've not really researched any of this, I generally follow people who hate cars on twitter, and some tech people, yet this bleeds through.

I think we can all say at a base level all these vehicles are kind of cooler and smell far less of lynx and handsex than teslas though.

[Sebastian Cobb]

My favourite thing about ev's is that a lot of them are seemingly reinventing the 'cutting edge' Quartic steering wheel.

[idunnosomename]

also the Tesla Cybertruck video or whatever embedded in the guardian article is now vanished for whatever reason. lol

[Ferris]

My favourite thing about ev's is that a lot of them are seemingly reinventing the 'cutting edge' Quartic steering wheel.

Not sure about that green one, looks a bit like a toy car (though my brain has been warped by hours of looking at toy cars with ferris jr). We'll likely just get a cheap banger that is as efficient as possible, and figure how cheap we can go on the banger/efficiency spectrum before we agree it's a death trap.

Re: steering wheels, I've always been a fan of the "single-spoke" design of the citroen DS. Look at this wackiness!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Fucking love Citroens, every car company as a trite motto that amounts to "dare to dream" but Citroen really did fuck around and made some wonderful cars (the DS included) that are off the wall.

My dad had a Xantia, which is basically like a 'lowrider' but it takes about 3 minutes to 'hit switches'.

[Ferris]

Yeah I'm quite fond of them too. We had a Citroen BX growing up and my dad drove his 2CV until it literally broke in half and had to be scrapped. I remember him folormly keeping both halves in the garage with the intention that one day he'd arc-weld them back together but some dreams go unfulfilled.

Even though it looks like 1987 incarnate, the BX still has some kooky shit like the semi-recessed wheels/arches etc. You have to love a bit of flair like that.

[idunnosomename]

don't keep asking me why Reg

[Dex Sawash]

Hard to imagine that Toyota will very badly fuck up pure electric cars. No way would I gamble on a non-Prius hybrid.

If anyone fancies getting in the electric car business, NEVS (national electric vehicle sweden) is for sale. The chinese parent company is selling off assets (Evergrand the big one that crashed the market a few months ago). You can restart the line building an EV version of a 2003 Saab.

[Sebastian Cobb]

The Saab lives on... forever in electric dreams.

[Captain Poodle Basher]

The stanning of musk is ridiculous and the more you passively absorb the more you find the shitter his cars are and the bigger the dickhead he is, baffling.

Meh. They needed someone to replace Steve Jobs. With their wanking on and on about iPhones and iPads while giving over acres of free coverage to each Apple product launch.

[kalowski]

The thing about electric cars they never mention is the issue that if I want to charge it from home I need a cable running from my terraced house across the pavement, just perfect as a trip hazard. The world always imagines people in semi detached houses with drives.
Can they be charged really quickly in designated charging points?

[PlanktonSideburns]

Mate bought a Honda one, lives on top story flat

He's bought a new one that does 300 miles on a full battery so charging happens pretty inoften for him, so it's no bother

[phantom_power]

If companies were serious about this whole thing they would standardise the batteries, have them easily removable and then at petrol stations you would just swap your one for a full one, and put your one to charge for someone else. That would alleviate the long battery charge times making filling up on a journey more manageable

I haven't thought through the practicalities of that but it seems like a reasonable idea

[idunnosomename]

Or just have them run on D batteries. you never see then anymore eh. What happened to them?!?

[PlanktonSideburns]

If companies were serious about this whole thing they would standardise the batteries, have them easily removable and then at petrol stations you would just swap your one for a full one, and put your one to charge for someone else. That would alleviate the long battery charge times making filling up on a journey more manageable

I haven't thought through the practicalities of that but it seems like a reasonable idea

I guess the problem there is one they're all fast charging and you get loads of mileage for a quick charge, the whole battery swap infrastructure would be obsolete

[phantom_power]

Isn't that true of every car on the road now though? The fast charging capability would be linked to the battery wouldn't it? Or would it? I don't know