• xkcd: Electric Vehicles

    From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 15:16:29 2026
    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too. Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my F-150
    4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ? We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 10:23:25 2026
    On 2026-03-03 21:16:29 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too. Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my
    F-150 4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ? We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles

    Lynn

    Not until the batteries can be fully recharged in the same few minutes
    it takes to fill a petrol powered car.

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 21:29:53 2026
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 10:23:25 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric
    car.

    Not sure why that?s necessary. You *do* realize electric motors don?t
    stall, don?t you? So you could start off from 0 RPM in top gear. The
    more current the motor draws, the more torque it puts out.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 17:27:48 2026
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 10:23:25 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric
    car.

    Not sure why that's necessary.

    Don't worry, the British are working on it. Morgan showed a 4/4 with an induction motor that had a relatively limited speed range, going into
    a Getrag six-speed. Very very British. If they can just make it leak oil, they will have a good market.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 16:52:56 2026
    On 3/3/2026 4:27 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 10:23:25 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric
    car.

    Not sure why that's necessary.

    Don't worry, the British are working on it. Morgan showed a 4/4 with an induction motor that had a relatively limited speed range, going into
    a Getrag six-speed. Very very British. If they can just make it leak oil, they will have a good market.
    --scott

    You forgot the British vehicle eating batteries and alternators /
    generators on alternate months. And of course the mandatory vehicle
    body rot in the first year.

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Bobbie Sellers@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 14:59:03 2026


    On 3/3/26 14:52, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 3/3/2026 4:27 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=˙ <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 10:23:25 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric
    car.

    Not sure why that's necessary.

    Don't worry, the British are working on it.˙ Morgan showed a 4/4 with an
    induction motor that had a relatively limited speed range, going into
    a Getrag six-speed.˙ Very very British.˙ If they can just make it leak
    oil,
    they will have a good market.
    --scott

    You forgot the British vehicle eating batteries and alternators /
    generators on alternate months.˙ And of course the mandatory vehicle
    body rot in the first year.

    Lynn


    Lynn. you sound as though you are familiar with "Lucas the Prince of
    Darkness."

    bliss

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Bobbie Sellers@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 15:02:53 2026


    On 3/3/26 13:23, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 21:16:29 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    ˙˙˙ https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too.˙ Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my
    F-150 4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ?˙ We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    ˙˙˙ https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles

    Lynn

    Not until the batteries can be fully recharged in the same few minutes
    it takes to fill a petrol powered car.

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ... which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car.


    Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as a Tesla
    does to charge. Why the hell would you want to add complications to a
    simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift. All you need is reverse for parking?

    bliss - waiting on the 300 mile battery-powered motorcycle at a reasonable price


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 17:10:20 2026
    On 3/3/2026 4:59 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:


    On 3/3/26 14:52, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 3/3/2026 4:27 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=˙ <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 10:23:25 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric
    car.

    Not sure why that's necessary.

    Don't worry, the British are working on it.˙ Morgan showed a 4/4 with an >>> induction motor that had a relatively limited speed range, going into
    a Getrag six-speed.˙ Very very British.˙ If they can just make it
    leak oil,
    they will have a good market.
    --scott

    You forgot the British vehicle eating batteries and alternators /
    generators on alternate months.˙ And of course the mandatory vehicle
    body rot in the first year.

    Lynn


    ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙ Lynn. you sound as though you are familiar with "Lucas the
    Prince of Darkness."

    ˙˙˙˙bliss

    I am more familiar with his brother Volvo, the Prince of Not
    Startedness. And his cousin Volvo Gearbox, the Prince of Broken Tooth
    In Reverse Gear. One of my friends at TAMU SCCA Club was intimately
    familiar with Porsche 914, the Prince of Random Engine Fires. My 1973
    Volvo 145 was familiar with the Prince of Random Engine Fires also.

    All of us hated the Triumph TR6 that one of our club members owned.
    Such a beautiful car but living in an area that got 60 inches of rain
    every year so it was the Prince Of Squishy Seats and the Prince of Not Startedness.

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 18:34:28 2026
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 3/3/2026 4:27 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 10:23:25 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric
    car.

    Not sure why that's necessary.

    Don't worry, the British are working on it. Morgan showed a 4/4 with an
    induction motor that had a relatively limited speed range, going into
    a Getrag six-speed. Very very British. If they can just make it leak oil, >> they will have a good market.
    --scott

    You forgot the British vehicle eating batteries and alternators /
    generators on alternate months. And of course the mandatory vehicle
    body rot in the first year.

    "The Parts Falling Off This Car Are Of the Finest British Manufacture"
    -- bumper sticker seen on MGB
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 17:44:07 2026
    On 3/3/2026 5:02 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:


    On 3/3/26 13:23, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 21:16:29 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    ˙˙˙ https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too.˙ Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my
    F-150 4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ?˙ We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    ˙˙˙ https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles

    Lynn

    Not until the batteries can be fully recharged in the same few minutes
    it takes to fill a petrol powered car.

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car.


    ˙˙˙˙Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as a Tesla
    does to charge.˙ Why the hell would you want to add complications to a
    simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift.˙ All you need is reverse
    for
    parking?

    ˙˙˙˙bliss - waiting on the 300 mile battery-powered motorcycle at a reasonable price

    "Worlds First Solid State Powered Electric Motorcycle gets 600km (370
    miles) Range"
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFj6Irg-SYU

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 20:06:21 2026
    On 3/3/2026 5:27 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 10:23:25 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric
    car.

    Not sure why that's necessary.

    Don't worry, the British are working on it. Morgan showed a 4/4 with an induction motor that had a relatively limited speed range, going into
    a Getrag six-speed. Very very British. If they can just make it leak oil, they will have a good market.
    --scott


    Just a long as they don't use Lucas Electrics.

    pt

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Bobbie Sellers@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 18:38:16 2026


    On 3/3/26 15:44, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 3/3/2026 5:02 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:


    On 3/3/26 13:23, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 21:16:29 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    ˙˙˙ https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too.˙ Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my
    F-150 4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ?˙ We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    ˙˙˙ https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles >>>>
    Lynn

    Not until the batteries can be fully recharged in the same few
    minutes it takes to fill a petrol powered car.

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car.


    ˙˙˙˙˙Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as
    a Tesla
    does to charge.˙ Why the hell would you want to add complications to a
    simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift.˙ All you need is
    reverse for
    parking?

    ˙˙˙˙˙bliss - waiting on the 300 mile battery-powered motorcycle at a
    reasonable price

    "Worlds First Solid State Powered Electric Motorcycle gets 600km (370
    miles) Range"
    ˙˙ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFj6Irg-SYU

    Lynn


    Sorry but analysis by other folks reveal the solid state "Donut" batteries
    obtained by purchase reveal more regular Lithium batteries. Team Amiga
    is always
    looking for this stuff. Frequently saddened by the reports.
    Uncovering The World's First Solid-State Battery - YouTube https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H45HXs4xXfA__;!!G92We9drHetJ8EofZw!euy32olPaCYb8NmtSBr83jKCTCNTdGDcl_SP4Mla-Ibcw2ae5Pt8AfaVG5RJgRqwAUd5GWO-nTYCWAKkjAiX78UxiLatMg$

    Take care, Lynn.

    bliss

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Titus G@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 15:51:20 2026
    On 04/03/2026 10:23, Your Name wrote:

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ... which
    will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car.

    I agree. An electric car with a proper manual stick shift would be silly.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 16:04:24 2026
    On 2026-03-03 21:29:53 +0000, Lawrence D?Oliveiro said:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 10:23:25 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric
    car.

    Not sure why that?s necessary. You *do* realize electric motors don?t
    stall, don?t you? So you could start off from 0 RPM in top gear. The
    more current the motor draws, the more torque it puts out.

    An actual gearstick (not silly flappy paddles behind the steering
    wheel) is what *real* drivers use. Those who just want to get from A to
    B use a lazy automatic or now an electric car. An automatic or electric sportscar is an oxymoron. They are designed for posers and drag race /
    0-60 nutters.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 16:08:53 2026
    On 2026-03-03 23:02:53 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:

    On 3/3/26 13:23, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 21:16:29 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    ??? https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too.? Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my
    F-150 4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ?? We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    ??? https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles

    Lynn

    Not until the batteries can be fully recharged in the same few minutes
    it takes to fill a petrol powered car.

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car.


    Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as a Tesla
    does to charge. Why the hell would you want to add complications to a
    simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift. All you need is reverse for parking?

    bliss - waiting on the 300 mile battery-powered motorcycle at a reasonable price

    Why would I stop to eat?? You go somewhere, do what you went for, and
    then come back.

    Even if you did stop to eat, you have to find a vacant charger, and
    since there are hardly any chargers int the first place, let alone a
    vacant one, you'll find it a bit difficult. If you do manage to find
    one, you're then tying it up so nobody else can use it for a few hours.

    Electric cars are simply ridiculous idiocy that defy all common sense.




    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 21:28:55 2026
    On 3/3/2026 8:38 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:


    On 3/3/26 15:44, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 3/3/2026 5:02 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:


    On 3/3/26 13:23, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 21:16:29 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    ˙˙˙ https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too.˙ Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my
    F-150 4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ?˙ We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    ˙˙˙ https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles >>>>>
    Lynn

    Not until the batteries can be fully recharged in the same few
    minutes it takes to fill a petrol powered car.

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car.


    ˙˙˙˙˙Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as
    a Tesla
    does to charge.˙ Why the hell would you want to add complications to a
    simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift.˙ All you need is
    reverse for
    parking?

    ˙˙˙˙˙bliss - waiting on the 300 mile battery-powered motorcycle at a
    reasonable price

    "Worlds First Solid State Powered Electric Motorcycle gets 600km (370
    miles) Range"
    ˙˙˙ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFj6Irg-SYU

    Lynn


    ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙ Sorry but analysis by other folks reveal the solid state
    "Donut" batteries
    obtained by purchase reveal more regular Lithium batteries.˙ Team Amiga
    is always
    looking for this stuff.˙ Frequently saddened by the reports.
    Uncovering The World's First Solid-State Battery - YouTube
    https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?
    v=H45HXs4xXfA__;!!G92We9drHetJ8EofZw!
    euy32olPaCYb8NmtSBr83jKCTCNTdGDcl_SP4Mla-
    Ibcw2ae5Pt8AfaVG5RJgRqwAUd5GWO-nTYCWAKkjAiX78UxiLatMg$

    ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙ Take care, Lynn.

    ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙ bliss

    Aha, I knew that there was a leg being pulled somewhere.

    Toyota is claiming that their new Highlander EV will be solid state
    batteries next year but they have caveated their statements.

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mark Shaw@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 03:34:54 2026
    In rec.arts.sf.written Your Name <YourName@yourisp.com> wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 23:02:53 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:

    Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as a Tesla
    does to charge. Why the hell would you want to add complications to a simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift. All you need is reverse for
    parking?

    Why would I stop to eat?? You go somewhere, do what you went for, and
    then come back.

    Even if you did stop to eat, you have to find a vacant charger, and
    since there are hardly any chargers int the first place, let alone a
    vacant one, you'll find it a bit difficult. If you do manage to find
    one, you're then tying it up so nobody else can use it for a few hours.

    I travel a lot for my hobby (dogsports judge), and typically rent
    cars in the destination city. Avis has inflicted electric vehicles
    upon me twice.

    In Washington State, I was headed to a rural location and didn't
    even know that I was given an electric vehicle until 20-30 miles
    down the road. After arriving, I researched recharging stations
    and found that there were none within the predicted range of what
    charge I had left. I ended up hooking up to 120VAC household current.
    It took about 36 hours to build up a comfortable charge, and the
    person who pays for that current yelled at me (as well she should
    have).

    In a suburb of New Orleans, I was comfortably within the confines
    of a large city, but there were only two charging stations reasonably
    close to me or on my route back to the airport. One was listed by
    Google Maps as being closed for an indefinite period. The other
    one was quite well out of my way. I returned that vehicle without
    charging it, and was prepared to tear an agent a new orifice if
    one were to contact me with a complaint. (That did not happen.)

    Fortunately, the Avis app now allows a renter to pre-decline a
    Duracell vehicle.

    Electric cars are simply ridiculous idiocy that defy all common sense.

    I think that if you want one for yourself for city use and are
    prepared to pay to have a home charging station installed, it would
    work well for you. You do need to be prepared for issues if you
    want to do a road trip, though, and to understand the charging
    curve during cold weather. Simply switching out a conventional
    ICE vehicle for an Energizer one for a rental contract is right
    the f--k out, though.

    --
    Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
    "Anyway, we delivered the bomb."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Bobbie Sellers@3:633/10 to All on Tue Mar 3 19:37:34 2026


    On 3/3/26 19:08, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 23:02:53 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:

    On 3/3/26 13:23, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 21:16:29 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    ˙˙˙ https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too.˙ Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my
    F-150 4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ?˙ We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    ˙˙˙ https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles >>>>
    Lynn

    Not until the batteries can be fully recharged in the same few
    minutes it takes to fill a petrol powered car.

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car.


    ˙˙˙˙Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as a
    Tesla
    does to charge.˙ Why the hell would you want to add complications to a
    simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift.˙ All you need is
    reverse for
    parking?

    ˙˙˙˙bliss - waiting on the 300 mile battery-powered motorcycle at a
    reasonable price

    Why would I stop to eat?? You go somewhere, do what you went for, and
    then come back.

    Even if you did stop to eat, you have to find a vacant charger, and
    since there are hardly any chargers int the first place, let alone a
    vacant one, you'll find it a bit difficult. If you do manage to find
    one, you're then tying it up so nobody else can use it for a few hours.

    Electric cars are simply ridiculous idiocy that defy all common sense.

    I have a friend with a Tesla also a mansion in Pacific Heights. He is frequently
    driving to and from Los Angeles I that is why he stops along the way to
    eat and
    to recharge. Hear nothing about trouble finding a charging space and we
    have
    some on city streets. Used to have lot in the parking lot of a Safeway
    store on
    O'Farrell between Webster and Fillmore Streets. The Safeway closed and will
    be replaced eventually as the Ground story of a housing complex. I used
    to shop there a few times a month. When I started that in my 30s I
    could walk
    back and forth. Then I could walk out and take the bus back then i took the bus both ways but then the store went away since Covid restrictions began
    to be lifted. I dunno about the charging stations.

    Internal explosion engines are ridiculous except on motorcycles. In cars
    the IEE's have spoiled our climate. As someone in the Early 20th or late
    19th Century said "A fad, these noisy stink machines cannot hold the
    public's interest."

    Speaking as someone who was fascinated by the technology in
    my earlier years, two-strokes, 4 strokes. side valve, OHV, and Desdromic
    run by various chains and shafts. Just to get a put-put.

    bliss in San Francisco, California, USA

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 03:56:08 2026
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 16:04:24 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    An automatic or electric sportscar is an oxymoron.

    While we?re at it: down with synchromesh! If you don?t need to
    double-declutch while changing gear, it?s not a *real* car!

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 03:58:09 2026
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 15:51:20 +1300, Titus G wrote:

    An electric car with a proper manual stick shift would be silly.

    Not necessarily. They already have cars which fake engine noise
    through the hi-fi speakers. It would be easy enough for the power
    control system to add a fake torque curve and gear ratios, up to and
    including fake stalling if you stuff it up!

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 20:11:51 2026
    On 2026-03-04 03:37:34 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:

    On 3/3/26 19:08, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 23:02:53 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:

    On 3/3/26 13:23, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 21:16:29 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    ??? https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too.? Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my
    F-150 4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ?? We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    ??? https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles >>>>>
    Lynn

    Not until the batteries can be fully recharged in the same few minutes >>>> it takes to fill a petrol powered car.

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car.


    ????Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as a Tesla
    does to charge.? Why the hell would you want to add complications to a
    simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift.? All you need is reverse for
    parking?

    ????bliss - waiting on the 300 mile battery-powered motorcycle at a
    reasonable price

    Why would I stop to eat?? You go somewhere, do what you went for, and
    then come back.

    Even if you did stop to eat, you have to find a vacant charger, and
    since there are hardly any chargers int the first place, let alone a
    vacant one, you'll find it a bit difficult. If you do manage to find
    one, you're then tying it up so nobody else can use it for a few hours.

    Electric cars are simply ridiculous idiocy that defy all common sense.

    I have a friend with a Tesla also a mansion in Pacific Heights. He is frequently
    driving to and from Los Angeles I that is why he stops along the way to eat and
    to recharge. Hear nothing about trouble finding a charging space and we have some on city streets. Used to have lot in the parking lot of a Safeway store on
    O'Farrell between Webster and Fillmore Streets. The Safeway closed and will be replaced eventually as the Ground story of a housing complex. I used
    to shop there a few times a month. When I started that in my 30s I could walk
    back and forth. Then I could walk out and take the bus back then i took the bus both ways but then the store went away since Covid restrictions began
    to be lifted. I dunno about the charging stations.

    Internal explosion engines are ridiculous except on motorcycles. In cars
    the IEE's have spoiled our climate. As someone in the Early 20th or late 19th Century said "A fad, these noisy stink machines cannot hold the
    public's interest."

    Speaking as someone who was fascinated by the technology in
    my earlier years, two-strokes, 4 strokes. side valve, OHV, and Desdromic
    run by various chains and shafts. Just to get a put-put.

    bliss in San Francisco, California, USA

    Despite what the greenie brigade would like to have you believe, the
    private car (and farting farm animals for that matter) are a minor part
    of the problem. The bigger problem is the diesel belching buses and
    trains of public transport, the diesel belching trucks, the numerous
    polluting factories, garbage dumps, etc.

    In reality, the biggest problem is actually that there are simply far
    too many humans on the planet.

    Electric cars are no better for the environment than real cars are.




    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 20:14:20 2026
    On 2026-03-04 03:58:09 +0000, Lawrence D?Oliveiro said:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 15:51:20 +1300, Titus G wrote:

    An electric car with a proper manual stick shift would be silly.

    Not necessarily. They already have cars which fake engine noise
    through the hi-fi speakers. It would be easy enough for the power
    control system to add a fake torque curve and gear ratios, up to and including fake stalling if you stuff it up!

    But "fake" = "silly".


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Carl Fink@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 14:22:36 2026
    On 2026-03-04, Mark Shaw <mshaw@panix.com> wrote:

    I think that if you want one for yourself for city use and are
    prepared to pay to have a home charging station installed, it would
    work well for you. You do need to be prepared for issues if you
    want to do a road trip, though, and to understand the charging
    curve during cold weather. Simply switching out a conventional
    ICE vehicle for an Energizer one for a rental contract is right
    the f--k out, though.

    Suburban use is also fine, and they're great second cars. Not suitable for
    my situation, either (so I bought a hybrid, giving me the insane 60 mpg in
    the right conditions). IOW, you are correct. I would like to try an
    electric vehicle, just out of curiosity, but I do not want one sprung on me
    by a rental agency.
    --
    Carl Fink carl@finknetwork.com
    https://reasonablyliterate.com https://nitpicking.com
    If you want to make a point, somebody will take the point and stab you with it.
    -Kenne Estes

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 14:37:28 2026
    Carl Fink <carlf@panix.com> writes:
    On 2026-03-04, Mark Shaw <mshaw@panix.com> wrote:

    I think that if you want one for yourself for city use and are
    prepared to pay to have a home charging station installed, it would
    work well for you. You do need to be prepared for issues if you
    want to do a road trip, though, and to understand the charging
    curve during cold weather. Simply switching out a conventional
    ICE vehicle for an Energizer one for a rental contract is right
    the f--k out, though.

    Suburban use is also fine, and they're great second cars. Not suitable for
    my situation, either (so I bought a hybrid, giving me the insane 60 mpg in >the right conditions). IOW, you are correct. I would like to try an
    electric vehicle, just out of curiosity, but I do not want one sprung on me >by a rental agency.

    While I've had problems with Avis[*] recently, my experience has been that
    one selects the rental car in advance. Avis doesn't just willy-nilly
    assign electric cars to renters unless they ask for one.

    [*] Reserved a mercedes, but the San Diego airport rental counter demanded two forms of
    government ID to rent the mercedes and I didn't bring my passport, so they downgraded me to a seriously underpowered mazda suv.

    Never Avis again.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 11:36:44 2026
    Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> wrote:
    Even if you did stop to eat, you have to find a vacant charger, and
    since there are hardly any chargers int the first place, let alone a
    vacant one, you'll find it a bit difficult. If you do manage to find
    one, you're then tying it up so nobody else can use it for a few hours.

    THERE is the real problem. That is the problem that needs to be solved.

    Electric cars are simply ridiculous idiocy that defy all common sense.

    I was in Thailand in the fall and about maybe a quarter of the cars I saw
    on the road even in rural areas were electric (pretty much all from BYD). Thailand is a big country... from north to south it is as tall as the US
    from Maine to Florida... and I asked why in such a big country people were buying cars with comparatively limited range. And everyone I asked just
    said that people didn't take cars for long drives, they took the train or
    flew anyway.

    I did like the idea of physical battery packs that could be swapped out at
    gas stations and then slow-charged at leisure. It's a shame that did not
    catch on but the high density of the battery pack means it's best to locate
    it as low on the car body as possible and that makes replacement difficult. --scott


    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 11:39:08 2026
    On 3/3/2026 10:56 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 16:04:24 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    An automatic or electric sportscar is an oxymoron.

    While we?re at it: down with synchromesh! If you don?t need to double-declutch while changing gear, it?s not a *real* car!

    ...and lets get rid of those namby-pamby electric starters!
    Real Drivers use a hand crank!

    pt

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 11:51:00 2026
    On 3/3/2026 10:34 PM, Mark Shaw wrote:
    In rec.arts.sf.written Your Name <YourName@yourisp.com> wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 23:02:53 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:

    Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as a Tesla
    does to charge. Why the hell would you want to add complications to a
    simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift. All you need is reverse for
    parking?

    Why would I stop to eat?? You go somewhere, do what you went for, and
    then come back.

    Even if you did stop to eat, you have to find a vacant charger, and
    since there are hardly any chargers int the first place, let alone a
    vacant one, you'll find it a bit difficult. If you do manage to find
    one, you're then tying it up so nobody else can use it for a few hours.

    I travel a lot for my hobby (dogsports judge), and typically rent
    cars in the destination city. Avis has inflicted electric vehicles
    upon me twice.

    In Washington State, I was headed to a rural location and didn't
    even know that I was given an electric vehicle until 20-30 miles
    down the road. After arriving, I researched recharging stations
    and found that there were none within the predicted range of what
    charge I had left. I ended up hooking up to 120VAC household current.
    It took about 36 hours to build up a comfortable charge, and the
    person who pays for that current yelled at me (as well she should
    have).

    In a suburb of New Orleans, I was comfortably within the confines
    of a large city, but there were only two charging stations reasonably
    close to me or on my route back to the airport. One was listed by
    Google Maps as being closed for an indefinite period. The other
    one was quite well out of my way. I returned that vehicle without
    charging it, and was prepared to tear an agent a new orifice if
    one were to contact me with a complaint. (That did not happen.)

    Fortunately, the Avis app now allows a renter to pre-decline a
    Duracell vehicle.

    Electric cars are simply ridiculous idiocy that defy all common sense.

    I think that if you want one for yourself for city use and are
    prepared to pay to have a home charging station installed, it would
    work well for you. You do need to be prepared for issues if you
    want to do a road trip, though, and to understand the charging
    curve during cold weather. Simply switching out a conventional
    ICE vehicle for an Energizer one for a rental contract is right
    the f--k out, though.

    I totally agree that putting someone in an electric without
    telling them is completely unacceptable. I also find it
    highly implausible that you didn't notice immediately.

    In the US, EVs are still best for those willing to climb a
    short learning curve.

    There are 5-6 chargers within a mile of the New Orleans
    airport, 3 within the airport itself.

    https://www.plugshare.com/

    pt





    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 08:47:46 2026
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 03:34:54 -0000 (UTC), Mark Shaw <mshaw@panix.com>
    wrote:

    <snippo>

    I travel a lot for my hobby (dogsports judge), and typically rent
    cars in the destination city. Avis has inflicted electric vehicles
    upon me twice.

    In Washington State, I was headed to a rural location and didn't
    even know that I was given an electric vehicle until 20-30 miles
    down the road. After arriving, I researched recharging stations
    and found that there were none within the predicted range of what
    charge I had left. I ended up hooking up to 120VAC household current.
    It took about 36 hours to build up a comfortable charge, and the
    person who pays for that current yelled at me (as well she should
    have).

    The standard solution for that, which goes at least as far back as
    Wikie Collin's /No Name/, is to take out your wallet and start putting
    money in her hand. Continue until she calms down.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 08:49:20 2026
    On Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:37:28 GMT, scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal)
    wrote:

    Carl Fink <carlf@panix.com> writes:
    On 2026-03-04, Mark Shaw <mshaw@panix.com> wrote:

    I think that if you want one for yourself for city use and are
    prepared to pay to have a home charging station installed, it would
    work well for you. You do need to be prepared for issues if you
    want to do a road trip, though, and to understand the charging
    curve during cold weather. Simply switching out a conventional
    ICE vehicle for an Energizer one for a rental contract is right
    the f--k out, though.

    Suburban use is also fine, and they're great second cars. Not suitable
    for
    my situation, either (so I bought a hybrid, giving me the insane 60 mpg
    in
    the right conditions). IOW, you are correct. I would like to try an >>electric vehicle, just out of curiosity, but I do not want one sprung
    on me
    by a rental agency.

    While I've had problems with Avis[*] recently, my experience has been
    that
    one selects the rental car in advance. Avis doesn't just willy-nilly
    assign electric cars to renters unless they ask for one.

    [*] Reserved a mercedes, but the San Diego airport rental counter
    demanded two forms of
    government ID to rent the mercedes and I didn't bring my passport, so
    they
    downgraded me to a seriously underpowered mazda suv.

    Never Avis again.

    I wonder how common requiring /two/ forms of gummint ID are.

    And how soon after that becomes standard before some companies start
    going to three ...
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 11:56:32 2026
    On 3/4/2026 9:37 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
    Carl Fink <carlf@panix.com> writes:
    On 2026-03-04, Mark Shaw <mshaw@panix.com> wrote:

    I think that if you want one for yourself for city use and are
    prepared to pay to have a home charging station installed, it would
    work well for you. You do need to be prepared for issues if you
    want to do a road trip, though, and to understand the charging
    curve during cold weather. Simply switching out a conventional
    ICE vehicle for an Energizer one for a rental contract is right
    the f--k out, though.

    Suburban use is also fine, and they're great second cars. Not suitable for >> my situation, either (so I bought a hybrid, giving me the insane 60 mpg in >> the right conditions). IOW, you are correct. I would like to try an
    electric vehicle, just out of curiosity, but I do not want one sprung on me >> by a rental agency.

    While I've had problems with Avis[*] recently, my experience has been that one selects the rental car in advance. Avis doesn't just willy-nilly
    assign electric cars to renters unless they ask for one.

    [*] Reserved a mercedes, but the San Diego airport rental counter demanded two forms of
    government ID to rent the mercedes and I didn't bring my passport, so they downgraded me to a seriously underpowered mazda suv.

    Never Avis again.

    Avis' cheapest option requires you to let Avis pick the car.
    They do warn that it might be electric.

    I think its highly irresponsible to give someone with no EV
    experience an EV rental in an unfamiliar location. This is not
    the way you should learn to use one.

    One time I got a Mustang Mach-E, and found dealing with non-Tesla
    charging a royal pain in the ass.

    pt

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 08:52:15 2026
    On Tue, 3 Mar 2026 19:37:34 -0800, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:

    <snippo>

    Internal explosion engines are ridiculous except on motorcycles. In
    cars
    the IEE's have spoiled our climate. As someone in the Early 20th or
    late
    19th Century said "A fad, these noisy stink machines cannot hold the
    public's interest."

    In /The Rolling Stones/, Heinlein has an interesting essay on the ridiculousness of the IC automobile.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 08:53:45 2026
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 20:14:20 +1300, Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-03-04 03:58:09 +0000, Lawrence D?Oliveiro said:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 15:51:20 +1300, Titus G wrote:

    An electric car with a proper manual stick shift would be silly.

    Not necessarily. They already have cars which fake engine noise
    through the hi-fi speakers. It would be easy enough for the power
    control system to add a fake torque curve and gear ratios, up to and
    including fake stalling if you stuff it up!

    But "fake" = "silly".

    IIRC, the original motivation for engine noise was to allow blind
    persons to tell that there was an automobile lurking about.

    IOW, automobile engine noise has become a vital part of the sonic
    environment.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Bobbie Sellers@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 08:59:45 2026


    On 3/3/26 23:11, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-04 03:37:34 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:

    On 3/3/26 19:08, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 23:02:53 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:

    On 3/3/26 13:23, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 21:16:29 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    ˙˙˙ https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too.˙ Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my >>>>>> F-150 4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ?˙ We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    ˙˙˙ https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/
    index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles

    Lynn

    Not until the batteries can be fully recharged in the same few
    minutes it takes to fill a petrol powered car.

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car. >>>>>

    ˙˙˙˙Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as
    a Tesla
    does to charge.˙ Why the hell would you want to add complications to a >>>> simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift.˙ All you need is
    reverse for
    parking?

    ˙˙˙˙bliss - waiting on the 300 mile battery-powered motorcycle at a
    reasonable price

    Why would I stop to eat?? You go somewhere, do what you went for, and
    then come back.

    Even if you did stop to eat, you have to find a vacant charger, and
    since there are hardly any chargers int the first place, let alone a
    vacant one, you'll find it a bit difficult. If you do manage to find
    one, you're then tying it up so nobody else can use it for a few hours.

    Electric cars are simply ridiculous idiocy that defy all common sense.

    ˙˙˙˙I have a friend with a Tesla also a mansion in Pacific Heights.
    He is frequently
    driving to and from Los Angeles I that is why he stops along the way
    to eat and
    to recharge.˙ Hear nothing about trouble finding a charging space and
    we have
    some on city streets.˙ Used to have lot in the parking lot of a
    Safeway store on
    O'Farrell between Webster and Fillmore Streets.˙ The Safeway closed
    and will
    be replaced eventually as the Ground story of a housing complex.˙˙ I used
    to shop there a few times a month.˙ When I started that in my 30s I
    could walk
    back and forth.˙ Then I could walk out and take the bus back then i
    took the
    bus both ways but then the store went away since Covid restrictions began
    to be lifted.˙ I dunno about the charging stations.

    ˙˙˙˙Internal explosion engines are ridiculous except on motorcycles.
    In cars
    the IEE's have spoiled our climate.˙ As someone in the Early 20th or late
    19th Century said "A fad, these noisy stink machines cannot hold the
    public's interest."

    ˙˙˙˙Speaking as someone who was fascinated by the technology in
    my earlier years, two-strokes, 4 strokes. side valve, OHV, and Desdromic
    run by various chains and shafts. Just to get a put-put.

    ˙˙˙˙bliss in San Francisco, California, USA

    Despite what the greenie brigade would like to have you believe, the
    private car (and farting farm animals for that matter) are a minor part
    of the problem. The bigger problem is the diesel belching buses and
    trains of public transport, the diesel belching trucks, the numerous polluting factories, garbage dumps, etc.

    In reality, the biggest problem is actually that there are simply far
    too many humans on the planet.

    Electric cars are no better for the environment than real cars are.

    That depends entirely on the environment.
    But one place they excel is noise reduction in the cities which is harmful
    to people. All those non-electric vehicles contribute to the stresses
    of life
    in a city. Private cars contribute a great deal to the carbon burden,
    but in
    the USA presently there are NO regulations of any form of pollution as these were just removed by the mal-administrations EPA.
    "Farm animals" were a ploy by Ronald Regan to attempt to side-track anti-pollution measures. But some intensive livestock operations can be
    very polluting and annoying to anyone in the vicinity. Pig farming for
    example is really stinky. But so is sugar beet processing.

    bliss

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 12:02:05 2026
    On 3/3/2026 10:37 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:


    On 3/3/26 19:08, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 23:02:53 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:

    On 3/3/26 13:23, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 21:16:29 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    ˙˙˙ https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too.˙ Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my
    F-150 4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ?˙ We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    ˙˙˙ https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles >>>>>
    Lynn

    Not until the batteries can be fully recharged in the same few
    minutes it takes to fill a petrol powered car.

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ...
    which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car.


    ˙˙˙˙Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as
    a Tesla
    does to charge.˙ Why the hell would you want to add complications to a
    simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift.˙ All you need is
    reverse for
    parking?

    ˙˙˙˙bliss - waiting on the 300 mile battery-powered motorcycle at a
    reasonable price

    Why would I stop to eat?? You go somewhere, do what you went for, and
    then come back.

    Even if you did stop to eat, you have to find a vacant charger, and
    since there are hardly any chargers int the first place, let alone a
    vacant one, you'll find it a bit difficult. If you do manage to find
    one, you're then tying it up so nobody else can use it for a few hours.

    Electric cars are simply ridiculous idiocy that defy all common sense.

    ˙˙˙˙I have a friend with a Tesla also a mansion in Pacific Heights.˙ He
    is frequently
    driving to and from Los Angeles I that is why he stops along the way to
    eat and
    to recharge.˙ Hear nothing about trouble finding a charging space and we have
    some on city streets.
    [...]

    There's a world of difference between Tesla charging, and non-Tesla
    charging.

    Tesla superchargers are an easy, seamless experience once you have
    the account set up, and most sites have more than enough plugs.

    Non-Tesla charging means having to deal with multiple charging
    company apps, setting up accounts on each, and then competing for
    the 2-4 plugs you'll find at a given site.

    Tesla has now opened up its charging sites to other EV brands,
    and those brands are migrating from the CCS1 plug to the Tesla
    (NACS) plug.

    pt

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 12:09:04 2026
    On 3/4/2026 2:14 AM, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-04 03:58:09 +0000, Lawrence D?Oliveiro said:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 15:51:20 +1300, Titus G wrote:

    An electric car with a proper manual stick shift would be silly.

    Not necessarily. They already have cars which fake engine noise
    through the hi-fi speakers. It would be easy enough for the power
    control system to add a fake torque curve and gear ratios, up to and
    including fake stalling if you stuff it up!

    But "fake" = "silly".

    So, BMW, VW, Toyota, Toyota are all silly?

    Some people, like 'YourName' are imprinted on old technology.

    I see no reason for cars to be noisy, smelly, and slow.

    pt

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 13:33:05 2026
    On 3/4/2026 11:53 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 20:14:20 +1300, Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-03-04 03:58:09 +0000, Lawrence D?Oliveiro said:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 15:51:20 +1300, Titus G wrote:

    An electric car with a proper manual stick shift would be silly.

    Not necessarily. They already have cars which fake engine noise
    through the hi-fi speakers. It would be easy enough for the power
    control system to add a fake torque curve and gear ratios, up to and
    including fake stalling if you stuff it up!

    But "fake" = "silly".

    IIRC, the original motivation for engine noise was to allow blind
    persons to tell that there was an automobile lurking about.

    IOW, automobile engine noise has become a vital part of the sonic environment.


    There's two different kinds of noise being confused here.

    One is noise that cars are supposed to emit *outside*
    the car when traveling forward under 20 mph, or when
    reversing. Its intended to warn pedestrians of the car.

    My Tesla predates the mandate, and has no exterior
    speaker, so it's silent. I've totally startled
    pedestrians when creeping along behind them in
    areas with a little background noise.

    For a while after the speakers were added, you could
    use any noise you wanted. I would have used the Jetson's
    flying car sound.

    The other kind of noise are fake engine noises piped
    into the cabin, to please people who think Real Cars
    go 'vroom vroom'. BMW and other makers to this, and
    to ICE cars as well as EVs.

    pt

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mark Shaw@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 18:57:13 2026
    In rec.arts.sf.written Scott Lurndal <scott@slp53.sl.home> wrote:

    While I've had problems with Avis[*] recently, my experience has been that one selects the rental car in advance. Avis doesn't just willy-nilly
    assign electric cars to renters unless they ask for one.

    Might have something to do with the original agreement, which dates
    to 1993 through my then-employer. And I never informed them that
    I'd moved on from that relationship, until last month.

    I do know that the last time I rented a car, there was a checkbox
    for this. The two times they gave me an electric car, there wasn't.

    --
    Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
    "Anyway, we delivered the bomb."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mark Shaw@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 18:59:39 2026
    In rec.arts.sf.written Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 03:34:54 -0000 (UTC), Mark Shaw <mshaw@panix.com>
    wrote:

    In Washington State, I was headed to a rural location and didn't
    even know that I was given an electric vehicle until 20-30 miles
    down the road. After arriving, I researched recharging stations
    and found that there were none within the predicted range of what
    charge I had left. I ended up hooking up to 120VAC household current.
    It took about 36 hours to build up a comfortable charge, and the
    person who pays for that current yelled at me (as well she should
    have).

    The standard solution for that, which goes at least as far back as
    Wikie Collin's /No Name/, is to take out your wallet and start putting
    money in her hand. Continue until she calms down.

    Eh, it was amicably resolved. Since I was the judge at her event,
    she just gave me a suggestion for "next time." The real problem
    was that I was taking up an RV space and she had no idea that it
    was my vehicle.

    --
    Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
    "Anyway, we delivered the bomb."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mark Shaw@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 19:01:37 2026
    In rec.arts.sf.written Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 3/3/2026 10:34 PM, Mark Shaw wrote:

    I think that if you want one for yourself for city use and are
    prepared to pay to have a home charging station installed, it would
    work well for you. You do need to be prepared for issues if you
    want to do a road trip, though, and to understand the charging
    curve during cold weather. Simply switching out a conventional
    ICE vehicle for an Energizer one for a rental contract is right
    the f--k out, though.

    I totally agree that putting someone in an electric without
    telling them is completely unacceptable. I also find it
    highly implausible that you didn't notice immediately.

    Well, I wasn't paying attention. Typcially, the only thing I
    check out on a rental is how to adjust the mirrors and where
    the USB jack is.

    --
    Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
    "Anyway, we delivered the bomb."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mark Shaw@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 19:04:12 2026
    In rec.arts.sf.written Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    IIRC, the original motivation for engine noise was to allow blind
    persons to tell that there was an automobile lurking about.

    If I had an electric car, I'd want it to make the noise that The
    Jetsons' car made.

    --
    Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
    "Anyway, we delivered the bomb."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 20:41:24 2026
    Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> writes:
    On 3/3/2026 10:56 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 16:04:24 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    An automatic or electric sportscar is an oxymoron.

    While we?re at it: down with synchromesh! If you don?t need to
    double-declutch while changing gear, it?s not a *real* car!

    ...and lets get rid of those namby-pamby electric starters!
    Real Drivers use a hand crank!

    Or a pony motor.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 20:43:59 2026
    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> writes:
    On Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:37:28 GMT, scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal)
    wrote:

    Carl Fink <carlf@panix.com> writes:
    On 2026-03-04, Mark Shaw <mshaw@panix.com> wrote:

    I think that if you want one for yourself for city use and are
    prepared to pay to have a home charging station installed, it would
    work well for you. You do need to be prepared for issues if you
    want to do a road trip, though, and to understand the charging
    curve during cold weather. Simply switching out a conventional
    ICE vehicle for an Energizer one for a rental contract is right
    the f--k out, though.

    Suburban use is also fine, and they're great second cars. Not suitable = >for
    my situation, either (so I bought a hybrid, giving me the insane 60 mpg=
    in
    the right conditions). IOW, you are correct. I would like to try an >>>electric vehicle, just out of curiosity, but I do not want one sprung =
    on me
    by a rental agency.=20

    While I've had problems with Avis[*] recently, my experience has been =
    that
    one selects the rental car in advance. Avis doesn't just willy-nilly >>assign electric cars to renters unless they ask for one.

    [*] Reserved a mercedes, but the San Diego airport rental counter =
    demanded two forms of
    government ID to rent the mercedes and I didn't bring my passport, so =
    they
    downgraded me to a seriously underpowered mazda suv.

    Never Avis again.

    I wonder how common requiring /two/ forms of gummint ID are.

    When I later complained to Avis corporate, they claimed it was
    a local franchisee policy (perhaps related to the close distance to the
    border) and that they would ensure that it wouldn't happen
    again (sure, yet I'll use a competitor next time).

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Bobbie Sellers@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 12:56:44 2026


    On 3/4/26 12:41, Scott Lurndal wrote:
    Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> writes:
    On 3/3/2026 10:56 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 16:04:24 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    An automatic or electric sportscar is an oxymoron.

    While we?re at it: down with synchromesh! If you don?t need to
    double-declutch while changing gear, it?s not a *real* car!

    ...and lets get rid of those namby-pamby electric starters!
    Real Drivers use a hand crank!

    Or kick-starters for small capacity engines. I remember bruising my foot and shins during my youthful motorcycle days. Electric starters on
    my BMW-R75 from 1972 were an improvement.


    Or a pony motor.


    Some of the best SF predicted human powered transport. Teams of humans to move heavy loads. The very wealthy had horses and ponies to pull
    their carriages.
    Long distance travel was done by portals. "Maybe The Stars My Destination".

    I believe in the Emberverse trains were moved by passengers participating
    in the exertions... Maybe we should all go by pedal car which might be healtier
    overall.

    bliss

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 16:09:46 2026
    On 3/4/2026 2:04 PM, Mark Shaw wrote:
    In rec.arts.sf.written Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    IIRC, the original motivation for engine noise was to allow blind
    persons to tell that there was an automobile lurking about.

    If I had an electric car, I'd want it to make the noise that The
    Jetsons' car made.



    Me too. But the NTSB came up with standards, requiring
    certain loudnesses in different frequency bands, and
    that it sound like a motor of some kind, with frequency
    shifting up with speed.

    pt

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 15:12:27 2026
    On 3/4/2026 10:59 AM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
    ...
    ˙˙˙˙That depends entirely on the environment.
    ˙˙˙˙But one place they excel is noise reduction in the cities which is harmful
    to people.˙ All those non-electric vehicles˙ contribute to the stresses
    of life
    in a city.˙ Private cars contribute a great deal to the carbon burden,
    but in
    the USA presently there are NO regulations of any form of pollution as
    these
    were just removed by the mal-administrations EPA.
    ˙˙˙˙"Farm animals" were a ploy by Ronald Regan to attempt to side-track anti-pollution measures.˙ But˙ some intensive livestock operations can be very polluting and annoying to anyone in the vicinity.˙ Pig farming for example is really stinky.˙ But so is sugar beet processing.

    ˙˙˙˙bliss

    Yup, I can attest to that here in Sugar Land, Texas. When they shut
    down the Sugar refinery here in 2005 or so, the city started smelling a
    lot better. They could not get the vapor controls to work properly or consistently in the 1840 something sugar refinery as the entire city
    would smell like burnt sugar all the time.

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lawrence D?Oliveiro@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 21:13:13 2026
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 11:39:08 -0500, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    On 3/3/2026 10:56 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 16:04:24 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    An automatic or electric sportscar is an oxymoron.

    While we?re at it: down with synchromesh! If you don?t need to
    double-declutch while changing gear, it?s not a *real* car!

    ...and lets get rid of those namby-pamby electric starters! Real
    Drivers use a hand crank!

    No more automatic valve timing advance!

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Jay Morris@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 15:28:01 2026
    On 3/4/2026 2:41 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
    Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> writes:
    On 3/3/2026 10:56 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 16:04:24 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    An automatic or electric sportscar is an oxymoron.

    While we?re at it: down with synchromesh! If you don?t need to
    double-declutch while changing gear, it?s not a *real* car!

    ...and lets get rid of those namby-pamby electric starters!
    Real Drivers use a hand crank!

    Or a pony motor.


    No, they use a Coffman starter.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 10:59:25 2026
    On 2026-03-04 20:41:24 +0000, Scott Lurndal said:
    Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> writes:
    On 3/3/2026 10:56 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 16:04:24 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    An automatic or electric sportscar is an oxymoron.

    While we?re at it: down with synchromesh! If you don?t need to
    double-declutch while changing gear, it?s not a *real* car!

    ...and lets get rid of those namby-pamby electric starters!
    Real Drivers use a hand crank!

    Or a pony motor.

    Lazy fools!! Just use your feet to move the car like Fred Flintstone does. :-p



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 11:08:35 2026
    On 2026-03-04 20:56:44 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:
    On 3/4/26 12:41, Scott Lurndal wrote:
    Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> writes:
    On 3/3/2026 10:56 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 16:04:24 +1300, Your Name wrote:

    An automatic or electric sportscar is an oxymoron.

    While we?re at it: down with synchromesh! If you don?t need to
    double-declutch while changing gear, it?s not a *real* car!

    ...and lets get rid of those namby-pamby electric starters!
    Real Drivers use a hand crank!

    Or kick-starters for small capacity engines. I remember bruising my foot and shins during my youthful motorcycle days. Electric starters on
    my BMW-R75 from 1972 were an improvement.

    Or a pony motor.

    Some of the best SF predicted human powered transport. Teams of humans to move heavy loads. The very wealthy had horses and ponies to pull
    their carriages.
    Long distance travel was done by portals. "Maybe The Stars My Destination".

    I believe in the Emberverse trains were moved by passengers participating
    in the exertions... Maybe we should all go by pedal car which might be healtier
    overall.

    bliss

    There are some human-powered transport options (some with electric
    "assist" and some without). They're mostly used in the tourism
    industry, but there are some fools who think they are the "next big
    thing" in public transport.

    A couple of tourism-based examples here in New Zealand:

    - The Schweeb
    <https://www.jalopnik.com/1816123/pedal-powered-shweeb-monorail-pod/>

    - Railbikes
    <https://www.railbikes.nz>

    and there are similar things elsewhere.




    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 11:12:20 2026
    On 2026-03-04 16:59:45 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:
    On 3/3/26 23:11, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-04 03:37:34 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:
    On 3/3/26 19:08, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 23:02:53 +0000, Bobbie Sellers said:
    On 3/3/26 13:23, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-03 21:16:29 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    xkcd: Electric Vehicles
    ??? https://www.xkcd.com/3214/

    Me too.? Not until the batteries can go a few thousand miles in my >>>>>>> F-150 4x4 truck without charging.

    Where are my Heinlein Shipstones ?? We need these desperately.

    Explained at:
    ??? https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/ index.php/3214:_Electric_Vehicles >>>>>>>
    Lynn

    Not until the batteries can be fully recharged in the same few minutes >>>>>> it takes to fill a petrol powered car.

    Not until they make a proper manual / stick-shift electric car ... >>>>>> which will never hapen, so I'll never be buying a silly electric car. >>>>>
    ????Well you have to stop to eat and that will take about as long as a >>>>> Tesla does to charge.? Why the hell would you want to add complications >>>>> to a simple vehicle with the un-needed manual shift.? All you need is >>>>> reverse for parking?

    ????bliss - waiting on the 300 mile battery-powered motorcycle at a >>>>> reasonable price

    Why would I stop to eat?? You go somewhere, do what you went for, and >>>> then come back.

    Even if you did stop to eat, you have to find a vacant charger, and
    since there are hardly any chargers int the first place, let alone a
    vacant one, you'll find it a bit difficult. If you do manage to find
    one, you're then tying it up so nobody else can use it for a few hours. >>>>
    Electric cars are simply ridiculous idiocy that defy all common sense.

    ????I have a friend with a Tesla also a mansion in Pacific Heights. He >>> is frequently driving to and from Los Angeles I that is why he stops
    along the way to eat and to recharge.? Hear nothing about trouble
    finding a charging space and we have some on city streets.? Used to
    have lot in the parking lot of a Safeway store on O'Farrell between
    Webster and Fillmore Streets.? The Safeway closed and will be replaced
    eventually as the Ground story of a housing complex.?? I used to shop
    there a few times a month.? When I started that in my 30s I could walk
    back and forth.? Then I could walk out and take the bus back then i
    took the bus both ways but then the store went away since Covid
    restrictions began to be lifted.? I dunno about the charging stations.

    ????Internal explosion engines are ridiculous except on motorcycles. In cars
    the IEE's have spoiled our climate.? As someone in the Early 20th or late >>> 19th Century said "A fad, these noisy stink machines cannot hold the
    public's interest."

    ????Speaking as someone who was fascinated by the technology in my
    earlier years, two-strokes, 4 strokes. side valve, OHV, and Desdromic
    run by various chains and shafts. Just to get a put-put.

    ????bliss in San Francisco, California, USA

    Despite what the greenie brigade would like to have you believe, the
    private car (and farting farm animals for that matter) are a minor part
    of the problem. The bigger problem is the diesel belching buses and
    trains of public transport, the diesel belching trucks, the numerous
    polluting factories, garbage dumps, etc.

    In reality, the biggest problem is actually that there are simply far
    too many humans on the planet.

    Electric cars are no better for the environment than real cars are.

    That depends entirely on the environment.
    But one place they excel is noise reduction in the cities

    Not for long with governments and safety groups pushing to have noises
    added to electric a cars so pedestrians (incuding blind / low-vision
    people) can hear them coming.



    which is harmful to people. All those non-electric vehicles
    contribute to the stresses of life in a city. Private cars contribute
    a great deal to the carbon burden, but in the USA presently there are
    NO regulations of any form of pollution as these were just removed by
    the mal-administrations EPA.
    "Farm animals" were a ploy by Ronald Regan to attempt to side-track anti-pollution measures. But some intensive livestock operations can
    be very polluting and annoying to anyone in the vicinity. Pig farming
    for example is really stinky. But so is sugar beet processing.

    bliss



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 22:12:44 2026

    On 3/4/2026 10:59 AM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
    ...
    ˙˙˙˙That depends entirely on the environment.
    ˙˙˙˙But one place they excel is noise reduction in the cities which is
    harmful
    to people.˙ All those non-electric vehicles˙ contribute to the stresses
    of life
    in a city.˙ Private cars contribute a great deal to the carbon burden,
    but in
    the USA presently there are NO regulations of any form of pollution as
    these
    were just removed by the mal-administrations EPA.
    ˙˙˙˙"Farm animals" were a ploy by Ronald Regan to attempt to side-track anti-pollution measures.˙ But˙ some intensive livestock operations can be very polluting and annoying to anyone in the vicinity.˙ Pig farming for example is really stinky.˙ But so is sugar beet processing.

    I'd place turkey (and other poultry) production on the high-end of really stinky. Worse than pork or beef production.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 11:15:18 2026
    On 2026-03-04 21:12:27 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    On 3/4/2026 10:59 AM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
    ...
    ????That depends entirely on the environment.
    ????But one place they excel is noise reduction in the cities which is harmful
    to people.? All those non-electric vehicles? contribute to the stresses of life
    in a city.? Private cars contribute a great deal to the carbon burden, but in
    the USA presently there are NO regulations of any form of pollution as these >> were just removed by the mal-administrations EPA.
    ????"Farm animals" were a ploy by Ronald Regan to attempt to side-track
    anti-pollution measures.? But? some intensive livestock operations can be
    very polluting and annoying to anyone in the vicinity.? Pig farming for
    example is really stinky.? But so is sugar beet processing.

    ????bliss

    Yup, I can attest to that here in Sugar Land, Texas. When they shut
    down the Sugar refinery here in 2005 or so, the city started smelling a
    lot better. They could not get the vapor controls to work properly or consistently in the 1840 something sugar refinery as the entire city
    would smell like burnt sugar all the time.

    Lynn

    Can't say I've ever heard of any problems with the sugar refinery here
    in Auckland, which was built a long time ago and is now in the
    harbour-side edge of what has become a fairly expensive suburb. They
    even run tours and have a public cafe (although the food there is
    expensive).



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mark Jackson@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 17:20:41 2026
    On 3/4/2026 3:56 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
    Some of the best SF predicted human powered transport. Teams of
    humans to move heavy loads. The very wealthy had horses and ponies
    to pull their carriages. Long distance travel was done by portals.
    "Maybe The Stars My Destination".

    Arriving at the social event of the season the rich competed with
    various expensive means of transport. The protagonist topped them all
    by arriving by train, preceded by a mechanical track-laying contraption.

    --
    Mark Jackson - https://mark-jackson.online/
    The "i" in "LLM" stands for intelligence.
    - Daniel Stenberg

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 17:22:16 2026
    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
    On Tue, 3 Mar 2026 19:37:34 -0800, Bobbie Sellers ><bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:

    Internal explosion engines are ridiculous except on motorcycles. In = >cars
    the IEE's have spoiled our climate. As someone in the Early 20th or =
    late
    19th Century said "A fad, these noisy stink machines cannot hold the >>public's interest."

    In /The Rolling Stones/, Heinlein has an interesting essay on the >ridiculousness of the IC automobile.

    "Tell me more about this Intoinal Combustion."
    -- Spock

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 11:22:36 2026
    On 2026-03-04 17:09:04 +0000, Cryptoengineer said:
    On 3/4/2026 2:14 AM, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-04 03:58:09 +0000, Lawrence D?Oliveiro said:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 15:51:20 +1300, Titus G wrote:

    An electric car with a proper manual stick shift would be silly.

    Not necessarily. They already have cars which fake engine noise
    through the hi-fi speakers. It would be easy enough for the power
    control system to add a fake torque curve and gear ratios, up to and
    including fake stalling if you stuff it up!

    But "fake" = "silly".

    So, BMW, VW, Toyota, Toyota are all silly?

    No, fake gears would be silly.

    Fake noises are a bit less silly, as long as they're normal car sounds
    so that pedestrians can hear them coming.

    Electric cars themselves are silly.



    Some people, like 'YourName' are imprinted on old technology.

    I see no reason for cars to be noisy, smelly, and slow.

    pt

    Petrol cars aren't slow ... many of the fastest production cars in the
    world are still petrol powered, although electric "assist" and pure
    electric ones have more recently started joining the list too.

    Of course, speed is actually irrelevant since there's a little thing
    called "speed limits" in the real world. :-p



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 11:26:14 2026
    On 2026-03-04 18:33:05 +0000, Cryptoengineer said:

    On 3/4/2026 11:53 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 20:14:20 +1300, Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-03-04 03:58:09 +0000, Lawrence D?Oliveiro said:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 15:51:20 +1300, Titus G wrote:

    An electric car with a proper manual stick shift would be silly.

    Not necessarily. They already have cars which fake engine noise
    through the hi-fi speakers. It would be easy enough for the power
    control system to add a fake torque curve and gear ratios, up to and
    including fake stalling if you stuff it up!

    But "fake" = "silly".

    IIRC, the original motivation for engine noise was to allow blind
    persons to tell that there was an automobile lurking about.

    IOW, automobile engine noise has become a vital part of the sonic
    environment.

    There's two different kinds of noise being confused here.

    One is noise that cars are supposed to emit *outside* the car when
    traveling forward under 20 mph, or when reversing. Its intended to warn pedestrians of the car.

    My Tesla predates the mandate, and has no exterior speaker, so it's
    silent. I've totally startled pedestrians when creeping along behind
    them in areas with a little background noise.

    For a while after the speakers were added, you could use any noise you wanted. I would have used the Jetson's flying car sound.

    The other kind of noise are fake engine noises piped into the cabin, to please people who think Real Cars go 'vroom vroom'. BMW and other
    makers to this, and to ICE cars as well as EVs.

    pt

    Yep. That's one of the stupidities of the boy racer brigadge who
    believe having a noisy car means it's more powerful ... in reality much
    of that noise is due to wasted energy, so the car is actually *less*
    powerful and / or produced by pointless exhaust echoes. :-\



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 17:27:07 2026
    Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 3/4/2026 2:04 PM, Mark Shaw wrote:
    In rec.arts.sf.written Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    IIRC, the original motivation for engine noise was to allow blind
    persons to tell that there was an automobile lurking about.

    If I had an electric car, I'd want it to make the noise that The
    Jetsons' car made.

    Me too. But the NTSB came up with standards, requiring
    certain loudnesses in different frequency bands, and
    that it sound like a motor of some kind, with frequency
    shifting up with speed.

    I think that the Jetson's car probably could meet the standards with a
    little tweaking. I know that a simulated Model T sound could.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 11:30:24 2026
    On 2026-03-04 21:09:46 +0000, Cryptoengineer said:

    On 3/4/2026 2:04 PM, Mark Shaw wrote:
    In rec.arts.sf.written Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    IIRC, the original motivation for engine noise was to allow blind
    persons to tell that there was an automobile lurking about.

    If I had an electric car, I'd want it to make the noise that The
    Jetsons' car made.

    Me too. But the NTSB came up with standards, requiring
    certain loudnesses in different frequency bands, and
    that it sound like a motor of some kind, with frequency
    shifting up with speed.

    pt

    It's easier for people to know that it is a car when it sounds like a car.

    Noises like Knight Rider's fake KITT sound and the Jeston's car sound
    wouldn't work as well, although they would at least get people's
    attention.

    The incredibly stupid ideas are having things like bird song as the
    car's noise. :-\


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 16:52:25 2026
    On 3/4/2026 4:15 PM, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-04 21:12:27 +0000, Lynn McGuire said:

    On 3/4/2026 10:59 AM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
    ...
    ˙˙˙˙That depends entirely on the environment.
    ˙˙˙˙But one place they excel is noise reduction in the cities which
    is harmful
    to people.˙ All those non-electric vehicles˙ contribute to the
    stresses of life
    in a city.˙ Private cars contribute a great deal to the carbon
    burden, but in
    the USA presently there are NO regulations of any form of pollution
    as these
    were just removed by the mal-administrations EPA.
    ˙˙˙˙"Farm animals" were a ploy by Ronald Regan to attempt to side-track
    anti-pollution measures.˙ But˙ some intensive livestock operations
    can be
    very polluting and annoying to anyone in the vicinity.˙ Pig farming for
    example is really stinky.˙ But so is sugar beet processing.

    ˙˙˙˙bliss

    Yup, I can attest to that here in Sugar Land, Texas.˙ When they shut
    down the Sugar refinery here in 2005 or so, the city started smelling
    a lot better.˙ They could not get the vapor controls to work properly
    or consistently in the 1840 something sugar refinery as the entire
    city would smell like burnt sugar all the time.

    Lynn

    Can't say I've ever heard of any problems with the sugar refinery here
    in Auckland, which was built a long time ago and is now in the harbour-
    side edge of what has become a fairly expensive suburb. They even run
    tours and have a public cafe (although the food there is expensive).

    Seeing as they blew their Georgia Sugar Refinery to Kingdom Come, the management seemed to the somewhat flexible on their spending requirements.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Georgia_Imperial_Sugar_refinery_explosion

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Titus G@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 15:49:10 2026
    On 05/03/2026 11:20, Mark Jackson wrote:
    On 3/4/2026 3:56 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
    Some of the best SF predicted human powered transport. Teams of
    humans to move heavy loads.˙ The very wealthy had horses and ponies
    to pull their carriages. Long distance travel was done by portals.
    "Maybe The Stars My Destination".

    Arriving at the social event of the season the rich competed with
    various expensive means of transport.˙ The protagonist topped them all
    by arriving by train, preceded by a mechanical track-laying contraption.

    OBSF: Iron Council. China Mi‚ville.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Titus G@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 15:49:26 2026
    On 05/03/2026 06:09, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    I see no reason for cars to be noisy, smelly, and slow.


    Maybe they have done good in this world and are now tired.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Cryptoengineer@3:633/10 to All on Wed Mar 4 21:59:10 2026
    On 3/4/2026 5:22 PM, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-04 17:09:04 +0000, Cryptoengineer said:
    On 3/4/2026 2:14 AM, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-04 03:58:09 +0000, Lawrence D?Oliveiro said:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 15:51:20 +1300, Titus G wrote:

    An electric car with a proper manual stick shift would be silly.

    Not necessarily. They already have cars which fake engine noise
    through the hi-fi speakers. It would be easy enough for the power
    control system to add a fake torque curve and gear ratios, up to and
    including fake stalling if you stuff it up!

    But "fake" = "silly".

    So, BMW,˙ VW, Toyota, Toyota are all silly?

    No, fake gears would be silly.

    Fake noises are a bit less silly, as long as they're normal car sounds
    so that pedestrians can hear them coming.

    Electric cars themselves are silly.



    Some people, like 'YourName' are imprinted on old technology.

    I see no reason for cars to be noisy, smelly, and slow.

    pt

    Petrol cars aren't slow ... many of the fastest production cars in the
    world are still petrol powered, although electric "assist" and pure
    electric ones have more recently started joining the list too.

    Of course, speed is actually irrelevant since there's a little thing
    called "speed limits" in the real world.˙ :-p

    True, but 'fast' includes 'fast off a stop'. The 3 quickest
    production cars in the world can do 0-60 in 1.7 seconds. Two of
    them are EVs.

    Even my bottom-end Tesla can go 0-60 in 5 seconds, which means I can
    leave the vast majority of cars in the dust. Its very comforting to
    know that you can get out of a tight situation by going forwards as
    well as by braking.

    I see you concede on 'noisy and smelly'.

    pt

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Your Name@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 19:03:31 2026
    On 2026-03-05 02:59:10 +0000, Cryptoengineer said:

    On 3/4/2026 5:22 PM, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-04 17:09:04 +0000, Cryptoengineer said:
    On 3/4/2026 2:14 AM, Your Name wrote:
    On 2026-03-04 03:58:09 +0000, Lawrence D?Oliveiro said:
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 15:51:20 +1300, Titus G wrote:

    An electric car with a proper manual stick shift would be silly.

    Not necessarily. They already have cars which fake engine noise
    through the hi-fi speakers. It would be easy enough for the power
    control system to add a fake torque curve and gear ratios, up to and >>>>> including fake stalling if you stuff it up!

    But "fake" = "silly".

    So, BMW,? VW, Toyota, Toyota are all silly?

    No, fake gears would be silly.

    Fake noises are a bit less silly, as long as they're normal car sounds
    so that pedestrians can hear them coming.

    Electric cars themselves are silly.



    Some people, like 'YourName' are imprinted on old technology.

    I see no reason for cars to be noisy, smelly, and slow.

    pt

    Petrol cars aren't slow ... many of the fastest production cars in the
    world are still petrol powered, although electric "assist" and pure
    electric ones have more recently started joining the list too.

    Of course, speed is actually irrelevant since there's a little thing
    called "speed limits" in the real world.? :-p

    True, but 'fast' includes 'fast off a stop'. The 3 quickest production
    cars in the world can do 0-60 in 1.7 seconds. Two of them are EVs.

    Even my bottom-end Tesla can go 0-60 in 5 seconds,

    According to websites, my 30+ year old factory-standard car does "0-60"
    in 7.9secs* ... that 3 seconds differnce isn't worth bothering about in
    the real world, where I'd still catch up with you at the next traffic
    lights anway.


    * That could be 'improved" by mucking about with it, as the boy racer
    brigade does, but I have no interest in doing that.



    which means I can leave the vast majority of cars in the dust.

    Which is something that would likely get you a dangerous driving ticket
    in most places.


    I wouldn't drive a crappy Tesla even if they were giving them away free
    (with free lifetime recharging) in the breakfast cereal boxes ... which
    the way Elon Muskrat's lunacy is tanking the company, they might well
    soon be doing. :-p



    Its very comforting to know that you can get out of a tight situation
    by going forwards as well as by braking.

    I see you concede on 'noisy and smelly'.

    pt

    Not really. EVs are also *very* noisy and smelly ... when they catch
    fire. :-p





    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Gary R. Schmidt@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 17:15:31 2026
    On 05/03/2026 09:26, Your Name wrote:
    [SNIP]

    Yep. That's one of the stupidities of the boy racer brigadge who believe having a noisy car means it's more powerful ... in reality much of that noise is due to wasted energy, so the car is actually *less* powerful
    and / or produced by pointless exhaust echoes.˙ :-\

    That's one of the reasons I chose my next car[1] - a Skoda Octavia RS
    (which is sort-of a VW Passat R) - the reviews of the 2026 face-lift all
    kept pointing out that "The exhaust tone was rather subdued for a sporty
    car," and I just love the thought of, "Where did that come from?" as I
    slip past. :-)

    Cheers,
    Gary B-)

    1 - It's on a boat, hopefully well past the Middle-East at the moment,
    but the entire shipment may have been re-directed elsewhere if there was
    a surge in demand somewhere else. Sigh.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 08:39:56 2026
    In article <10oar0j$3ekg6$2@dont-email.me>, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote: >On 05/03/2026 06:09, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    I see no reason for cars to be noisy, smelly, and slow.

    Maybe they have done good in this world and are now tired.

    I know mine is, after 430,000 miles.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Thu Mar 5 09:04:07 2026
    On Wed, 4 Mar 2026 08:59:45 -0800, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:

    <snippo

    "Farm animals" were a ploy by Ronald Regan to attempt to side-track
    anti-pollution measures. But some intensive livestock operations can
    be
    very polluting and annoying to anyone in the vicinity. Pig farming for >example is really stinky. But so is sugar beet processing.

    When I was growing up and we took a trip to visit relatives in Oregon,
    we referred to Tacoma as "the Stench on the way to Portland".

    Paper mills. In the 50s/60s. Either unable to contain the smell or not bothering to try.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)