this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2025
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Fuck Cars

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Electric Cars (infosec.pub)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by DwZ@lemmy.world to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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[–] mienshao@lemmy.world 138 points 1 week ago (48 children)

I hate this car-centric society, but let’s be real cars aren’t going anywhere. Moving away from fossil fuels is a good thing. Not sure why we’re criticizing progress here.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago (14 children)

Moving away from fossil fuels is a good thing.

Yes, but not if it promotes destructive behaviours such as increased car dependency.

EVs are like low-calorie sweeteners: they do nothing to stop obesity, and actually encourage more eating (and more obesity).

[–] ch00f@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (7 children)

You want electric buses? You want battery electric trains? Electric airplanes?

Cars are your path to research and development for these modes of transportation.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I wish that happened. It's very difficult to convince an EV owner to take a train or bus, even if they are electric.

The more convenient we make driving in cars, and the better drivers "feel" about driving an EV, the more difficult it is to move away from car dependency.

Here's a survey from CAA (Insurance company in Canada, like AAA in the States):

Drivers were more likely to drive more in a battery-powered EV than even a Hybrid.

And this part kills me: "The majority of trips for both BEV and PHEV drivers are relatively short, typically staying within 10 kilometers of home. This pattern reflects the convenience of electric driving for routine commutes and local errands."

UCDavis Institute of Transportation Studies also found that EVs are driven more than gas cars (SOURCE).

[–] ch00f@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The majority of trips for both BEV and PHEV drivers are relatively short, typically staying within 10 kilometers of home.

As a side note, I'm especially annoyed that every BEV "needs" a 300 mile range when 50 miles would be more than enough for the average American (assuming they can charge at home). Those additional batteries make the vehicles larger, heavier, and more expensive, and the batteries could be better used elsewhere.

But still, electric cars were a gateway to electric bikes and scooters.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The 300-mile-range req is just ridiculous. However it's easier to pad the margin on a 60K vehicle by adding this or that for another 5-10K. It's harder to do that on cheap vehicles and they can't sell a 100-mile-range EV for a lot of money. Am working in automotive and emphasizing big expensive models is key for creating shareholder value.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

10 km is pretty far. Walking 1km isn't bad, but 3 is a decent chunk of time and energy. 10 is a pain in the ass by bus and a relatively quick trip by light rail assuming you didn't have to walk that far to the station.

Like, I'm not contesting that a lot of drivers should walk for errands more, or that evs encourage car focusing, but that metric fails to account for the fact that few people will walk 2 hours one way for an errand.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

10 km is pretty far.

That's "up to 10km", not that every trip is 10km.

In that context, it's going to be easier/faster to bike or take an e-scooter to your destination.

If it's under 2km, then walking really shouldn't be a problem.

And if public transportation is available for medium distance trips, that should be first (as it is in cities/countries that are not built around car-dependency).

but that metric fails to account for the fact that few people will walk 2 hours one way for an errand.

Look at the bigger picture. We should be walking a minimum 10,000 steps a day (something like 8,000 to 12,000, realistically). That's 8km a day as a bare minimum for minimum basic health.

Driving costs more time, because you now have to allocate time to drive + time to get those steps in. Why not walk that 2km errand instead?

At those short distances, we aren't talking about massive differences in time to destination. And I think anyone can use the mental health benefits of movement, too.

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