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xkcd #2948: Electric vs Gas (xkcd.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Alt text:

An idling gas engine may be annoyingly loud, but that's the price you pay for having WAY less torque available at a standstill.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

who wants that?

I do. We have family that we visit a few times each year. If I leave at 2am and drive straight through, we get there in 7-8 hours. If I make the drive during the day, it takes 10-13 hours.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Sounds like you need a train. Not a car.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Sure. But first you need to build one that takes me there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

For various reasons a car is often better for that kinda trip

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Some real examples that are specific to the trip I take:

There is no rail service that goes there. It would be a combo of trains and busses that takes significantly longer and costs more than the gas.

Our dog comes with us, generally isn't allowed on mass transit, and the much longer trip would stress her out if she was.

There is little to no mass transit in the town they live in to get around once we arrive so we'd end up borrowing or renting a car anyway.

With limited amounts of time off, making the trip overnight adds a full day of getting to see our family to the trip.

The only other realistic means of getting there is flying but, I enjoy driving and hate everything about air travel. It's a pretty cheap flight for one person but becomes more expensive once you add in the rest of the family and the dog can't come.

Edit: formatting