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Comment by DyslexicAtheist

4 hours ago

> I hope ICE cars completely become a thing of the past in the next couple of decades to come.

for this to happen the EVs depreciation needs to drastically improve compared to ICE. I don't see this. On top of this EVs tend to push ideas from Software/Tech companies, such as recurring revenues (because the underlying technology lends itself to it better).

Personally I'm unsure that this will be accepted by all consumers as much as is needed. After all the automotive marketing has since Ford insisted that driving was about "freedom". So some pivot needs to happen in the messaging. Suppose decades is a lot of time to change it. Personally I think EVs are nonsense, and a better utopia would be making sure public transport is abundant, high-quality and free.

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DyslexicAtheist

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SideburnsOfDoom  1 hour ago

> For this to happen the EVs depreciation needs to drastically improve compared to ICE.

Define "improve" ?

One way for "ICE cars completely become a thing of the past" is for there to be lots of cheap, reliable, second-hand EVs. If you can buy a good used EV for less then yes, a barrier to quitting ICE cars has been removed.

That's an improvement. The car doesn't have to be an asset, it could be more like a utility.

EV depreciation seems to be driven by

1) rapidly advancing state of the art, which should eventually stabilise and

2) Fears of battery lifespan, which in current vehicles is largely unfounded

https://www.wired.com/story/electric-cars-could-last-much-lo...

https://insideevs.com/news/763231/ev-battery-degradation-lif...

cbeach  4 hours ago

Public transport will never recreate the freedom of car ownership.

It’s a collectivist dream not rooted in reality.

  • saagarjha  2 hours ago

    I’m not going to try to convince you that you can’t control your immediate environment better in a car, but not having to deal with parking or insurance or traffic is quite freeing.

  • unixhero  2 hours ago

    Yep and politicians believe they can recreate utopian Singapore wherever they are governing. Regarding eliminating car use.

  • jodrellblank  3 hours ago

    Rarely in everyday life situations do I feel as claustrophobic as being in a car in traffic in a typical road.

    Can’t change direction (one lane no junctions), can’t change speed (vehicles in front and behind), can’t stop (flow of traffic), can’t break concentration (driving), can’t change body position (car cabin is tiny, seats and hand/feet controls are fixed, no space to stand), can’t look away for more than a moment (responsibility of driving).

    And the only places to go are on the predetermined road, from a car park, to a car park, following a lot of strict prescribed rules about how.

    This meme of “freedom” is brainwashing and marketing (which has been picked up as an identity thing by the right wing recently).

    There’s nothing free about having to use a $20,000 vehicle to buy bread because no other options are available.

    • B1FIDO  3 hours ago

      I do not own a vehicle, and most of my life I've depended on public transit. Lately, I take Waymos or I ride scooters, or use public transit as usual.

      Sometimes, for special errands, I rent a car. For example, I intended to move across town last year, so I rented a car for 3-4 days.

      It was the most excruciating pain I could have. I chose a little Mitsubishi Mirage, and firstly, it was the middle of July in the Sonoran Desert, and the A/C hardly worked, so I was sweating, and the car would heat up real good in parking lots. No sun shades, dark upholstery. Also, the USB connection was flaky, so sometimes my phone didn't charge, and whether or not, it was directly exposed to the Sun and overheating.

      By the second day, my legs hurt a lot. I had spent an unexpected amount of time on my feet and walking around, despite the vehicle. Do you know how big parking lots are these days?!

      I tried sitting down at every opportunity. I have a running gag/dispute at my bank to see whether they will allow me to "sit down" at the "ADA/Disabled" teller window.

      Driving home at night on the last night, my leg cramped up really bad. I was in such pain, I nearly pulled over because it was my accelerator/brake leg and I was going to lose control of the car.

      Thankfully I was able to hold it together, and returned the car the next day, but boy I did not want such a vehicle ever again. And it was not a stick-shift; it was an automatic transmission.

      Next time I'm going to be really sure that the USB and A/C work. And that my legs are super-comfortable and has cruise control.

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    • itsprobablyok  2 hours ago

      What a hilarious post.

      Buddy, the world is a bigger place than the 4 square miles around your downtown studio. How do you plan on visiting without entering one of these claustrophobic compartments, be it plane, train or automobile? The fact that you think you're "free" because you can walk around a little bit...well that's as brainwashed as it gets.

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