3214: Electric Vehicles

Electric Vehicles

|< < Prev #3214 (March 2, 2026) Next > >|

Title text: Now that I've finally gotten an electric vehicle, I'm never going back to an acoustic one.

|< < Prev Random Explanation Next > >|

Explanation

This is one of 72 incomplete explanations: This page was created by an EV WITH A NON-RECHARGEABLE BOT-TERY. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

Many potential customers of electric vehicles have "range anxiety", and are concerned about the ability of the vehicle batteries to allow the same freedom of travel as with those using the internal combustion engine. No one wants to be stuck on the side of the road, having run out of power, and finding a filling station for fuel (gasoline/petrol or diesel fuel) to refill a motor vehicle is more likely than finding an electric vehicle recharging station. Manufacturers have been trying to ease these fears by developing longer-lasting batteries, along with more recharging stations being set up.

This comic exaggerates this concern to an absurd degree: Cueball, up until some undefined point in the past when he was corrected, had apparently believed that electric cars were powered by single-use, non-rechargeable batteries, and this comic shows the kind of conversation he will have had during that period of being under the wrong impression. Practical electric vehicles, since their very early days, have pretty much always had rechargeable battery technology of some kind or other. He should indeed feel incredibly silly about this, given that rechargeable batteries are very common in many other devices.

Commercially available rechargeable solid-state batteries have not always been common, however. The proliferation of Alkaline, NiMH, and Lithium-ion batteries happened during the late 1990s and early 2000s (during Randall's lifetime), although the lead–acid battery first appeared in the mid 19th-century and later became the staple (rechargable) electrical storage medium in both fully-electrical and IC-powered vehicles of all kinds. Rechargeable cells are still the minority of sales for household-use size batteries (AA, AAA), perhaps in part because they get [re-used many times] rather than needing to be entirely replaced by a further purchase after they are first drained. Battery operated devices and toys for most of the 20th-century (e.g. tamagotchis) did not generally have recharging capabilities and required replacing the battery entirely, rather than (as with many modern devices, e.g. phones) having built-in batteries enabling the user to recharge them by plugging a suitable power-carrying cable into a port. For other devices that may or may not have originally come with single-use cells prepackaged, households may have eventually decided to buy reliable rechargable equivalents to be charged as needed. It's not reasonable to completely throw away the batteries that power electric vehicles, every time they are discharged, or even throw away (or abandon) whole vehicles due to difficulties in replacing them. But, in assuming that an EV's battery is not rechargeable, Cueball is concerned that this is what he would be forced to do..

All types of vehicle can only be driven so far, or even idled for so long, without refilling their energy storage, be that liquid fuel or electrochemical potential. Because of this, any vehicle (other than perhaps a solar car, or similar) will require occasional top-ups at roadside facilities or even through a direct feed (overhead lines can provide electricity to suitable road or rail vehicles, and a third rail is an additional option for the latter type, along some or all of their prepared routes). As of 2021, a modern electric car commonly had a range above 300 km/200 miles, and this is continuing to expand. Combustion engine cars usually reach at least twice this range on a full fuel tank.

Many countries now have vast networks of public charging infrastructure, to echo the almost ubiquitous presence of refuelling stations across the road network. The spacing of these in all but the most sparsely populated areas usually permits any electric vehicle (even one with an unusually low range of <100km) to recharge before it runs out of energy, and fast charging capabilities of 400kW and greater makes the current waiting time to recharge more and more like the quick topping-up process people are used to in liquid refuelling. As an alternative, battery swapping is also a possibility in some places, for suitably designed EVs, and has been commercialized. In these cases, replacing the battery does not substitute charging it, but it reduces the “refill” time from a possible thirty minutes stop-over to just a few minutes (the time needed to pull out the discharged battery pack from the vehicle and put in a fully charged one). The prior batteries are then charged by the facility, and later used to directly replace some other vehicle’s battery when it requires it. Most electric vehicles will provide a recharge warning (equivalent to a low fuel warning) well in advance of the battery being depleted, to prevent vehicle stranding.

The title text imagines that electric cars are distinct from others in a similar way as electric instruments are from other instruments. In particular, electric guitars are contrasted with non-electric (aka acoustic) ones. In the case of instruments, though, the 'electric' and 'acoustic' don't refer to how they're powered (the latter isn't even 'powered' at all), but how they transmit and amplify the sound produced by the player. There's no such thing as an acoustic vehicle, though sound can be used to generate propulsion on a small scalein a variety of ways. It has become a common practice to refer to bicycles without a motor by the misnomer 'acoustic bicycle', but this does not seem to be much the case with cars. (Bicycles are sometimes also referred to as 'analog bicycles' — this is even more of a misnomer, being borrowed from the distinction between mechanical and digital devices, where the latter are sometimes misnamed as 'electric'.) When particular bicycles were developed to supersede the "ordinary" type (later) known as penny-farthings, the new bicycles with wheels of the same size were called "safety bicycles", to promote the idea of their being less tricky to ride, a term that later fell out of use as the new design became more standard (and, in its own way, 'ordinary').

Electric vehicles are commonly designed to emit sound, sometimes like an electronic instrument, to give an audible warning of their presence for the purpose of safety, particularly when traveling at lower speeds. Several jurisdictions around the world require them to emit a minimum sound level. In some cases, electric vehicle sounds are designed by renowned composers. Though it is not their intended use,^{[citation needed]} motorised vehicles can be used as music instruments. Composer Ryoji Ikeda has composed a symphony for 100 thermal ("acoustic") cars.

Transcript

[Cueball is standing to the left side of the panel with his arms out, and Megan and White Hat are standing to his right, facing him.]

Cueball: I would never get an electric vehicle.

Cueball: Sure, they sound great, but what do you do if the battery runs out of charge?

[Caption below the image:]

I felt pretty silly when someone finally explained to me that EVs are rechargeable.

  Add comment        Create topic (use sparingly)       Refresh 

Discussion

How's the transcript, guys? --Utdtutyabthsc (talk) 03:41, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Heck if i know 216.25.182.141 03:46, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

idk man, most cars I've encountered sound pretty acoustic to me. EVs are quieter though since they lack combustion engines 137.25.230.78 04:00, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Just added a real life cars-as-instruments section, and to prove I'm human I must select photos with cars. It didn't tell me if I should pick the acoustic ones though, I'm confused. 78.244.70.135 08:11, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Didn't it give you the option to use an audio version of the captcha? 82.13.184.33 09:37, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

You know, it is possible to run out of charge while you're driving. Then you have to figure out how to move your car or recharge it when there aren't any sources of electricity handy or convenient. Dogman15 (talk) 09:39, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

That's hardly a unique problem, though - the same is also true of gas-powered cars (or any other fuel you care to mention, for that matter). 82.13.184.33 10:08, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

No it's not true. When you run out of fuel with an ICE, you can go and get some fuel and bring it back. Or you can carry a spare canister of fuel with you for long journeys to remote places. You can't go and get a bottle of electricity and take it back to your vehicle if you run out of charge. Yorkshire Pudding (talk) 23:08, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Isn't a battery already a "bottle of electricity". Might need some jury-rigging with various unorthodox combinations of cables and connectors, but if you fill your pockets (or maybe a large wheelbarrow!) with enough portable power-packs you should be able to get a bit of much needed 'juice' into your stranded vehicle. ;) 81.179.199.253 23:22, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

When my son was about 3 or 4, he said "Electric is with wires...batteries are little tubs of electricity." So yeah, already thinking that! So, to be specific, I guess the problem is not that it's impossible to carry charge to your stranded vehicle, it's that it's too difficult to be practical. Filling stations sell fuel cans that you can fill. The energy density of petrol or diesel is such that even a child could carry enough fuel for a normal car to do a 50+ mile journey. Let's see anyone do that with a bottle of electricity... Yorkshire Pudding (talk) 23:41, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

They already do - there are roadside charging companies that provide exactly this service. 82.13.184.33 09:15, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

As and when I might transition to EV, I've been thinking of getting a handy sized PV panel (or, better, a 'roll' of PV fabric, which can be pegged out; perhaps even used as a windbreak/sunshade) stowed in a corner of the boot(/trunk), that I can take out and use to trickle-charge the vehicle when needed. Although that's more for like just making a bit of use of the sunshine if I'm stopped anywhere for long enough, to reduce my reliance upon commercial power sources. 81.179.199.253 14:39, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

While it might be "fun", a portable PV panel is not gong to help much. A 120V plug can maybe provide 1500W typically add 2-5 miles of range per hour of charging, so the 100 to 200W you can get from a portable system (which is generous) won't help much. But I suppose it would be better than nothing. J-beda (talk) 13:33, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

When i was in school one teacher was keen on distinguishing batteries from accumulators. a battery was something you use once, an accumulator could be recharged. this was in a non-english speaking country and i am not sure if this strict distinction exists in english. but it could cause such a misunderstanding.--2001:62A:4:408:2541:D6E7:7A86:B8DC 10:25, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Until I read the whole paragraph I was thinking accumulator would be the same as a capacitor. Maybe they thought rechargeables are actually giant capacitors, but they aren't. They store energy in a (mostly) reversible chemical reaction (tons of energy, slow to charge-discharge (unless spicy pillow releases magic smoke and fire)). Capacitors hold charge physically along the surfaces of the plates (fast charge-discharge, (relatively) tiny capacity). Totally different storage method. 130.76.187.47 13:34, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Of course, the usual (and, by now, entirely moot) confusion is between "battery" and a "cell". It should only really be a "battery" if there's more than one "cell" in series (or maybe in parallel, but I'm sure that can be argued about) within the full item that you're naming as such. And rechargable batteries/cells have been so long a thing (are "electrical accumulators", as opposed to non-electrical equivalent ones for other forms of energy storage and release, like pressure-/gravity-tanks, flywheels, etc), although lead-acid batteries (yes, they're internally cells in series!) was often identified as an "accumulator" to contrast with the (single-use) solid-state chemical cell/battery. 81.179.199.253 14:39, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

I think acoustic propulsion is a thing, but it doesn't work for human-scale cars. One, the sound generator is external and two, it's usually small things. 2603:8081:9700:E9D:0:0:0:2 14:25, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Isn't an explosion technically sound? As gas-fueled cars are powered by exploding the gas, they really are accoustic cars. 2a01:599:112:8815:2e49:a29c:6fd:905b (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~) 16:36, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

The sound is a side-effect - not the means of propulsion. 82.13.184.33 16:54, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

I'm not convinced the penny farthing line is relevant - the preceding discussion, in reference to the title text, is about misapplying distinctions from one field to another inappropriate one where they aren't relevant. The 'safety' epithet was applied because the new bicycles were considered safer - whether or not that was correct, it was entirely relevant to the distinction being made. 82.13.184.33 16:54, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

I also was doubtful, but I only corrected it regarding the "penny farthing" name misconception (they weren't really called that, at the time...). Probably can be removed, unless someone wants to say more about them being the "ordinary" bicycles of their day (hence also "old ordinary" as an epithet ...once they were sufficiently no longer 'new', of course). 82.132.239.30 18:31, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

I'm not sure, if it fit's in the explanation, but Oneway Vipes are a thing: You buy them with pretty good 18650 batteries and throw them away, if the battery is empty. 2001:9e8:9690:bf00:a8bb:ca4c:64a1:1e5c (talk) 18:13, 3 March 2026 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

What's that? Some form of Segway? (Couldn't find anything out there by that name, or even "Oneway Bikes". And do remember to sign...) 82.132.239.30 18:31, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

"Vapes", possibly..? BunsenH (talk) 22:25, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Yes, sorry, I meant vapes 2001:9E8:96A7:6C00:594D:8C9F:8FCF:E9C0 21:39, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

Single-Use Vapes are now illegal, where I am. In a large part because of the way they were being thrown away. Either littering (potentially worse than with fag-ends!) or by causing hazards by being not properly recycled as WEEE waste. Whether the biggest problem was that they had a still charged battery when the liquid ran out, or they still had liquid (and a reactive, if 'dead' battery) when the battery ran out, I don't know. Probably either option, depending upon how it was used. As a non-smoker/non-vaper, I've no idea how this has changed the behaviours of those who do (having to rely on reusable vapes, or falling back to the original tobacco option), but I have noticed a lot less discarded plastic-and-metal in the verges and gutters. (When I first spotted the rise in these, I was wondering why there were so many USB Power Banks being dropped, from the remains I was seeing from those that got subsequently run over by vehicles...) For other reasons, I'm also seeing a lot less mini 'nitrous oxide' cylinders around, too (just the occasional catering size can of 'creamer' gas).

So I think I'd rather there not be any non-reusable vapes. (Not too fond of being caught in a vape cloud, even from a rechargable one, either.) It's like a mini version of abandoning a single-use EV by the side of the road whenever it runs out of miles. 81.179.199.253 22:46, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

Isn't this a parody of those people who use "what will you do when it runs out of battery" as an argument against EVs, like that doesn't also apply to regular cars? --Mushrooms (talk) 19:15, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Well, if that ever happens to me, I fully intend to siphen some electricity from the nearest unattended EV... Electrons are very small, and should be easier to suck into a pipe than that nasty hydrocarbon fuel is... 81.179.199.253 19:22, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

I have run out of fuel more than once. I walked to a filling station, bought some fuel, and hitched back to my vehicle. So, there's my tested solution to that problem as applies to internal combustion engine vehicles. As you're suggesting the problem is the same whether it happens with EVs or regular cars, could you explain your EV version of the solution? Yorkshire Pudding (talk) 23:28, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

If you're on a motorway, you can't "walk" to a filling station. You need to wait for the tow truck. Same as the EV. Now, if you are NOT on a motorway, you can plug in your car on a regular electricity socket when it's at 1%. You can't do that with ICE vehicles. And there's million of regular power sockets at ground level in any country in the world. --85.159.196.174 00:10, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

I think the entire explanation is completely missing the intention of the comic and goes on way too long talking about other types of energy storage and delivery methods. Everyone is taking it seriously and overexplaining it as if it's a realistic depiction of slightly overblown range anxiety - rather than a JOKE based on the difference between rechargable and non-rechargable batteries. This is a COMIC after all that is meant to be funny. It's much more reasonable this is a parody of a higher degree (rechargable vs non-rechargable) than lesser degree (slight exaggeration of range anxiety). I'm also the same age as Randall and can remember the slow popularity growth and proliferation of NiCd/NiMH AA and AAA batteries in the 90s. It's much more likely this is a joke based on that and combining/comparing/contrasting it with modern range anxiety, but nobody seems to be getting that - exemplified by the slightly deragatory remark in the current explanation: "He should indeed feel incredibly silly about this, given that rechargeable batteries are very common in many other devices" - guess what? They WEREN"T ALWAYS COMMON - THAT'S THE JOKE (but not everyone is old enough to remember that). 64.203.66.182 13:15, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

That it was silly for him to think this is literally in the comic, admitted by the character himself. 82.13.184.33 16:59, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

That's true. I guess it was just the continous tone-deafness to the origin of the joke in the explanation that made this phrase grate. I put the phrase back. 64.203.66.182 20:57, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

Seems like there's still a lot of derision towards electric vehicles alive today. The Petroleum Propaganda machine still works. 64.203.66.182 13:56, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

Maybe that latter is the case, but there's also a lot of "EVs doen't (yet!) 'just work' in the way we're used to ICEs doing" in the consumer hesitancy. As an example, if it was the other way round, and the road network had been developed on the back of the early electric cars, and now suddenly someone had come up with good reasons to try the 'superior' (by range, if nothing else) fuel-powered cars, there'd probably be complaints at the relative lack of petrol(/gas)-pumps compared to the nigh ubiquitous charging-stations found in or near basically any tin-pot town and up and down every highway.

People are adding up the various things ("can I go a decent distance?", "can I get back?", "how much does it cost?" (including ownership taxes/road-related charges), "how easy is it to fix if it goes wrong?", "does the vehicle fit my family/sporty/cargo needs?", etc..), and there are a not insignificant number of EVs owned around where I live (taking the proportion of vehicles that hum past me if I'm walking across the housing estate, and the handful of households that I know definitely have recharging outlets installed).

As a personal data point, the car I currently drive was bought maybe seven or eight years ago (could easily last another seven or eight years before there's a serious thought of getting rid of it - unless it does something like get into a crash or some other major repair needs to be done), so the perceived advantages of moving to an EV (or disadvantages of staying with petrol) need to increase a lot as long as there's no absolute need to do so. Part of that is that I'm just not used to all the EV fuss, and making sure that a vehicle that I don't currently drive doesn't run out of 'go'. I went driving today and (in about 80 miles of journey) passed by many many petrol stations. As I reference, I tend to use what my most local one is (which I didn't pass by toda, but , was charging 3p/litre more on Monday than it did the day before the start of the US's latest phase of attacks on Iran), and I spotted prices around the route ranging from 5p/l less than this and 14p/l more. But the tank's still more than 3/4 full and it didn't seem worthwhile topping up at all. I noticed just three EV-recharging stations with some advertised price (p/KWh?) that I have no frame of reference for (it's cheaper per unit, but I don't at all know where the EV-unit stands against fuel-units, range-wise). And I know there's probably a lot more than those three EV-stations (they're currently installing one near my local petrol one... been at it, digging, for several weeks now, but mostly the below-the-ground stuff and I've no idea what the topside will look like!) that just aren't displaying prices in great big lit roadside boards (you probably need to subscribe to one GPS-enabled map-app, or other, to find most of them, if you're not a local and remember that the far corner of some supermarket carpark has one). I also don't know how much it would cast me (per mile) to 'fill' any vehicle from a home socket (with or without direct/battery-mediated connection to the roof PV panels). It's totally beyond my experience.

I can guess that it's probably currently cheaper per mile to electric, if I use the right recharging source. At least until the current fuel-duty situation doesn't get fully transfered over to the equivalent electric-duty replacement (or some sort of 'pay-per-mile' taxation). But buying a brand new vehicle of any kind isn't a cost-effective outlay, even if I recoup something by selling the currently 'ok' current example to someone who wants it.

What would force me to change soon, e.g. tomorrow, is something drastic. The accidental loss of the vehicle. The massive increase cost of operation (or a really good discount attached to the new purchase). There being some massive fuel-crisis (though that would probably cause so many other societal problems that there'd probably be easy way to transition over anyway ... supply and demand would probaby work against me at both ends).

So, yes... maybe there are people that have a vested interest in the 'Petroleum Propoganda machine' working (any connection I have to it are more as fellow victim, no Petrodollars are being sent my way, worse luck!), and similarly there's probably EV interests (Tesla, Byd, the main extractors of the lithium/etc needed to create the batteries). But the whole picture is a whole lot of positive and negative pressures applied to either solution. So much so that before the last time I had to change vehicle (though not actually acted upon at that time), I was very tempted to go for a plug-in-hybrid vehicle to balance the advantages (and mitigate the disadvantages) of each 'pure' type. Still potentially an option, next time, depending on whenever that ends up happening. 81.179.199.253 22:21, 4 March 2026 (UTC)
        Add comment