3214: Electric Vehicles

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 07:58, 3 March 2026 by 78.244.70.135 (talk) (Explanation: added cars as instruments example)
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Electric Vehicles
Now that I've finally gotten an electric vehicle, I'm never going back to an acoustic one.
Title text: Now that I've finally gotten an electric vehicle, I'm never going back to an acoustic one.

Explanation

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The title text is relating electric vehicles to electric instruments, which are contrasted with acoustic guitars. In the case of guitars, this doesn't refer to how they're powered, but how their sound is transmitted from the strings and amplified. 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.

Though it is not their intended use, motorised vehicles can be used as music instruments. Composer Ryoji Ikeda has composed a symphony for 100 thermal (acoustic) cars.

Transcript

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

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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)

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)
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