this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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xkcd #3214: Electric Vehicles

Title text:

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

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3214/

explainxkcd for #3214

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[–] SapientLasagna@lemmy.ca 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Batteries only last 5 to 10 years max

Most manufactures offer 8 or 10 year warranties. Batteries are expected to last the life of the car (10-20 years). This is similar to the expected lifespan of the engine, because it's designed that way rather than being a fundamental limitation of the technology, same as contemporary car engine lifespans.

Electric cars are essentially disposable

All cars are expected to be recycled when major components are damaged or worn out.

Ofc rich people can just charge in their backyard or garage at night, so not an issue for them either.

Charging in your driveway works fine, and you might be overstating the percentage of people who live in apartments and also have a car. Maybe true in your locality but not mine.

I’m not saying that EVs are bad, but there has to be serious investment in infrastructure and batteries need to be cheaper and cheaply REPLACEABLE in order for the poor to be able to adopt EVs

Replaceable batteries make the car cost more, not less, same as engineering in easily swappable engines (some tanks have this, no cars do). The big thing you're not getting is that POOR PEOPLE DON'T BUY NEW CARS. The only thing required for adoption of EVs by poor people is a healthy supply of used EVs.

[–] sefra1@lemmy.zip 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Batteries are expected to last the life of the car (10-20 years)

But that's the problem, because the manufacturer always expects the car to last less than what it really does, poor people buy cars long after their "expected lifetime" has passed, (that is, when the previously owner considers the car to be too unreliable him), that's when the person who is scrapping by, buys the unreliable car because it's the only he can afford, now, repairing an old car as it keeps breaking down is expensive, but it's still doable and much cheaper than buying a new car. But if the batteries are dead and the price of batteries cost as much as they seem to cost, then there's no way to fix the car.

Also I'm septic if an electric car battery can last 20 years at all, there isn't any good data on it, but if it uses the same technology as laptops Lithin-ion I don't see it lasting much more than 10. From my experience Lithin-ion don't lose capacity in a linear fashion, it's more like a cliff, one day the laptop lasts an our, next day lasts 10 minutes.

All cars are expected to be recycled when major components are damaged or worn out.

You see, that's the problem, it's "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle", recycling should be the last option when the object really is at it's limit and can't function (and be fixed no more), if things are build to be durable then there's no need to recycle them.

Charging in your driveway works fine

Would be fun to test how long I could set a power cord down from my apartment window into the driveway without it being stolen or vandalized. Or maybe the police would find some law to fine me for that.

Replaceable batteries make the car cost more, not less, same as engineering in easily swappable engines

Yes, but the lifetime of the car will be much longer, so when you equate the price of the vehicle to it's useful lifetime it actually becomes cheaper.

The big thing you’re not getting is that POOR PEOPLE DON’T BUY NEW CARS

Yes, and that's exactly what I'm saying, if poor people don't buy new cars, and there are no old electric cars in the market because their batteries expired and the cars got recycled instead of repaired.

[–] saimen@feddit.org 1 points 5 hours ago

but if it uses the same technology as laptops Lithin-ion I don't see it lasting much more than 10.

https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/why-do-ev-batteries-last-so-much-longer-than-cell-phone-batteries