Rationally, yes.  For some reason nobody wants to rent a car unless it’s at the other end of a flight.

That average American commute is under 30 miles each way.

it’s more like cubed. power squared for air resistance + linear scaling for frictional losses like wheel bearings etc.

I walk to work (well, I did before the pandemic and perpetual WFH), so my only car is a 30-year-old sports car I only drive on weekends. Not commuting by car or adding to the externalities of auto manufacturing is an even better way to cut emissions.

My pre-COVID commute was 30 miles total, and I drive a Chevy Volt with 28-30 miles per charge, so I’m pulling into my garage with with engine just starting or maybe 1 mile left on the battery (I kill it if I go to lunch). I’m currently commuting maybe 20 miles/day for groceries/medical treatment. In both cases, I’d…

“Americans have no problem adopting things that a demonstrably better. CD’s over cassettes, DVD’s over video tapes. Flat screens over CRT’s. I’d argue even early ICE powered cars were better than a shit dumping finicky horse.”

See, some of us ugly Americans are complex enough to hold two conflicting viewpoints and try to find a reasonable way forward.

Yup, air resistance for big objects moving fast is proportional to v^2. Just looking at the work to overcome air resistance, covering the same distance at 85 mph will use 2x as much energy as covering the same distance at 60 mph. (There’s certainly other energy transformations at play as well in making the car go that…

I considered myself to be a generally conscious consumer, but that show made me question the deeper consequences of decisions I make.

I fit into this group.

“See, some of us ugly Americans are complex enough to hold two conflicting viewpoints and try to find a reasonable way forward.”

Hellcat: the Last of the V8 Interceptors

I do miss the days when I could be completely oblivious to the consequences of my actions. 

At times and places America has been about pushing frontiers and boundaries at at other times it has been anti-science, anti-progress, puritanical and parochial. We swing both ways as a country. When we have a foreign enemy we seem to do better otherwise we eat ourselves. 

isn’t it ironic that the Space Race was about ‘beating the Commies’ but now electric cars are ‘Commie bullshit’? it’s almost like the concept of American exceptionalism is inherently inconsistent; let us hope that Ford jumping feetfirst into electrics with Mustang and F150 will allow EVs to shed that image.

This is a great take, and it’s the part that bothers me about this.

heavily disagree. The american concept is about pushing frontiers and boundaries, about doing things better than before, about being exceptional. WE are losing that, and it’s things like regular old cars and gas and oil holding us back. People are clinging to them and we are just going to have to tear ourselves away…

Do people not miss the days when you buy something because it is good? Nowadays, you can't even buy a simple vegetable without wondering if a large area of the amazon forest was wiped out, or that you're contributing to a company with a ceo who treats their workers like crap. 

And we do have viable electric non-Tesla options now.

I own 9 internal combustion vehicles. My next purchase will be electric, partly to do my part to cut emissions and partly because I like how they drive. And I support an escalating carbon tax to help capture the externalities of fossil fuel usage and make cleaner energy sources more competitive.