Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by c7b 31 days ago
I felt a bit similar about electric cars with a trunk in the front where the engine would sit in an ICE car. But that's more about esthetic expectations, like the first cars looked similar to horse carriages.
3 comments

But here the space also have the role of serving as a crumple zone in case of frontal collisions
If you can put something in it it doesn't count as crumple zone and the car has to be engineered with a separate crumple zone anyway.
Collapsing trunks have been a thing since the 90s.

There's no regulatory requirement for crumple zones. There's regulatory requirements for performance. The cheapest/easiest way to meet these is crumple zones.

Your luggage and golf clubs aren't gonna do squat in a collision. The regulators don't care that about the one in a million chance that someone gets into an accident a) where crumple zones matter b) while hauling objects so solid they don't just round to "no effect" because they have bigger fish to fry and if you create a "standard loading" for the test the OEMs will simply design to that and basically create a bunch of work and expense for marginal benefit.

Yeah, but not many people have the habit of hauling solid I-beams of steel in their "frunks".

I don't really believe the average groceries load will add that much rigidity to this space as deny its function as a crumple zone.

VW Beetle?
I've lost count of the number of people who I've had to explain that, on long trips, you don't "stop to charge." You charge where you stop to poop.
I don’t dislike electric cars, but I don’t poop every 3 hours, and it doesn’t take 30 minutes to do so.

When EVs can reliably (including charging infrastructure) do charging as fast as ICE refuels, with 300 miles/500 km between 20-80%, they will win with most people in the US and Canada. Otherwise, we just drive too far, too often. It’s not far off. But until then, it’s not truly a replacement for ICE. Yes, I really do drive for 4-5 hours without stopping, several times a year.

Do you really find you can reliably sustain your full attention that long?

My EV can do 3 – 5 hours on the motorway between charges (depending on weather conditions and speed), but to avoid fatigue I always want a break within 3 hours or so.

And by the time I've parked, gone inside, queued up for and drunk a tea or coffee, used the facilities, and checked the next leg of my trip, that's half an hour and the car is ready to go again.

Yes. I used to make a 750km trip fairly regularly without stopping.

The exceptions were bad weather days. Stop, check in, fuel up, etc. Never know when the storm will get bad and you’ll be sleeping in the car.

> parked, gone inside, queued up for and drunk a tea or coffee, used the facilities, and checked the next leg of my trip

You and I have very, very different approaches to driving long distances. I don’t get drinks, I don’t eat. So except for once, a couple of hours after departure, no bathroom breaks.l

5 hours between charges at a steady 75-80 mph (120-130 km/h) would be impressive range, though.

> I don’t dislike electric cars, but I don’t poop every 3 hours, and it doesn’t take 30 minutes to do so.

Clearly you don't eat enough fiber!

Well, you clearly have no sense of humor. In all seriousness, all you need to do is take bathroom breaks at chargers. That's all it takes, and you can't hold it for 300 miles.
Eh, my response was about as funny as the original joke.

Seriously, though, don’t drink anything and you won’t have to pee. That’s only 4 hours.

There’s usually one stop an hour or two after leaving, but after that? I typically don’t eat or drink anything if there’s distance to cover. Refuel, get back on the road. I can eat when I get there.

> Seriously, though, don’t drink anything and you won’t have to pee. That’s only 4 hours.

That's not healthy. General road safety is that you need to stop every ~2 hours.

“General road safety”? I’m curious where you get this idea. I’m not accusing you of making it up, just wondering where it comes from.

As for health, it’s fine as long as you aren’t chronically dehydrated. Your kidneys won’t fail if you don’t urinate every two hours every day.