this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
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Fuck Cars

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This community exists as a sister community/copycat community to the r/fuckcars subreddit.

This community exists for the following reasons:

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  1. Be nice to each other. Being aggressive or inflammatory towards other users will get you banned. Name calling or obvious trolling falls under that. Hate cars, hate the system, but not people. While some drivers definitely deserve some hate, most of them didn't choose car-centric life out of free will.

  2. No bigotry or hate. Racism, transphobia, misogyny, ableism, homophobia, chauvinism, fat-shaming, body-shaming, stigmatization of people experiencing homeless or substance users, etc. are not tolerated. Don't use slurs. You can laugh at someone's fragile masculinity without associating it with their body. The correlation between car-culture and body weight is not an excuse for fat-shaming.

  3. Stay on-topic. Submissions should be on-topic to the externalities of car culture in urban development and communities globally. Posting about alternatives to cars and car culture is fine. Don't post literal car fucking.

  4. No traffic violence. Do not post depictions of traffic violence. NSFW or NSFL posts are not allowed. Gawking at crashes is not allowed. Be respectful to people who are a victim of traffic violence or otherwise traumatized by it. News articles about crashes and statistics about traffic violence are allowed. Glorifying traffic violence will get you banned.

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[–] [email protected] 101 points 9 months ago (5 children)
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[–] [email protected] 83 points 9 months ago (22 children)

They're a solution, not the solution indeed.

[–] TheMauveAvenger 43 points 9 months ago

Sorry, chief. We don't do nuanced thought in this community.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago (1 children)

They are a patch, not a solution.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I live in GA outside of Atlanta and rent is already tough. I've been to cities with not exactly amazing but serviceable public transportation (various parts of greater NYC and Chicago) and loved them. I've tried to use busses elsewhere, though it often meant 3 hours wasted to go to work, with similar time wasted after (hourly buss schedules and multiple transfers).

I have an electric car now, work from home, and try to avoid having to drive much, but there isn't much more I can afford to do atm. An bike would be nice but even that'll take money I'm still recovering, and some places I go to even just a couple times a month has no public transportation. I'd love if it did, but I have to use EV for now.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 9 months ago (6 children)

The problem is people got the idea that they need a 3 ton truck to do grocery shopping

[–] MalachaiConstant 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Sure maybe a mega SUV as a daily driver is not right for everyone, but I just can't live without the extra leg room and riot protection!

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (6 children)

Disagree on inefficient.

Internal combustion engines in standard small size convert 19.65-22.1% of their energy from thermal to kinetic.

The ratio of electron throughput from battery to electric motor can be as LOW as 88% but hovers between 92-98% efficiency.

Even if you had a fuel cell in the back, running electric motors quintuples (5×) the standard energy efficiency owing to the principle of energy quality type preservation in conversion (High to High vs Low to High):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_transformation

So 1 electric car = 4 less carbon liquid fuelled cars worth of pollution.

What you're actually looking for is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox

Jevon's Paradox states that improved efficiency of something will only increase its use, and in this case, electric cars will in fact, correlate to car use, and increased mineral demands.

This is a problem you cannot solve endemic to humanity.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think the point is that compared to public transport when transporting a large number of people, they are inefficient.

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[–] Redonkulation 9 points 9 months ago

A reasonable comment in this community? Get out!

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 9 months ago (4 children)

I heard a good saying the other day: "Electric cars are a solution for the car industry." Give me walkable cities please

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[–] FederatedSaint 20 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Like, I get your overall point, but the whiskey to wine comparison doesn't quite work lol.

For starters, you'd have to drink a LOT more wine comparatively, which doesn't translate when going from ICE to electric.

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[–] HexesofVexes 20 points 9 months ago

Just remember, the argument relies on not just getting rid of cars, but drastically improving public transport.

World peace is more likely given government attitudes towards public services!

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (19 children)

This is why people hate liberals, and why liberals often migrate over to conservatism: no matter how right you are, there's always someone happy to crap on you for not being right enough.

Don't shit on EVs for merely being one of many solutions that all need to be engaged with. It's not like without EVs, so many people would be rushing to areas of greater density and riding public transit, so your message is not helpful in achieving what you want, and actively angers your allies.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 9 months ago

Ah yes conservatism, the famous side of rational thinking and anti-bias thoughts, such as avoiding the perfect solution bias
Your comment having so many upvotes is disgusting

[–] hyperhopper 16 points 9 months ago

I think both sides are lacking nuance here. If you shit on people getting electric vehicles or just thinking of getting one because that's not far enough: fuck you. But also, for people that just switched or are thinking of getting one but then see something like this and slam into reverse and say "I'm gonna support ICE cars till the day I die to spite those overly hostile woke liberals": fuck you too.

People should be able to take the information in a more nuanced way, and should stop swinging from extreme to extreme which has led to the current fucked state of politics

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This is a lot like this Bors comic https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/8/1786532/-Cartoon-You-made-me-become-a-Nazi

Do honest people really migrate to "climate change is fake and queer people are a threat" because someone was mean to them online? Probably not often.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Disagree on noise. Electric cars are quieter when going slowly and the main noise is engine, but louder when going fast and the main noise is tires.

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[–] Squizzy 12 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This place is the same as reddit, no nuance at all.

Ridiculous statement and this sub is militant in it's position it can't accept a step in the right direction.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago (13 children)

I really think we're too far in the hole here.

I think fear grips people at every angle and none of us are brave enough to accept bold action for positive change in our society. It seems like most people are just retracting instead.

I vaguely remember that "Ye" (formerly Kanye West) once said something like he formed a think tank to build a city but the thing stopping his team was that "Ye" didn't understand any of the concepts and he ran it into the ground.

I want public transportation, I think everyone wants it at this point but no no one understands why we need it. They all just want to escape.

(This message was brought to you by the new 2024 Ford Escape: just hit the road and escape to paradise)

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[–] frazw 11 points 9 months ago (15 children)

I'm sure this is unpopular this community but I feel like "fuck cars" folks are either living in a dream world where public transport can answer everyone's transportation needs. If you live in a city with all the amenities you need where public transport is good and economically viable sure, "Fuck cars", but if you don't...

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

If you only have the option to drive and it looks like it will never change where you live, then yes, driving electric is better than driving an ICE car. You're not the problem for needing to live your life with the limited options you have access to. However, that does not mean the intrinsic problems with cars disappear the instant they become electric, and this meme is mainly meant to respond to the techbro people who think just because electric cars exist now it makes transit obsolete or it solves literally everything wrong with cars in general, and use that to actively resist public transportation or attempt to turn public opinion against it. I should have added additional context to make that clearer.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

People are advocating for denser cities with better public transport, not for you to use the shitty bus in your suburb.

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[–] Poem_for_your_sprog 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Still lots of tire noise at high speeds.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (2 children)

They're still just as noisy above 30 km an hour due to air displacement and tire on the road.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

Wher train 😢

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago
      ice car  |  electric car  

train?          ❌️              |                ❌️
simple as.

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