Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250

news.yahoo.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 34 posts

Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250

#21

Post by 4death4 »

goosedragons wrote: post #20
4death4 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a general rule, one should question their beliefs if their beliefs require some type of derogatory state of mind about some other, disagreeable group. For instance, what is more likely: people drive large cars en masse because they have fragile egos, or large cars are solving some problem they have, namely they have a lot of stuff to carry around? As a personal anecdote: after the first kid, I had to ditch my tiny…

C. It's necessary to drive a car because of poor societal choices made over the past 100 years. When you were a kid, how big was your parents' cars?

Whether or not large cars are a modern, mostly unnecessary, luxury is a separate question from the assertion made by OP, which is that large car usage is primarily driven by feelings of personal insecurity.

My point is that you can never hope to solve a problem if you don’t even understand the fundamental circumstances that caused the problem to arise. Of course, not every person can know every thing, but it’s a good signal that you might be operating under false pretenses if your argument requires people to act in some derogatory way.

Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250

#22

Post by stuckkeys »

My electric scooter goes faster than that and longer range. But I can see it be handy for short distance stuff. The range is a bit of a joke considering they can probably beef that up more. Going to see the reviews how they stack up or how well they play.

Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250

#23

Post by doubled112 »

bcrl wrote: post #7
DamonHD wrote: post #3

A good counterweight to the seemingly common view that anything smaller than a tank and cannot do 60mph backwards is emasculating. There are too many large, heavy, dangerous, expensive 'cars' on the roads everywhere in the world. I can drive. I do not own a car, and I have set up my life not to need one (nor nee to fill my brain with rubbish about insurance etc), but I would consider one of these. I could even charge…

Cars have gotten larger because of changes in recent years to emissions laws: larger cars are permitted to have greater emissions. Naturally, this results in auto manufacturers building larger cars that are easier to make compliant to emissions laws. Force emissions to be lower and the size of vehicles will decrease. I do find it hilarious that my dad's old F150 truck made back in the 1970s is way smaller than modern…

Probably smaller then a new “small” pickup truck, like the recent Ford Ranger?

Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250

#24

Post by vondur »

goosedragons wrote: post #20
4death4 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a general rule, one should question their beliefs if their beliefs require some type of derogatory state of mind about some other, disagreeable group. For instance, what is more likely: people drive large cars en masse because they have fragile egos, or large cars are solving some problem they have, namely they have a lot of stuff to carry around? As a personal anecdote: after the first kid, I had to ditch my tiny…

C. It's necessary to drive a car because of poor societal choices made over the past 100 years. When you were a kid, how big was your parents' cars?

My dad had a huge old Country Squire station wagon. Fake wood paneling all over it. There were 4 kids in the family.

Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250

#25

Post by Kon-Peki »

fellowniusmonk wrote: post #5

I want this with a truck bed, I'd kill for an electric extended bed 2000 ranger size truck.

> I'd kill for an electric extended bed 2000 ranger size truck.

You could lease an EV Ranger from Ford back then. Some of them still exist.

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

Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250

#26

Post by vel0city »

goosedragons wrote: post #20
4death4 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a general rule, one should question their beliefs if their beliefs require some type of derogatory state of mind about some other, disagreeable group. For instance, what is more likely: people drive large cars en masse because they have fragile egos, or large cars are solving some problem they have, namely they have a lot of stuff to carry around? As a personal anecdote: after the first kid, I had to ditch my tiny…

C. It's necessary to drive a car because of poor societal choices made over the past 100 years. When you were a kid, how big was your parents' cars?

Seven inches longer than my current car. They had three kids though, I only have two.

Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250

#28

Post by DamonHD »

4death4 wrote: post #14
DamonHD wrote: post #3

A good counterweight to the seemingly common view that anything smaller than a tank and cannot do 60mph backwards is emasculating. There are too many large, heavy, dangerous, expensive 'cars' on the roads everywhere in the world. I can drive. I do not own a car, and I have set up my life not to need one (nor nee to fill my brain with rubbish about insurance etc), but I would consider one of these. I could even charge…

As a general rule, one should question their beliefs if their beliefs require some type of derogatory state of mind about some other, disagreeable group. For instance, what is more likely: people drive large cars en masse because they have fragile egos, or large cars are solving some problem they have, namely they have a lot of stuff to carry around? As a personal anecdote: after the first kid, I had to ditch my tiny…

I have two children, now teens, and have never needed to own a car of any size.

Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250

#29

Post by DamonHD »

wufufufu wrote: post #6
DamonHD wrote: post #3

A good counterweight to the seemingly common view that anything smaller than a tank and cannot do 60mph backwards is emasculating. There are too many large, heavy, dangerous, expensive 'cars' on the roads everywhere in the world. I can drive. I do not own a car, and I have set up my life not to need one (nor nee to fill my brain with rubbish about insurance etc), but I would consider one of these. I could even charge…

What about safety during accidents? It's better to be driving a heavier car in that case.

It is better for the car occupants to be in a heavier car. IIRC, US road deaths of people outside the car have doubled over the last ~20Y because of the rise of the SUV and its ilk. European safety rules take into account people outside the car in the notion of 'safety'; I don't think that US safety rules do.

Re: All-new solar-powered 'city car' is coming to the U.S. – it costs $6,250

#30

Post by DamonHD »

4death4 wrote: post #21
goosedragons wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

C. It's necessary to drive a car because of poor societal choices made over the past 100 years. When you were a kid, how big was your parents' cars?

Whether or not large cars are a modern, mostly unnecessary, luxury is a separate question from the assertion made by OP, which is that large car usage is primarily driven by feelings of personal insecurity. My point is that you can never hope to solve a problem if you don’t even understand the fundamental circumstances that caused the problem to arise. Of course, not every person can know every thing, but it’s a good…

Most of the words that I used such as large and dangerous are borne out by published official stats. And nothing so dramatically changed about the geometry or demographics of (say) the US or UK as to require massive rapid inflation in car volumne and mass.

I have a whole separate gripe about people expecting more and more public land for free (a single parking space is worth ~£50k around me and should be rented out for ~£3k/year at market rates), and over two stories could accommodate one person. My house is being bulldozed soon in part because there was no other way to get people to allow increased residential density and stop using three parking spaces per household on average. In an place where my familiy doesn't even need one.

Car advertising seems to be entirely about ego and fantasy, the little that I see. And SUVs etc are far more profitable for them, this again is unemotionally clear. The fact that they are prepared to kill more pedestrians, damage the planet, and be complicit in the theft of public space, all for a quick buck, is the reason for my bile.

Post reply on HN