jp10558
TUG Member
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2022
- Messages
- 597
- Reaction score
- 377
- Points
- 123
- Location
- Southern Tier NY
- Resorts Owned
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HGVC Seaworld
Wyndham Smoky Mountains
For those who are worried about reception and or like AM radio - I strongly urge you to look into podcasts. Way more "little voices" there, they download to your phone when you're at home on wifi or when you want to use data if you have it, and then play completely self contained. I have over 70 hours of podcasts at a time on my phone. I'm on Android and use the open source and free AntennaPod off of F-Droid, but there are free and paid apps of all sorts available. I think there must be millions of free podcasts, and some with premium / paid content out there via Patreon etc. Many radio shows also offer podcasts of their content too. So I think that's where AM radio is going.
For paid there's also Sirius, but I don't like their ongoing prices - they're like $250 a year now if you forget to call and argue with them in which case you can usually get it for $110, and worse, if you do cancel, then in a few months they'll ask you back for $60 for the first year. If it was $80 a year all the time, I'd probably still have it even though I drive a LOT less now. But yes, with streaming on most interstates for long trips and just saved mp3s or CDs, there's not much value to me anymore in Sirius.
On the EV thing... I'm excited for EVs and I think there's a real great market for it. I also don't see it making sense to spend massively more money, or take a huge hit to functionality to get one. So, I'm still waiting and seeing. I'm hoping in the next 4 years or so someone will have something out like my current Subaru Outback with the same functionality I was able to get in it (added skid plates, a hitch and 50/50 off road tires for off roading and seasonal roads) at a similar price to a new Outback. That said - my current concern is the car rusting out on me sitting most of the time - I only travel about once every 2 weeks on average now with WFH, vs every day in the before times. And now most of my trips are road trips for vacations now, so... I do think back in my commuting days (I hope to never return to) EV with a 70 mile range and Subaru level AWD and clearance would have been amazing - I'd never have needed to stop for "fuel" most of the time, just charge it like my cellphone. Now I do want a 300 mile range or so, what I might drive in a day with a charging stop in the middle to get me to 500 or so miles. Actually, I'd like to see more gas stations also have chargers, as we do stop for 20 minutes or so frequently for walking, bathroom, driver switching breaks, plus food etc. Topping up a little at a fast charge might really help there.
As to the environment, I'm pretty convinced that going EV or some sort of abstraction layer to the energy source is a really good idea. It's much easier to centralize energy production, and change between underlying sources when there's not billions of individual locations that need to be changed. I also think the simplified mechanics and less maintenance and stuff to break is going to be a huge deal over time. It's like compare a 1950s car to a 2015 car - Do you ever worry about a carburetor? Points? Do you change spark plugs every 15k miles? When is the last time you needed a "tune up" at all for a car? My dad told me stories about these, but I've also had visceral experience in tractors. a 1950s gas tractor is a right PITA to keep running and get started vs a 1970s diesel EFI system. Carburetors are the devil to having something just start right up with a turn of the key. I'll say everything about the old tractors being cheaper to buy, and cheaper to fix - but it's all moot when the dang thing isn't working more than it is working! I see it with small farm tools too - mowers, rototillers, weed eaters - the short battery run times kind of suck, but the electric ones pretty much just run. The pull start gas ones are very much we have ever fewer people who can even get the darn thing to start as we all get older (and I'm not that old!). I think really soon EVs are going to be the same thing - people will ask "you go get an oil change? Why do you want to waste your time? Spark Plugs? Transmission fluid? Engine filters? Gas Pumps? You wait in line and stand there to fill up your tank *when you're not on a trip* - you make a special trip? Wow old timer". Seriously it'll be like leaded gas or these old old tractors - more of a hobby.
However - I also think that the obvious thing to do that we all saw during COVID - without forcing any changes on what type of car you own was just making anything that can be WFH. This made such a big difference that it overwhelmed pollution improvements from EVs for the mid term even. We should be forcing companies to justify why and when people need to travel daily to their location IMO. Some 30% of the workforce could be travelling less at all, and therefore lowering energy usage, cost, and pollution. And we just proved we can do it for 2+ years at a time, with NO NEW TECH needed to be developed. We have it. We don't even have to DEPLOY the tech - it's there, we are using it RIGHT NOW. No one needs to buy something new, no one needs a tax incentive, no one needs an invention. So while better transportation options are of course welcome - we could also just stop doing so much "wasted" transportation at all.
