3214: Electric Vehicles

2026-03-15T06:38:11Z

2600:1700:94A0:6BE0:B466:3152:220B:B922: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3214
| date = March 2, 2026
| title = Electric Vehicles
| image = electric_vehicles_2x.png
| imagesize = 209x389px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Now that I've finally gotten an electric vehicle, I'm never going back to an acoustic one.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an EV WITH A NON-RECHARGEABLE BOT-TERY. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

Many potential customers of {{w|electric vehicle}}s have "{{w|range anxiety}}", and are concerned about the ability of the vehicle batteries to allow the same freedom of travel as with those using the {{w|internal combustion engine}}. No one wants to be stuck on the side of the road, having run out of power, and finding a {{w|filling station}} for fuel ({{w|gasoline|gasoline/petrol}} or {{w|diesel fuel}}) to refill a motor vehicle is more likely than finding an electric vehicle recharging station. (An EV ''can'' be recharged from a "standard" electrical socket, albeit slowly, quite apart from specialized home setups as seen in [[3211: Amperage]].) Manufacturers have been trying to ease these fears by developing longer-lasting batteries, along with more recharging stations being set up.

This comic exaggerates this concern to an absurd degree: [[Cueball]] had apparently believed that electric cars were powered by single-use, non-rechargeable batteries (this comic being a flashback to some conversation before he was corrected). Practical electric vehicles, since {{w|History of the electric vehicle#First full-scale electric cars|their very early days}}, have pretty much always had {{w|rechargeable battery}} technology of some kind or other. He should indeed feel incredibly silly about this, given that rechargeable batteries are very common in many other devices.

Commercially available rechargeable polymer-electrolyte batteries have not always been common, however. The proliferation of Alkaline, NiMH, and Lithium-ion batteries happened during the late 1990s and early 2000s (during Randall's lifetime), although the {{w|lead–acid battery}} first appeared in the mid 19th-century and later became the staple (rechargable) electrical storage medium in both fully-electrical and IC-powered vehicles of all kinds. Rechargeable cells are still the minority of sales for household-use size batteries (AA, AAA), perhaps in part because they get [[https://www.rdbatteries.com/blog/post/how-many-times-can-you-recharge-rechargeable-batteries.html?srsltid=AfmBOopDQfsdCmfha-x95r8snSTCV8SIHi6S02PcMReOZyJlWa0ENY6w re-used many times]] rather than needing to be entirely replaced by a further purchase after they are first drained. Battery operated devices and toys for most of the 20th-century (e.g. tamagotchis) did not generally have recharging capabilities and required replacing the battery entirely, rather than (as with many modern devices, e.g. phones) having built-in batteries enabling the user to recharge them by plugging a suitable power-carrying cable into a port. For other devices that {{w|Batteries Not Included|may or may not}} have originally come with single-use cells prepackaged, households may have eventually decided to buy reliable rechargable equivalents to be charged as needed. It's not reasonable to completely throw away the batteries that power electric vehicles, every time they are discharged, or even throw away (or abandon) whole vehicles due to difficulties in replacing them. But, in assuming that an EV's battery is not rechargeable, [[Cueball]] is concerned that this is what he would be forced to do..

All types of vehicle can only be driven so far, or even idled for so long, without refilling their energy storage, be that liquid fuel or electrochemical potential. Because of this, any vehicle (other than perhaps a {{w|solar car}}, or similar) will require occasional top-ups at roadside facilities or even through a direct feed ({{w|overhead line}}s can provide electricity to {{w|Rubber-tyred tram|suitable road or rail vehicles}}, and a {{w|third rail}} is an additional option for the latter type, along some or all of their prepared routes). As of 2021, a modern electric car commonly had [https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/evolution-of-average-range-of-electric-vehicles-by-powertrain-2010-2021 a range above 300 km/200 miles,] and this is continuing to expand. Combustion engine cars usually reach [https://energynow.ca/2022/10/visualizing-the-range-of-electric-cars-vs-gas-powered-cars/ at least twice this range] on a full fuel tank.

Many countries now have vast networks of public charging infrastructure, to echo the almost ubiquitous presence of refuelling stations across the road network. The spacing of these in all but the most sparsely populated areas usually permits any electric vehicle (even one with an unusually low range of <100km) to recharge before it runs out of energy, and fast charging capabilities of 400kW and greater makes the current waiting time to recharge more and more like the quick topping-up process people are used to in liquid refuelling. As an alternative, {{w|battery swapping}} is also a possibility in some places, for suitably designed EVs, and has been [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNZy603as5w commercialized]. In these cases, replacing the battery does not substitute charging it, but it reduces the “refill” time from a possible thirty minutes stop-over to just a few minutes (the time needed to pull out the discharged battery pack from the vehicle and put in a fully charged one). The prior batteries are then charged by the facility, and later used to directly replace some other vehicle’s battery when it requires it. Most electric vehicles will provide a recharge warning (equivalent to a low fuel warning) well in advance of the battery being depleted, to prevent vehicle stranding.

The title text imagines that electric cars are distinct from others in a similar way as electric instruments are from other instruments. In particular, {{w|electric guitar}}s are contrasted with {{w|acoustic guitar|non-electric (aka acoustic) ones}}. In the case of instruments, though, the 'electric' and 'acoustic' don't refer to how they're powered (the latter isn't even 'powered' at all), but how they transmit and amplify the sound produced by the player. There's no such thing as an acoustic vehicle, though sound ''can'' be used to [https://hackaday.com/2025/02/21/acoustic-engine-harnesses-the-power-of-sound/ generate propulsion] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je7eLZS6GG0 on a small scale][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCnxsoXtlmY in a variety of ways]. It has become a common practice to refer to ''bicycles'' without a motor by the misnomer 'acoustic bicycle', but this does not seem to be much the case with cars. (Bicycles are sometimes also referred to as 'analog bicycles' — this is even more of a misnomer, being borrowed from the distinction between mechanical and digital devices, where the latter are sometimes misnamed as 'electric'.) When particular bicycles were developed to supersede the "ordinary" type (later) known as {{w|penny-farthing}}s, the ''new'' bicycles with wheels of the same size were called "{{w|safety bicycle}}s", to promote the idea of their being less tricky to ride, a term that later fell out of use as the new design became more standard (and, in its own way, 'ordinary').

Electric vehicles are {{w|Electric vehicle warning sounds|commonly designed}} to emit sound, sometimes like an electronic instrument, to give an audible warning of their presence for the purpose of safety, particularly when traveling at lower speeds. Several jurisdictions around the world {{w|Electric vehicle warning sounds#Regulations|require}} them to emit a minimum sound level. In some cases, electric vehicle sounds are designed by [https://abcnews.com/Business/famed-composer-hans-zimmers-score-giving-sound-electric/story?id=69242502 renowned composers]. Though it is not their intended use,{{Citation needed}} motorised vehicles can be used as music instruments. Composer Ryoji Ikeda has composed a [https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/37885/1/building-a-synth-orchestra-out-of-one-hundred-cars symphony for 100 thermal ("acoustic") cars].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing to the left side of the panel with his arms out, and [[Megan]] and [[White Hat]] are standing to his right, facing him.]

:Cueball: I would never get an electric vehicle.
:Cueball: Sure, they sound great, but what do you do if the battery runs out of charge?

:[Caption below the image:]
:I felt pretty silly when someone finally explained to me that EVs are rechargeable.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]

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3214: Electric Vehicles