3214: Electric Vehicles

2026-03-03T09:41:35Z

2A04:6EC0:272:7000:C974:70F3:FA55:6382: Expanded on the explanation, mostly relating to EV ranges and replaceable battery efforts

{{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.}}

[[Cueball]] has somehow misunderstood the way {{w|electric vehicle}}s work to be that they have one single-use battery, presumably with a vast capacity sufficient to run them for years. He should indeed feel incredibly silly about this, given the ubiquity of rechargeable batteries in other devices, and the large amounts of recharging infrastructure springing up to support the running of such vehicles. His objection makes about as much sense as saying he'd never buy a gas-powered car because eventually he'd use up all the gas.

A modern electric car commonly has a range above 300km.{{Actual citation needed}} By contrast, combustion engine cars usually reach at least 2 times this range on a full fuel tank.{{Actual citation needed}} Nevertheless, no kind of car can be driven very far or for very long without refilling its energy storage, be it gasoline or electrochemical. Many countries now have vast networks of public charging infrastructure, often for fast charging of 400kW and more, and their spacing usually permits any electric vehicle (even ones with unusually low ranges of <100km) to recharge before it runs out of energy.

Nevertheless, though not (yet) widespread, approaches for replacing batteries in EVs [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNZy603as5w have been commercialized]. In these cases, replacing the battery does not substitute charging it, but it permits the “charging” time to be reduced from often over 30 minutes to a few minutes (the time needed to pull out the discharged battery pack from the vehicle and put in a fully charged one). The batteries are charged in-situ and used to replace some other car’s depleted battery later on.

The title text is comparing electric vehicles to electric instruments (particularly {{w|Electric_guitar|guitars}}), which are contrasted with {{w|acoustic guitar|acoustic ones}}. In the case of instruments, this doesn't refer to how they're powered, but how their sound is transmitted from the strings and amplified. 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'.)

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]. Electric vehicles are commonly designed to emit sound, sometimes like an electronic instrument, to give an audible warning of their presence for the purpose of safety. Several jurisdictions around the world require electric vehicles to emit a minimum sound level for the safety of pedestrians.{{Actual citation needed}} Above a certain speed (around 30 km/h){{Actual citation needed}}, the noise produced by wheel-to-road friction outweighs any potential engine sounds from combustion vehicles, eliminating any difference in audible noise and derived safety properties, and electric vehicles usually no longer generate artificial sound. 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].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing to the left side of the panel, 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]]

3214: Electric Vehicles

2026-03-03T09:23:44Z

2A04:6EC0:272:7000:C974:70F3:FA55:6382: Add links and minor clarification to transcript; remove incompleteness marker as there doesn’t seem much more to explain about such a visually basic comic.

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3214: Electric Vehicles

3214: Electric Vehicles