this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
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Fuck Cars

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A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

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[–] [email protected] 83 points 8 months ago (3 children)

If only there was a way to move goods across a country that used steel wheels and renewable energy

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm guessing you mean an army of people in wheelchairs?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago

Even wheelchairs have tyres - so first things first, ban all wheelchairs.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago

Wow are you talking cybertrucks with spiked stainless©️ steel wheels??

[–] [email protected] 68 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

One elephant in the room is the fact that electric vehicles can wear out tyres up to 50% faster than their conventional counterparts, due to being heavier.

There is a very long list of problems with cars that get worse with weight. Yet, people insist on driving land-blimps.

It increases every single consumable in the car. Fuel, brakes, tyres, filters, oil, fluids, bearings, driveshafts, suspension... everything. It also puts additional wear on the roads they drive on, with an exponential relationship.

It also makes them far more dangerous. Worse cornering and braking, and an exponentially greater impact force when they hit something.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

Nitpick: The relationship between vehicle weight and road damage is a quartic (e.g. x to the power of 4), not an exponential

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

I used to be a vol firefighter. If it's a heavy EV vs a regular weight car the EV will cause more damage and increase the risk of death/entrapment compared to normal crashes. You can't cut open elecric cars like normal ones to rescue people or you'll get electrocuted so that slows everything down.

There are response guides tesla puts out on their site to help us prepare for what a scene involving a tesla would entail. If I remember right like 8,000 gallons of water to keep the battery stable. Our tanker holds 2k. How many highways have hydrants? None that I can think of.

So we're talking about deadlier crashes while also having to arrange water resources like we would for a structure fire. For any significant crash involving EVs

I want to like electric vehicles but it seems like all it's going to do is make firefighters' lives hell for the next few decades

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Wow the water thing seems nuts. I just had a look at one of the guides. Do not submerge, but use large amounts of water to cool the battery compartment.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There are response guides tesla puts out on their site to help us prepare for what a scene involving a tesla would entail. If I remember right like 8,000 gallons of water to keep the battery stable.

Keep in mind they make those numbers based off liability, not science. Those guides are meant to legally cover Tesla's ass, not provide actual useful information.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Oh yeah we know, and are curious about how they'll shift over time when theory meets reality

[–] [email protected] 34 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

The good news is that they found that boiling water eliminates 90% of microplastics. In a few years the oceans should be about the right temperature.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Let's boiling tires !

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Eliminates them how? Do they break down and if so what do they break down into? I'm genuinely curious.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

"Eliminates" is a bit misleading. Calcium carbonate in the water traps the particles, some in the layer that builds up in the pot, the rest can be filtered out easier because the resulting particles are bigger.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I honestly don’t know the science behind it. It has just been in the news the last week or so.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Is natural rubber a plastic?

[–] [email protected] 57 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Tires aren't made exclusively of natural rubber, they contain synthetic polymers among other things.

Additionally, by vulcanizing the rubber, three-dimensional chemical bonds resembling those found in synthetic plastics are created to harden the material.

So the end product is not really "natural" or "rubber" anymore.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (6 children)

What's the alternative? Basically all wheels use vulcanized treads.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That's the point of the 15 minute city - that is, a city where everything its people need is within a 15 minute walk. People travel less and when they travel they walk or bike. The alternative, in other words, is better city design.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I think you mean that no one will be allowed to go more than 15 minutes away and everyone will be in concentration camps!0👿👿👿

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

You forgot about the mandatory surgeries

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

yes the trackers from the vaccines identify your home location and when the gps signals show you surpassed them it disintegrates you.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The heavier the vehicle the more wear on the tires, and that works the other way around too. Bicycles are so lightweight that they don't shed rubber much faster tennis shoes.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

My commute is on steel wheels (train).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The last time there was a similar thread there were some links to some plant based alternatives. They seem viable but there was no investment because you guessed it, they would be more expensive than the tyres we use now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Rubber is plant based though. A different commenter explained that vulcanized rubber is basically a plant based plastic.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Natural Rubber is plant based but there are synthetic rubber like SBR or BR also used when making different tyre compounds.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There is Michelin’s Tweel concept but it takes a huge cost for additive manufacturing required to manufacture it since it has replicate the cushioning and dampening aspect of tires. (Or else the ride will be bumpy as hell). Only NASA uses it for the rovers and stuff coz it’s about $20k for each wheel of 4 in width.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Im almost certain the tread is still rubber.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

It’s rubber mixed with carbon fiber and other processing oils plus wax for oxide protection plus sulphur and with which it’s vulcanized.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago

No worries companies Exxon has taken the lead for you!

"It's not our fault, it's the publics fault for using wheels!"

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Well I'm waiting on those airless tires with printable treads. It is really inefficient that we rely on tires that are garbage as soon as you hit a nail.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Slow down, they need to find a way to manufacturer planned obsolescence into them first. In America, you cannot have revolutionary technology without waiting for the existing monopolies to hop on the band wagon.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'll pay a goddamn subscription.. Like this shit needs to STOP

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

If it is $10 a month with 3 tread changes a year I'll take it

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

There are solid tyres available for forklifts and such which could negate the problem you are mentioning. But the issue is the more the rubber the more energy it consumes. There is no way around it. It’s rubber inherent property. It is precisely why it’s used as it softens the ride by sapping energy obtained by unevenness of the road.

The other reason is heat. Since it saps away the energy, it manifests as heat inside the tyre and since it’s a poor conductor of heat it can’t dissipate it away fast and if it gets hot enough, tyre comes apart. So due to this you can see it is only limited to forklift speeds of 10-15 mph.

Believe me when I say, dealing with rubber is a can of worms with material modeling to manufacturing and maximizing performance of it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Patches work just fine, and as a printing enthusiast, printable treads just sound terrible.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

(Disclaimer: I'm a car guy, but I'm not here to argue about the necessity of reducing car traffic - I want fewer people on the road too!)

Clearly we're not going to get everyone out of their cars overnight, or even in the next 20 years. Besides the obvious things like getting a smaller car and using the car less in general, what can the average Joe do today?

The article says Michelin has the lowest rates of abrasion and I have no problem buying Michelin as I already buy high-end tires for peace of mind, but given that the statement comes from themselves, is there any research to verify it?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Uhh I have an idea! Let's switch to cardboard tyres