noahm

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 9 points 16 hours ago

She's fairly powerful within the Senate and brings substantial amounts of money and jobs to Maine in the form of government contracts.

She just announced that she'll be running again in 2026, which would be her seventh term. Recall that when she first ran she said she was only interested in serving a single term. Power corrupts.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What do you use for furnace/AC monitoring? Do you get data directly from the equipment, or just infer it from environmental trends? I assume the power data comes from embedded monitoring facilities in your UPS? What make/model do you have? I have a similar setup in my house, but it's lacking a few metrics. Monitoring air quality (CO2, particulates, etc) would be nice, and my local electric provider sounds a lot like yours, so voltage monitoring would be great.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Honestly, where would we be without the Jets? This just makes me smile.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago

Forgive my pessimism, but while this is the sort of thing that could sink a "normal" campaign, the cult of personality around Trump has been weathering stuff like this since 2016 or even earlier. I'll believe that this is impacting voter sentiment when I see it reflected in the results after election day. Until then, it just feels like more wishful thinking.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

As noted elsewhere in the thread, they do support MTP transport, so it's definitely not as user-hostile as it first sounded. Things like Calibre will still work. However, the fact that Amazon also removed the ability to download ebooks in the browser for offline transfer suggests where things are heading. IIRC kobos have some anti features of their own, but I don't recall the details. I wonder if something like the Daylight DC-1 could be even better. It's not just a nice reader, but a proper computer. At least, if it actually exists.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

EVs are older, sure, but they were in suspended animation for a long time.

As to the question of how mature is mature enough, that depends. In my case, as an EV owner, I think they are mature enough now. However, the fact that major developments in range, efficiency, charging speed, etc are happening regularly in the EV space reflects a certain immaturity. The technology clearly has not yet stabilized, and that may be concerning for people coming from an ICE background.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Sometimes you need to check your tire pressure, too.

The general reduction in scheduled maintenance requirements is really wonderful.

[–] [email protected] 70 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

That's not limited to EVs, though. Most modern cars have the same antifeatures.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

Sadly, that can happen with a modern ICE car, too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Sort of. ICE engines are much more mature, and the improvements happen in much smaller increments. There were plenty of ICE cars 30 years that could get 30 mpg, just like there are today. Whereas with EVs, we're talking about potentially extending range and charging speeds by 50% or more.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Look for a used one now. The prices are low enough that you'll be able to get a good one for a low enough price that you may not feel bad if you decide to upgrade in 2 or 3 years.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I consider electric only to be a commuter car at best. It’s not going to be able to do a road trip. And depending on the car and the commute may even not be able to do a grocery run after work some days.

I really wonder what kind of car you drive. Sounds like a Nissan Leaf or something.

I'll share a couple of anecdotes regarding my experience with EVs:

My parents live on a farm in rural Maine. They are on their second Chevy Bolt (first was a lease, and they liked it so much that they upgraded to a later generation when the lease expired). It's an inexpensive, no-frills EV that is their primary means of transportation. Living in the country, the shortest trip they take is likely to be at least 20 miles round-trip. In the past, I've borrowed that car for an overnight trip to Vermont. We made sure to charge it at home before the leaving, and drove to Vermont without needing to stop. I don't recall the exact distance, but it was about 4 hours of driving through rolling hills. We charged it again in Vermont, and drove home the next day.

My partner and I have a 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 that we bought used for $28k. It's all-wheel drive and has a battery warmer, both of which are helpful in cold climates. We do not have a charger at home. My wife's commute is 20 miles round trip, and we are able to charge the car where she works, which we do roughly once a week. Although the car itself is capable of charging very quickly, the charger available to us is a low-power home charger, so it's nice to be able to leave it plugged in during the full work day. We don't hesitate to take this car on longer trips, especially if they take the interstate highway system or pass through major cities, where faster charging is always available.

When I bought the car, it was 150 miles away from my house. It was charged to 100% when I picked it up, and the car estimated 300 miles of range. We arrived at home with 50% charge remaining, so I'd say the 300 mile range was pretty accurate.

With this car and our charging habits, daily driving doesn't really require any special thought or planning at all. For longer trips, anything less than a 150 mile round trip requires no more planning than "I should make sure to charge it within a day or so of the trip, if possible." For a trip in the 250 mile range, I would definitely prefer to start fully charged, if possible, otherwise I'd want to explore charging options along the way. Only if going over that would I definitely feel the need to investigate charging options at my destination or along the route. A home charger would make things even simpler, but as it is it's so low-stress that we don't feel a lot of urgency to get one installed.

I recommend reading Tim Bray's experiences with several years of EV-only ownership, including some long (1000+ mile) road trips in Canada. Here are a couple:

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