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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: December 13th, 2023

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  • Family story time: my family is full of academically minded people (three of my grandparents worked as Latin teachers), with varying levels of snobbery and reasonableness. One of the first times my dad went to my maternal grandparents house for dinner, someone said “margarine,” pronouncing it with a hard g. My father asked why, and my grandfather explained that there’s no soft g followed by an a in English.

    My father accepted this, and looking to change the subject, asked if my grandparents could offer any help analyzing “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.”













  • That should be good! My commute was 18 miles with free charging at work and I never had to stop to charge on a direct ride home.

    I did once nearly get fucked by stopped traffic in the winter- I had the heat on normally until the jam, and then turned it on for 5 minutes every fifteen minutes while standing still. After about 90 minutes, the traffic cleared, but I was very cold and had about 20% battery by the time I got home. That’s a good amount, but I’d started less than 20 miles away with a full battery. ICEs are also less efficient in traffic, but they heat the car with excess engine warmth, so it’s not an additional drain on mileage.

    I’d advise people to keep a space blanket and hand warmers in any car, but especially an EV. If you’re in an area prone to heavy traffic, maybe keep them close enough to reach from the driver’s seat.


  • I don’t know about starting difficulties, because I was in a warmer climate, but there are other complications for the cold.

    I used to have a 2018 Nissan Leaf (I bought it used, but the battery was still testing at 100%), which ostensibly had about ~240km range. It didn’t get to -30C, but at about-5C if you use zero climate control (also different from an ICE car, it stays colder because the engine isn’t hot), you could get about 210 km. With low climate control, it’s more like 160 km (I don’t think I ever used high heat, but I imagine that’s more difficult in -30). Depending on your lifestyle, that’s not a big deal, but I had to charge in inconvenient places anytime I wanted to do more than a commute to work or local errands in the winter.

    Today’s EVs are generally higher range, so factor that in as well. If it’s possible to do an extended test drive, I’d suggest trying one in winter.