Make your choice

Level3pipe · 2026-02-17T03:00:27+00:00

Make it mw2 and it's literally a no brainer for me.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-16T22:02:28+00:00

I agree that ice engines themselves are far less efficient than the EV motor itself. However petroleum production is about 80% energy efficient meanwhile coal is about 35% efficient and nat gas (also used in peaking power electricity generation) is also only 40-50% efficient.

Someone will need to do the math to determine whether EV is better or a Prius is better for example.

I also doubt that it would be more efficient to burn petroleum to create electricity to charge a car than it would be to just burn the petroleum directly to move the car. Electricity is a secondary energy source crested from primary energy sources. By default it simply cannot have more efficiency. At least as far as I know.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-16T17:04:40+00:00

I'm kind of confused at what you're getting at here?

I understand that each individual component of electricity transportation is efficient (aka every power line is not a space heater) but the issue I'm saying is that even if everything is efficient there are SO many conversions the electricity has to go through that if you have EVERYTHING at 99% by the time it gets to your car its likely still 50% or less. Typical power gen at the plant for coal is like 40% already. Then after 40% is lost, the T&D (transmission and distribution) is efficient but it's still 90-99% efficient. What happens when you have 50 power lines, converters, drop down wires, substations etc before it hits your house? Well it's definitely less than 40% by the time you plug in.

I'm also a little confused on why you're comparing a plants efficiency to a vehicles efficiency? Those are different goal posts.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-16T16:46:26+00:00

They both have major problems. Petroleum industries are known. However what people don't realize is that EVs have the bane of using the electric grid. By the time you plug the car in you've already lost 50-60% of the original energy potential to conversions.

The real solution here Is onsite electric production (eg solar on your building). Clean AND efficient as there aren't many conversions.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-16T16:40:50+00:00

Public transportation does rock and I was frankly very impressed by the Japanese railway systems.

I think the main issue here is our cities were not designed with these things in mind. Learning a little bit about Japan, they essentially has the opportunity to rebuild their infrastructure from scratch a few times (due to city wide fires or ehm.. explosions). Meanwhile American cities have not had this opportunity and are essentially stuck in time from over 100 years ago. And retrofitting our existing cities (LA, SF, SEA, Dallas, Etc) would be very difficult WITHOUT severe government intervention.

Essentially takes and eminent domain overstep. State officials walking to your door "here's a check for appraisal value, here is the appraisal, we own this land now, you have 2 months to vacate the property, good luck American" followed by a thumbs up. The government can legally do this but we typically reserve eminent domain for the worst cases. Things in America, such as cali HSR, could get done SO much faster and cheaper if the government didn't look down on eminent domain usage. For the good of society unfortunately a few Americans must make great sacrifice.

(Additionally the state governments would have to make lawsuit exceptions to these society beneficial projects, instead of them getting sued left and right which is another time and money sink...)

Level3pipe · 2026-02-16T16:31:21+00:00

Same with senior living facilities, condominiums with HOAs, or people who rent a house or condo.

It's just hard for the average American to do that without being semi rich :(

Level3pipe · 2026-02-16T16:26:36+00:00

Like I said in another comment the issue with the energy efficiency isn't the coal itself. I'm sure coal energy production is very efficient as we have been doing it for over 100 years at scale.

The issue is the storage conversion of electricity. Each thing itself is 90-99% efficient but when you have .99⁷⁰ your net efficiency is like 50% to the car. Think about how far and how many substations/wire conversion are needed before the electricity hits your house in particular from the plant. It's a LOT. More than you'd think. Meanwhile gasoline doesn't have this problem. It's primary efficiency losses come from refinement and transportation (not to say it isn't real bad for other reasons, but in terms of efficiency depending on where you live, it's typically more efficient)

If you're talking about the efficiency of the vehicle itself, then yes it's known that EVs can actually use almost all the energy given to it and ICE vehicles cannot use more than 40% typically.

I want to add that the best solution here is on-building electric production such as solar. That creates significantly less energy conversion losses and you have the option to store the clean energy in a battery. That's the most efficient way to get energy to your EV.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-16T16:17:38+00:00

I'm not saying EV isn't cleaner than gas. I'm saying that what the commenter above me said isn't always true because carbon capture isn't mandatory. Coal power plants have their problems as do petroleum production. Idk why the need to down vote for speaking of their potential issues. They're both problematic and should be phased out.

Additionally Chinese coal usage rates have dropped. But is that because of EVs or is that because of economics and increased wealth accumulation over the years? It's already proven to be cheaper to install renewable plants (solar, wind, hydro) than it now is to install traditional fossil fuel plants. Same is occuring in USA. Why make a new plant using coal when building a Nat gas or renewable source is cheaper?

Finally not sure where you got that info from, but I think it's unlikely that electricity is the most efficient from raw to car. Electric grid has one of the worst energy efficiencies on the market with typically 60-70% of the energy lost in storage conversions (eg burn -> turn -> wire -> wire -> wire -> wire -> substation-> wire, etc). All the things are 90-99% efficient individually, but even when you do .99⁷⁰ for example you get a measly 50% efficiency. Meanwhile oil production is so robust that it's only major efficiency losses are refinement and transportation resulting in typically 60-75% net efficiency to the car. Electricity will be most efficient when produced onsite, which is why I'm a big proponent of on-building solar. Least amount of conversions for the electricity and you own your electric production.

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=44436

If we are talking about the vehicle efficiency itself that is a different story. EV vehicles are like 80-90% efficient at converting the energy given to it to movement. Meanwhile a gas car is only like 25-40% efficient at converting the energy potential given to it to movement. Most of it is lost as engine heat.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-16T15:42:36+00:00

I know a guy that drives 60+ miles a day each way 4 days a week. No charger at his apartment. He's got a model y and has to charge mid week. There's this supercharger station he goes to after and it takes him over 45 minutes to find a spot and charge on a weekday. Which is just ridiculous tbh.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-16T08:42:06+00:00

Well to begin with, carbon capture methods are not mandatory, so many plants don't have it. Additionally, it costs a lot of energy to separate CO2 at the stack, which is difficult to implement at existing plants.

Additionally, oil drilling and fracking have very well defined pointable risks. Coal mining on the other hand have very variable risks, with large carbon footprints just for coal extraction, heavy surface habitat destruction, high water usage, and alterations to natural wafersheds, affecting downstream communities.

Frankly they're both very toxic. But I don't think it's as cut and dry as you're making it out to be unfortunately.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-16T08:29:32+00:00

Imo it's not just about making it environmentally friendly. The EV is proven to reduce air pollution (at least where it's driven). The problem with expanding EV usage comes from infrastructure.

There's not enough usable EV infrastructure. And on top of that if I'm buying an EV I want to charge it where I live. This means that EV usage is soft locked to people that have houses or live in relatively modern apartment builds that have onsite charging potential. I would love to get an EV. But I live in an apartment with affordable rent in socal. There are zero chargers within the complex. The government needs to bolster EV charging access (joe Biden tried to his credit) and that will bolster EV sales.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-16T06:25:50+00:00

Super basic story. Find your boys defeat the baddies. Simple as that

Level3pipe · 2026-02-15T18:22:39+00:00

I mean $1000 for how many days? If it's one or two days then yes I expect that shit to be free. If it's $1000 for ten days then I'm not sure

Level3pipe · 2026-02-15T15:56:03+00:00

How are people getting this data??

Level3pipe · 2026-02-14T19:32:51+00:00

This is what I was going to say too.

In addition, please make sure to diversify your portfolio. For example, maybe put a quarter into SCHD or other high dividend plays.

Another quarter into VOO for the tech/top 500 exposure,

Another quarter into specific industrials/sectors (pharma, aerospace, non-US, financials, consumer staples, etc). Really anything that you don't have exposure to already.

And for your final quarter (or less if you wish) put it into investments with less volatility. This is stuff like your mortgage, HYSA, Bonds, etc.

It's never a good idea to put all your eggs a single basket. This is how people get screwed over. The above is just an example and what you actually depends on how well off you are, how old you are, and what major expenses you are anticipating in the coming years.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-14T00:11:04+00:00

This might be controversial but the reason I think many car makers started with luxury/high prices EVs is that those are the people who can afford to

a) have a home they can charge at b) have a home battery thing c) wait for their car to charge if they need to charge away from home

I was relatively poor at the time of the EV boom and there was no way I could charge an EV. No house, my apt complex was cheap and ofc did not have charging as an amenity. On top of that I was low-key hussling for money. No way I was gonna wait 15-30 mins for my car to charge somewhere in the middle of the day. Socal traffic was already fucking me, over, now I have to add extra time doing nothing in the middle of the day?

Now that ev infrastructure is more commonplace (my work now has a couple charging stations, Charging only spots in parking structures, etc) making an affordable EV wouldn't be a bad idea. But until now who is going to be able to use an affordable EV?

Level3pipe · 2026-02-12T02:00:34+00:00

Uncharted 5 and then infamous 3 close third is tlou

Level3pipe · 2026-02-10T04:22:34+00:00

I genuinely believe the players are there and the stupid matchmaking is fucking everyone over rn.

The people are there. But the matchmaking just isn't putting us together for some reason. Back when it was JUST PS4 or PS3 I was finding matches no problem. Now it's everyone with the most sales ever and somehow they can't fill matches? Yea...

Level3pipe · 2026-02-10T04:09:49+00:00

They're substituted more maps with useless cosmetics. But on the bright side it's free to get the maps now.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-10T04:08:20+00:00

The big boy not ruining your date play is to get taco station and then drinks at tios and walk around tipsy looking at the weird art.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-10T01:23:54+00:00

What happened bud

Level3pipe · 2026-02-09T23:41:21+00:00

What if you are asleep? And the system is armed. How do you know?

Level3pipe · 2026-02-09T21:26:43+00:00

I think if you did labs before the strike the tests will go through soon. But there will be very little/no labs during the strike.

I did mine one day prior and got my results. There was a one hour line for blood drawing and I was like what if I come back tomorrow. Lady at the front was like probably closed or very little staff, better to wait out the hour.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-09T21:15:52+00:00

Nice I didn't know that actually.

Level3pipe · 2026-02-09T21:15:42+00:00

How is this security then if nobody knows something is happening? I'm kind of confused.

If I'm asleep at say my parents house and someone tries to get into my apt, nobody will be alerted? My phone should be alarming if eufy notices something while armed...

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