Dollywood QR Code Drink Cups

YoshiFan:

The thing I don’t like about having a limit that amount of oz the cup has is that those machines can sometimes have problems.

Yeah, that was the first thing I thought of when reading about this system, both the ounce limit and the time limit. I'm trying to remember the last time I went to Cedar Point and the first ice dispenser I tried actually worked. And there definitely have been times when an entire machine has no carbonation and you have to wait to use another one.

CP Chris:

it seems like an unnecessary inconvenience in order for them to make sure you don't get a single drop more than you paid for, on a product that everyone knows costs them basically nothing

Quoted for emphasis. I mean, presumably someone had to do the math to determine it was a savings for the park, right? Is it worth the trade-off of a ****tier customer experience? Is the 0.00003 cents savings from having to pour out my uncarbonated Mountain Dew helping pay for a new rollie coaster?

GoBucks89:

I haven't figured a way to disable lane assist (or auto engine shutoff at idle) beyond current driving cycle...

This is by design for start-stop. To achieve the higher fuel economy numbers that start-stop provides, the vehicle must always reset start-stop to be on by default when switched off. Otherwise, the fuel economy numbers are averaged between start-stop engaged and disengaged. So the incentive for manufacturers is to have the system default to on when you start your car.

However, the counter to start-stop is that so many things under the hood have to be heavier duty versions - reinforced starter, higher capacity and/or multiple batteries, cooling systems, additional sensors, etc. - that it's difficult to see how start-stop provides an improvement when considering a vehicle's carbon footprint holistically, despite the "MPG" numbers being higher on the window sticker.

Classic example of regulation doing the exact opposite of what it was intended to do.

I'll have to check, but I think there's a way to permanently disable it on my wife's VW Tiguan. If I recall, you can set up driver profiles and I want to say I created one for me and did disable auto-start/stop. I rarely drive it though so I forget to activate the profile when I do. My wife likes it for some reason and leaves it on.

I've never owned a car (solo, not joint with my wife) newer than 2012, but I've been driving a lot of rentals lately due to totaling two of my daily drivers in the last two months. The deer population around here is absolutely off the charts, and I'm inadvertently doing what I can to keep it down I guess, at the benevolent expense of my insurance company. All the rentals, including the yawn-fest Nissan Altima I'm driving now, have lane assist. I find it more distracting than helpful. I haven't found a way to disable it yet, but I did in the last two I had (Mazda and Audi).

Once you go electric, you'll never go back.

Luckily we don't have to scan a QR code to drive.

"You have 30 minutes/15 miles. Good luck!"

Honestly, all the nanny devices are a decent part of the reason I was so pissed I might not get my car back after I got nailed on Xmas eve. The only thing it does is start beeping way too late if I'm getting too close to backing into something. It doesn't even bother me about the seatbelt. (smile)

Re: QR Cups

Yeah, I stand by my original post - stupid and ugly. Not something I'd expect to see at Dollywood at all. I can't think of a way to put more friction in front of the guest for no benefit (and arguable detriment) to the guest experience. There is no scenario I can think of where this is the preferrable option to any alternative.

(People gotta drink!)

Jeff:

Once you go electric, you'll never go back.

Even as someone not vehemently opposed to electric vehicles like a lot of car guys I know, I highly doubt that's true for me. Hell, a friend of mine has had multiple Teslas and loves them, but still owns two 911s.

I mean, I never want to spend more for gas, oil changes, brakes and other maintenance. And we're finally to the point where there are so many (better) choices beyond Tesla.

And most of us can't afford 911's anyway. 🙂

Jeff:

Once you go 6-speed manual, you'll never go back.

FIFY

(But I dearly miss my remote start.)

Jeff:

I mean, I never want to spend more for gas, oil changes, brakes and other maintenance.

If that argument worked, we'd have been past this discussion a long time ago.

Electric is the obvious endgame, but at the current adoption rates/cost trends (in the US), it's likely I (and the majority reading this - especially if you're roughly our age) go my entire life without ever owning an electric vehicle.

No idea how accurate these are, but it's related...and charts are fun...and I have no reason to believe they're not accurate.

If I was concerned about gas mileage, I would at the very least stop buying vehicles that require 91 octane at minimum. Two of the three vehicles I own require 91, and the third is carbureted. Also, cars are more than just A-to-B appliances for many of us. Far more.

I won't say I'll never own an EV (I learned never to say "never" years ago), but the likelihood is pretty low.

Recently, I could see me owning an EV. My affinity for 3 pedals being extensively noted, there will come a day quite soon where there's nothing of interest in that category for me. Miata too small, Jeep/Bronco too unrefined, BMW M and Porsche too expensive. What else we got? The new Integra has potential, maybe the forthcoming Celica? I really can't think of anything else off the top of my head. I really hate to do it but I don't feel that I have any more options.

So once the manual is out of the picture, what's the most fun or best for performance/off the line speed? It's electric. Next year at this time check back. I'm either sticking with the 11 year old Audi, or I'll have an Integra, Celica or BMW i4. Bonus: I can still say I've never purchased a car with an automatic transmission.

I still do road trips where I’ll go >700 miles in a day. That’s also 10 hours of straight driving, and usually 12-13 hours start to finish with stops. Assuming I start with a full tank, that’s 2 gas station stops, 5-10 min. If I were to go electric I would not only have to stop more frequently but those stops would be 20-30 min which would quickly make said trip not possible in one day. I want a EE, but I want to be able to still do those trips, fix fast charging and I’ll get it. I’m sure I’ll own a hybrid or a gas assisted car long before a pure EV.

The Bimmer will go to 80% charge in 1/2 hour with over 300 miles range, so that's not terrible on a trip. People gotta poop.

That’s still an extra 40 min, which would push the total drive day to 14 hours and be too much.

Lord Gonchar:

If that argument worked, we'd have been past this discussion a long time ago.

No it wouldn't, because people act on feelings instead of data. The US is the laggard here... the rest of the world's adoption rate is much faster, as those graphs show. When I visited Norway two years ago, the EV saturation was impressive, to the point that gas stations all had electric bays.

Touchdown:
...would quickly make said trip not possible in one day.

I've done plenty of those, and in the old Model S, with much lower range and slower charging. Piece of cake now. Splitting hairs between a 10 minute stop and 20 doesn't seem entirely valid to me. And as kpjb said, people gotta poop. Even when I had gas cars, stopping was rarely a 10 minute affair. Your scenario is still an edge case. The average commute in the US is 12 miles, the average trip out for anything less. You could do that on an electric scooter's range.

Also, yes, the BMW i4... I haven't driven one yet, but I've seen a few in the wild. Tired of cross-overs, really want a sedan again. That one ranks pretty high on my list. While Tesla drive trains are pretty bulletproof, and fast, I'm done with the build quality.

Florida is the second highest state for EV sales. In my neighborhood, it's literally 1 in 5 EV. It's not uncommon to stop at a light and be surrounded by EV's on all sides. It's happening, and it's awesome.

Jeff:

When I visited Norway two years ago, the EV saturation was impressive

But that did not happen in a vacuum. It happened in no small part because Norway taxed the hell out of IC vehicles to the point that it made no fiscal sense to buy anything other than an EV.

Jeff:
Splitting hairs between a 10 minute stop and 20 doesn't seem entirely valid to me.

Let's consider a ~1,000 mile trip, which is admittedly on the high end of trip distance, but is one we're doing later this year. According to Tesla's "Go Anywhere" tool, we would spend 125 minutes charging a Tesla Model Y over 9 stops to make that trip. Our car will need to be fueled up 3 times to make the same distance, and it won't take anywhere close to ~40 minutes each time we stop for gas, and we sure as hell won't be stopping 9 times during the trip.

I'm glad that EVs work for a lot of people, and one will likely be my next work commuter - having a "full tank" each morning plus the lower cost of ownership is appealing! But there is a legitimate case for EV range anxiety for people who intend to use their car for long trips, even if they do so infrequently.

The Germans have a word for that!

Reichweitenangst

Jeff:

...people act on feelings instead of data. The US is the laggard here... the rest of the world's adoption rate is much faster, as those graphs show.

Yeah, that's pretty much what MY post said.

Reminding people of the cost and maintenance facts repeatedly for 20 years hasn't really moved the needle. Point was, you need a more effective argument.

Do I? It's not my problem that people can't do math. The Model Y is the best selling car in the US, for three years, so apparently someone is making a decent argument. And it's not even a particularly good car (the new version is ugly, they still can't get body panels aligned right, and dammit, I want real turn signal stalks).

djDaemon:

But that did not happen in a vacuum.

Just like Stable Genius is trying (unsuccessfully) to shut down anything not coal-fired. It's not like there was enormous backlash in Norway; They wanted this. But the broader market trends are going this way regardless. As manufacturers figure it out, it's going to be cheaper to make an electric car. If it weren't for the battery economics, which have decreased 90% in 15 years, and about 10% in the last year alone, we'd be pretty close by now.

Let's consider a ~1,000 mile trip... According to Tesla's...

Sure, how often do you do that? I haven't driven that far since I moved here 13 years ago. Because airplanes, mostly. And I don't know how Tesla is routing you (the tool doesn't work when I try it), but I'm guessing four stops at most over two days. In fact, I know this works because I've driven to the area around Carowinds, the half way point to Cleveland, where I'd also stop overnight (1,051 miles). Two stops, about 30 minutes each to stretch and use the facilities, maybe get food. I would have done exactly the same thing in a gas car. (Sidebar: The algorithm used in the car, and presumably that tool, prioritizes arrival at the next stop at 10%, requiring you charge just enough to reach that point. In practice, you exceed that because the charging is so fast now.)

But there is a legitimate case for EV range anxiety for people who intend to use their car for long trips...

Not really. The insistence that they drive a thousand miles and stop for a total of 10 minutes once a year isn't logical. In the worst case scenario, the 12,000 miles a year will cost two times as much to fuel, plus four oil changes. Even at 30 mpg and $3/gallon, that's $1,200 in fuel. Even at a low 3 miles per kWh, and 15 cents per kWh, I'm at $600. The reality is that average mpg is lower, gas costs more, and a lot of folks do better than 3 miles per kWh (I routinely see 5 for city driving, with the AC on).

Like I said, y'all do you.

Shades:
Reichweitenangst

Ugh, it's like the author tried to make things as hard as possible. The cars tell you everything you need to know, and who goes to a Walgreens to charge? Superchargers are only kilometers apart now, and Germany is particularly dense with them. Am I the only one who drove my gas car almost to "E" and never had "range anxiety?" With fast charging infrastructure ubiquitous in most places, this shouldn't be a thing. Scratch that, I leave the house with a "full tank" every morning, so on average, my SOC rarely gets lower 60%. I've used public charging once in the last year.

Skepticism is fine, but a lot of folks go out of their way to convince themselves how hard it is, regardless of the data in front of them. I've been at this for 11 years now, and never been inconvenienced, aside from a time in 2015 when I had to wait about 10 minutes for an open charger. Most of the time, it looks like this:

Why does it matter to some people that the US isn't adopting EVs "quickly enough" or whatever? Is it because combustion vehicles are going to make the Earth uninhabitable any minute now like we've been hearing for 50+ years from the alarmists? Or some other reason?