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0 pointsp1necone1y ago0 comments

Yeah if the world went in the direction that prepper types seem to get wet dreams about petrol ICE cars would only be usable for a year or so - petrol has a shelf life, and you ain't running your own refinery.

A lot of diesels can run off of any vaguely fuel-like liquid you decide to put in them, so I'm sure sufficiently knowledgable people would keep those running, machining parts for them etc.

But electric vehicles are by far simpler than both of those, and generating electricity is easier than producing fuel you can shove in a diesel engine.

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5 comments · 3 top-level

twobitshifter1y ago· 2 in thread

You can make an ICE run on wood gas which is arguably more apocalypse proof than electric.

parineum1y ago

Generators can run on that to charge an ev that is also chargeable by solar panels, wind mills and water mills.

combu3kkd1y ago

All combustion engines, generators included require maintenance. Having n+1 requirements doesen't sound like a benefit to an apocalypse. In general consumer cars really don't fare well without well-mainained roads though, so they'd not be that useful to begin with.

combu3kkd1y ago

>But electric vehicles are by far simpler than both of those

Electric engines might be, but battery tech for sure isn't. Building a combustion engine + fuel vs. building an EV battery is a whole different game.

snozolli1y ago

petrol ICE cars would only be usable for a year or so

The Internet really overstates this. Fuel injected systems are sealed. Carbureted systems are open to outside air, so the fuel is constantly evaporating, leaving residue behind, and absorbing moisture from the atmosphere.

Gasoline in a sealed container remains usable for far longer than people on the Internet say it will.

Anyway, the final state of an apocalypse car would be running on wood gas. North Korea runs some or all of their military trucks on it (this may have changed as they've increased relations with Russia). An episode of Car Talk explained how it was used by German civilians during WWII:

https://www.cartalk.com/radio/show/1201-20-miles-wood-chip

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