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High gas prices drive Georgia man to create a "mini car" costing about $3 to fill up
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Americans will do anything to avoid an EV
this post was submitted on 24 May 2026
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Seems like a lot of effort to not ride a bike but I respect the pink fit
I assumed money is tight. He put together a cute project out of scraps.
eBikes are expensive
My EV would do the job better, faster, and use even less gasoline, but I’m not fooling myself that most people can simply buy one
Who said e-bike? Just a bicycle would do, no?
Or just ride an ebike
My ebike has unironically changed my life.
Shout out to Aventon.
I'll never forget how e-bikes are so fucking powerful that they INSTANTLY completely converted my lifelong driver of a dad.
I managed to convince him to buy an e-bike, and the day he rode that home was the last day he drove a car on a regular basis. Now he says buying a bike was the best thing he ever did, and he LOVES biking to work every day, not to mention that it might well have saved his life since he has diabetes and has had at least 2 silent heart attacks before then.
I wish I knew what it was that caused that spark. I've never had an e-bike, just a regular bike. It's been a very long time since I even rode one of those, so I don't really know what to picture in my head that sets the e-bike apart from a regular bike but not being a moped or mini-motorcycle.
It's.. a bike that has a motor? I'm sorry but this is something i'll never be able to understand, surely it's obvious what makes an e-bike better?
Let me clarify. If it has a motor, how is that different from a moped? Sincerely, not being snarky here. Is one just more powerful than the other?
Ignoring edge-cases due to messy regulation and manufacturers playing god, the proper normal moped and e-bike differ thusly:
Mopeds rely solely on the motor/engine, and have no pedals. They're heavier, less flexible, more expensive, and harder to maintain/repair yourself. They also go faster, though speed limits are very much down to regulations.
Generally in europe the speed limits are 45km/h for mopeds and 25km/h for e-bikes, but that limit only applies to the motor assist of an e-bike, you can pedal as fast as you're physically able.
E-bikes are amazing because you get almost all the benefits of bicycles plus optional assistance from the motor, which obviously makes it very approachable to people who aren't so keen on exercise.
And bicycles are great because they don't require any sort of license or registration, are cheap to buy, incredibly cheap and easy to maintain and repair (it's quite possible to do extensive field repairs with a couple tools and materials that easily fit in bags), very portable and easy to store (can bring them on most trains), and riding a bike is just generally very pleasant.
Ebikes are basically the perfect personal vehicle for any vaguely urban area. Basically 0 ongoing costs, trivial to store and park, pleasant and good for your health to use, and no negative effects on your environment.
Wow! Great write-up; I really appreciate the time you took to give me such a thorough answer. :) Thank you! And now I definitely am going to be eyeing some e-bikes myself haha
Can't possibly recommend them enough! Just spend some time thinking about what features you want and need.
There's everything from "Basically a slow moped that can technically be pedaled" to "literally a normal bicycle with a motor slapped onto it", with price ranges to match.
I'd generally say that unless you have money to spare and/or intend to rely on the e-bike as much as people rely on cars, the expensive stuff isn't really worth it. Fancy features like mid-drive and force-sensitive pedal assist are nice but i've done completely and utterly fine with a dead simple e-bike that cost like 1000€. There'll be a bit of a learning curve as you get used to to the quirks of having the motor engage when you pedal but after a while it becomes second nature.
If you get a cheap basic e-bike like me, i'd recommend taking advantage of it to get exercise: Having both fully functional pedals and motor assist means you don't have to worry about running out of stamina and having to trudge home in misery. Which means you're free to push yourself as far as you feel like, and thus you can improve your stamina and leg strength really quite quickly.
Having that physicality means the e-bike becomes even more useful, you become able to use less motor assist which extends your range, and range anxiety goes from "oh man if the battery runs out i'll be stuck!" to "if the battery runs out i'll be quite annoyed, oh well".
I'll probably be picking up an adult trike actually--I have developed some balance issues as I've aged sadly. But I am happy to see they even offer e-trikes!
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Man, did you know that small cars use way less fuel than oversized yank tanks? We should totally adopt that concept never.
And if we shared cars instead of owning them it would also save on gas for everyone
And if we paid someone to drive the car around for us it would be swell
Also if we do that we might as well make the car bigger
You know what's more efficient on gas than rubber on road? Metal. If we made the wheels metal we would have like zero rolling resistance
That tears up roads though so we should probably pave the roads with metal
That's kind of expensive, so we should only pave metal directly underneath where our metal wheeled car will drive
If we're going to do all of that it should be bigger. Multiple cars connected together.
Hey we can get rid of gas entirely? We could run this thing using catenary arms and overhead cables. GENIUS!
But what if I crash, because of running red lights or because I don't know how to operate a vehicle? I can't possibly put my life at risk. Let the other guy take the hit.
Americans will do literally anything to continue burning fossil fuels.
Electric carts have existed for decades, and don't cause noise or air pollution.
Most people don’t have a spare electric drivetrain in their garage, though.
Do you think most have a gocart?
No, but most in suburban America have a gas powered lawnmower
A lot have gone electric the last decade actually.
Might just have the old gas powered one laying around then.
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We can't afford new cars. I mean some can but most of us buy what's barely affordable.
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Electric cars do cause air pollution. A lot of the pollution cars produce is from tyre dust.
The funny thing about this article is that small cars have existed since forever but Americans always go for the larger, for inefficient cars.
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Are we judging him as if we were to judge a CEO selling a bs product, or as a bloke who built something cute in his garage?
Because as the later it's a really cool project, and looks well executed.
Wonder why so many comments are hating on that
Yes it’s a fun project, but it’s also painful to see how much effort Americans will go through to keep driving something gas-powered.
I guess it’s because America’s addiction to gasoline and the shit they make the rest of the world go through because of that doesn’t make it funny anymore.
At most gas prices inspired him to make that, but it isn't like he did that JUST for the gas prices. Look how happy he looks.
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It's a cool hobbyist project but was spun into a "way to save on gas" in the news report.
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Man that smirk on the newsreaders face.
“Ain’t that cute, a teeny weenie wittle caw”
AINT THAT CUTE, THE ECONOMY IS FUCKED
a go kart. He is in a go kart.
Surely an electric scooter would be just as cheap to run (though probably not to make, even by converting an old scooter).
You ever shop for an electric motor? Dood could likely make like 4 go carts for the cost of an electric conversion. Shits wild.
Local TV newsclowns are so cute when they play journalist. "And that minicar costs about $3 to fill up compared to about $60 for his minivan." Yeah thanks Anderson Cooper, that's a really insightful comparison! Who does your hair?
Anyway, I'm glad the guy's invention gets him around town - essentially a go-cart that's practical. Alternatives are good.
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ha. its a gocart with a barbie car top.. im surprised the cops are letting him be
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Interested in the range per liter though...
Not far. And not street legal either.
I guarantee that a small motorcycle would get better mileage and go faster.
It would look way less cool though
Right? There's something exceptionally cool about not giving a fuck.
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