No more ICE

I learned earlier this week from a colleague that ICE can also stand for Internal Combustion Engine. It was his own invention no doubt but he said he got a personalised number plate with ICE on it when he switched to an electric car. He had overlooked that ICE in the US also stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. So his number plate didn’t go down well with some other drivers as they mistook it as a political statement against the government immigration policy. Anyway, last week I had to say goodbye to my good old Diesel engine powered car and got an electric vehicle as a replacement. As my wife was already driving an electric car the combustion engine era has come to an end in our home. Manual gear shifting also went out the door. And driving 1000km on one tank of fuel as well. As long as I don’t have to drive very far the electric experience is superior to the old ways. But my new car is more like an iPad with wheels, big display, lots of electronics and integration with my phone and so on. As reading text messages is not safe while driving the system is reading them to me. Works fine as long as the messages are in English. When the system reads me a Dutch message it is completely useless, pronunciation and intonation are completely off. I can make heads nor tails of the message. Quite funny in an unintended way.