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NYC's 19th-Century Horse Carriages Spawn Weird, Truck-Size Electric Car
cartechboy (2660665) writes "Led by Tesla, electric cars are all the rage now. And the idea of a nine-passenger all-electric vehicle sounds good--until you learn that it maxes out at 30 mph, weighs almost four tons, and costs in the six figures. What is this monstrosity? It's the Frankenstein creation of a group of animal-rights advocates, who are proposing it as the replacement for New York City's fabled horse carriages--and who paid $450,000 to have a prototype built. Who's against it? Would you believe Liam Neeson and one of NYC's daily papers? The huge electric car--modeled after an early 1900s open touring car, complete with brass lanterns--is on display this week at the New York Auto Show, and it's certainly attracting its share of attention."
OK, the car actually seems like a decent idea, and might work well. But their motivation seems a bit ridiculous.
I've ridden horses. Anyone claiming that riding horses is automatically animal cruelty is quite simply a moron. Fortunately, these people do not seem to be pushing that particular agenda - their claim is that NYC is inhospitable to horses.
I haven't been to NYC, other than driving through, so I can't personally claim either way. However, if NYC is inhospitable enough to qualify as cruelty to horses, then NYC ought to be abandoned as unsafe for human habitation as well. After all, homo sapiens is a species of animal, so shouldn't animal cruelty apply to us as well?
I'm not against the horse-drawn carriages, but I kind of like this car. It's charming. Can we have both?
They'll take them to a nice farm... um out in the country... um where they can spend all their time in a field chasing rabbits.
Disclosure: I've never been to NYC, and I don't know how these horses are treated. If they're generally treated poorly, then disregard my comments.
That said, it makes me wonder if the animal rights activists have ever met working horses. Working animals are bred for their jobs and they tend to enjoy them. My brother owned a draft horse and there was nothing he liked better than pulling. If pulling teams are animal cruelty, then so is playing fetch with your retriever.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
Its either pull a carriage or off to the dog food factory. Ask the horse for its preference.
The horse was consulted and has been asked which option it would prefer.
The horse did not respond.
The general conclusion was that it seemed likely that the horse did not understand English.