Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) announced that he would not drop out of the New York City mayoral race this week. On Tuesday, however, he dropped a new video on Threads with no commentary, showing him jumping a man's car. Cuomo is shown with a young man of color whose car appears to have broken down...
I’m going to be “that guy” and rain on your parade a bit. So my apologies for that.
A lot of modern cars recommend against being used as a jump point. Jumping another car can be bad for the electronics in your vehicle. In particular, most (all?) EVs very strongly recommend against being used to jump other peoples cars.
Jumper cables were great in the 70’s when you had virtually no electronics in cars, and before lithium batteries were a reality. Today you’re better off having a good lithium jump pack — they’re small, portable, are often USB rechargeable, and can pack one hell of a punch. Many tow truck drivers have switched to using jump packs — they’re portable, can tell you more information on the state of the battery via built-in electronic meters, and have a lot of other useful features built in. And it’s way cheaper to buy a new jump pack if something goes wrong than it is to fix your vehicles electronics.
I’ve been carrying jump packs for a few decades now, and like you I’ve jumped a bunch of strangers vehicles over the years. These days I’m rocking a NOCO GBX45 — with 1250A of boosting power @ 12V, USB-C PD rechargeable, automatic polarity warning circuitry, a built-in flashlight, and can be used to recharge other USB-C devices — all in a package that fits in one hand and weighs just under 1Kg. Way better IMO than jumper cables — it’s effectively safer to use for the user and the vehicle, you don’t have to get close enough to use it — and if you own one yourself you don’t need to rely on the kindness of strangers to get you out of a pickle.