Earlier quoted context omitted.
The one thing that is really different is that digital cameras didn’t required a huge network of infrastructure to succeed. That’s unfortunately where you’re analogy breaks down
> digital cameras didn’t required a huge network of infrastructure to succeed. Yes, of course they do. What are you going to do with some .jpegs without the internet? Literally a huge network, and it was rolled out around the same time.
Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly
411–420 of 450 posts
Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly
#412Earlier quoted context omitted.
You mean the rich, temperate parts of Western Europe, most of which could fit inside Texas? Sure. If you’re being more honest it’s the urban areas of the richer, temperate parts of Weatern Europe, which is an even smaller geographic area with a total population that’s less than the US, or about 1/5th of China or India. I love cycling in Paris and Amsterdam, not so much in New York City in the winter. I also wouldn’t…
I live in Norway, in a city of 180-200k people. Folks use public transportation or walking all the time. With children. For everyday food shopping. You don't need to shop only once a week - 2-3 times makes carrying your goods easier. You can dress for the weather. It isn't all that big of a deal. Children in strollers have warm stuff around them. They sell bikes with studded tires for use on snow. It was tiring when…
You said I live in Norway, in a city of 180-200k people. Folks use public transportation or walking all the time. With children. For everyday food shopping.
Is Norway not one of the richest WE countries? (Not temperate though, fair enough.)
The country has a very high standard of living compared with other European countries...
According to United Nations data for 2016, Norway together with Luxembourg and Switzerland are the only three countries in the world with a GDP per capita above US$70,000 that are not island nations nor microstates.[18]
Yes... yes it is. It also has a bit over 5 million people, with about a million Living in Oslo, or 1.5 million if you go for the whole metro area. That’s great, but doesn’t have much to do with most other cities on Earth in terms of population density, population as a fraction of the country’s total population, and wealth. For example NYC has a population density of about 27,000 per square mile, and Oslo has about 8500. How does street crime compare between a major American city and Oslo?
Sadly, the diversity of cultures, politics, and incomes which define a city like NYC also make it hard to just say “let’s have a better environment for bikes!” I’m. It sure how you’d go about changing that, but I’m pretty sure articles like this and comments about Norway may not inckude realistic solutions. If I lived in Oslo, I’d bike a lot too, but if I lived in NYC I wouldn’t because I like living. Public transportation in the states varies massively, but either way simply saying “fix it” without a concrete way to make it happen in the real world of vested interests, cultures, and politics is sort of pointless.
Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly
#413Earlier quoted context omitted.
Conveniently cities have already done a huge amount of the legwork for enabling charging at street parking thanks to street lights. It will be expensive no doubt, but so was converting gas street lights to light bulbs.
Cars draw a lot of power vs electric lamps.
Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly
#414Earlier quoted context omitted.
No sane person would do so in any country that doesn't have the bicycle infrastructure we have in the Netherlands. I live in Australia and/or New Zealand a few months out of the year, and I've taken my kids to school there - it's insane to do so on a bike. And this was in places that actually have bike infrastructure and bike activism! Dutch people need to try cycling somewhere else before claiming that bikes are a c…
> No sane person would do so in any country that doesn't have the bicycle infrastructure we have in the Netherlands. Totally agreed, but bike infrastructure is something that you can actually decide to implement.
Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly
#415Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand this calculation. Does your toddler use a excessive amount of electricity? Do you work at home running an aluminum smelter? Snark aside, when we got our Chevy Spark EV in 2013, we switched to the EV rate plan and it has saved us a lot. I work at home too, and but the peak hour use on the EV plan is quite small, so the higher rate is balanced out by having the car automatically charge during off-pea…
It means I have to run the AC in summer and heat in winter for much of the day. The age of my child is relevant because older kids are in school during the day.
Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly
#416Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are also a much better driving experience. Once you get used to one pedal driving and instant silent thrust, gas cars seem unresponsive and clumsy. Not going to gas stations is great too.
What do you mean by one-pedal driving? Surely electric cars still have an accelerator and a brake?
Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly
#417Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would someone buy an electric car if they had to pay the equivalent price of gas to charge it?
It would in all likelihood still be cheaper than gas, but even if it weren't, electric cars are just that much better all around. After you've driven one for a while, you realize what a smelly complicated Rube Goldberg mess the internal combustion engine is.
Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly
#418Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm in MA (home of $0.20/kWh electricity) and my LEAF gets about 21 miles per dollar of energy. A comparable gas car would get ~13 miles per dollar of gasoline. I think you're likely still saving money on the electric portion of your driving, as CA rates seem to be slightly lower than MA rates from a cursory Google search.
We pay a bit more than this for electricity, on the margin (they give you low rates on the first chunk but then it goes up from there). But most of the difference is that our vehicle is nowhere near as efficient as yours. The 9kW/h battery only goes about 18-20 miles on a charge, and it costs more than the $1 that you pay to get that many miles.
Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly
#419Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out where I live, the electric bike is as common as a regular bike. When I first saw one, people said it was a useless half measure - if you don't want to peddle, you would take the car. The has proven wrong, and as time goes by, the reverse happens - it replaces the car. You should realize that many people who buy these scooters and electric bikes are doing so to replace the bike, not the car. But then over time it…
Electric bikes are a huge improvement over standard bikes, and no improvement at all over a car for a significant number of use cases. They’re also no more useful than a bike in places where roads are poorly maintained, rain and snow are frequent, or no bike lanes exist. They’re not useful for taking kids to school, or doing significant errands. They are amazing for a single person to get around cheaply without killi…
During the summer, Iwould take my three kids to the daycare/summer program by bike. Two would sit in the Burley Bee bike trailer and the third would sit in the Thule Yepp maxi bike seat. It's a 3 mile trip one way and would take me about 20 minutes. I would then ride back to work.
I also would do some grocery shopping with the trailer used as storage. I didn't get rid of the minivan, but I didn't drive it more than a few times a month.
Re: Electric Vehicles’ Day Will Come, and It Might Come Suddenly
#420Earlier quoted context omitted.
> They’re not useful for taking kids to school, Where I live a few hundred thousand kids are taken to school by bike every day. All the way up to age 10 or so it's pretty common to see parents with kids on the back (and sometimes on the front or both) of their bikes. https://www.24baby.nl/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/mamafiets.j...
No sane person would do so in any country that doesn't have the bicycle infrastructure we have in the Netherlands. I live in Australia and/or New Zealand a few months out of the year, and I've taken my kids to school there - it's insane to do so on a bike. And this was in places that actually have bike infrastructure and bike activism! Dutch people need to try cycling somewhere else before claiming that bikes are a c…