151–160 of 271 posts
Clive Sinclair was right.
Whoever designed the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism was smart, but some of the things inside it only provided practical benefits 1800+ years later, so none of their children, grandchildren, great-great-great-grandchildren benefited from them.
Given that many of these only have three wheels and to my knowledge regulation on “cars” only applies if the vehicle has four wheels- I wonder why these aren’t available in the USA at the same time.
The regulations on "cars" apply if they drive on most streets. We've regulated our way into being forced to buy $20,000+ vehicles weighing thousands of pounds, and somehow see this as normal and natural.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only thing stopping this democratization would be crash-worthiness. While this is more true for Western markets currently, regulations will come to India as well. However many Indians ride in the 3-wheeled death-traps called auto-rickshaws so I don't know... I've personally been in one which almost rolled over when the driver made a sharp turn at (relatively) high speed.
> The only thing stopping this democratization would be crash-worthiness. There is no trouble making small crash-worthy vehicles if the standard vehicle is no more than a few hundred kilos and is limited to 30-50 km/h. On the other hand, the current trend for western vehicles has been to make vehicles that are more and more dangerous for their environment, but which are themselves well-protected. So there is a good a…
It's a classic tragedy of the commons situation. Individual safety means endangering others. You can't get rid of all the transporters and trucks from businesses, vans for families, etc., so people will continue to want that individual safety, meaning bigger cars.
This is something I realized recently. I am in India and the number of small manufacturers who are making electric people movers is very high. These are not high speed vehicles, they are below 40 KM/h speed as I see them, but the big shift is that hundreds of small companies around India are producing and maintaining small electric vehicles, mostly locally. The drivers charge them at home at night or during longer lu…
I don’t think I ever drove above 40kmh in an Indian city if I wasn’t off the expressway or whatever they are called in India. It’s the perfect solution for everyday life. Hopefully they become pervasive and help reduce air pollution dramatically.
The effects of air pollution has just begun to dawn I reckon - it is indeed a welcome solution.
Also the frickin' grid is there! Transporting oil and refined gasoline around the world seems like a crazy proposition in comparison.
I have a Renault Twizy. It's a tiny 2-seater car (one behind the other). It's so tiny that the battery is only 6kWh and thus you can only go for about 80km before needing a charge (which lasts 2h30). But I love it in fact. In my european city it's the best car to go around because you can park anywhere, it costs nothing to operate, and it's so much fun and quiet. Sadly it didn't take on, but other cars are starting t…
I have a Renault Twizy. It's a tiny 2-seater car (one behind the other). It's so tiny that the battery is only 6kWh and thus you can only go for about 80km before needing a charge (which lasts 2h30). But I love it in fact. In my european city it's the best car to go around because you can park anywhere, it costs nothing to operate, and it's so much fun and quiet. Sadly it didn't take on, but other cars are starting t…
What's the point of "cars" that can't do at least 50mph/80kmh? You can't really use them in the city, because you get stuck in traffic just like everybody else. Here, a bicycle or a scooter / moped is the way to go - or public transport. You can't really use them on city speedways or circular roads, because you are too slow and hold everyone else up. And you can't use the cycle paths either. And motorways - just forg…
Not if the lanes, or the rules for existing lanes, change somewhat.
I love these small cars and see them all around where I live, some even smaller than the modern tuk tuks that we get from China.
I have looked online at some cool designs I've seen and most are in the $1000-$1500 range new. That sure beats a 2000+ lbs hunk of metal that is so prohibitively expensive to buy, maintain, refuel, and store that only 1/3 of Americans actually own a car, while living in the land of highways and sprawl.
Norway was the first country where more than half of all new registered vehicles were electric in 2020. And if you look at the data, Norwegians pick EVs that look and drive like normal cars. https://www.statista.com/statistics/696530/ranking-of-electr... It's not like you can't buy the weird ones too. It's just that people don't seem to want to buy them. Maybe culture plays some role there, but I believe that there a…
It is true that the design of ICE vehicles is not arbitrary, but depends on weight/power/size/speed tradeoffs. However, there's no reason that these tradeoffs should be the same for EVs. Drivers in city traffic can't go fast, but they like to accelerate quickly. This means a big engine, which means a big car, which means more weight so the engine has to be even bigger to keep the car accelerating 0-30 quickly. For EV…
- the need to have place for kids with safety seats in the back
- the need to have place for a stroller/a snowboard/a few suitcases/something else in the trunk
- the need to use the car to travel at highway speeds and dynamics at least occasionally.
I don't see any of this being changed by having an EV. Even as a second car. Especially the last point.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am a software engineer and I am not crazy enough to build a minimal ICE vehicle. But after spending decent teenage and college years in battery and small motors, I am actually confident enough to build a 3 people mover, slow and all, but it will go. There really is an order of magnitude difference in the complexity. The typical ICE already has electric batteries and motors. But the EV does not have the ICE parts. N…
Yet every yokel with a garage, builds an ICE car for fun. Not even college educated. Some disconnect here?
I have a Renault Twizy. It's a tiny 2-seater car (one behind the other). It's so tiny that the battery is only 6kWh and thus you can only go for about 80km before needing a charge (which lasts 2h30). But I love it in fact. In my european city it's the best car to go around because you can park anywhere, it costs nothing to operate, and it's so much fun and quiet. Sadly it didn't take on, but other cars are starting t…
Sadly 2 seater vehicles won't ever happen en mass. There's a lot of people with families who will need at least 3 seats.