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280M e-bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

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Re: 280M e-bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

#121

Post by Mountain_Skies »

rglullis wrote: post #35
Mountain_Skies wrote: post #8

Eliminating the daily commute for those who have jobs where in person presence isn't essential beats all other forms of transportation. But activists, cities, and greenwash companies have all shown their true face, each for their own reasons of self-interest.

I take you don't have kids to take to school and you get all your groceries delivered to your door by someone on an e-bike?

I take it you didn't bother to read the words commute and job, which implies travel to a workplace to conduct work. While you can combine a commute with a trip to buy groceries, if it happens to be on the way, and drop off/pick up kids at school, if it is on the way and the schedule works out that way, for most that's simply not reality. Note that my post said nothing about giving up one's vehicles, it only mentioned commuting trips for work. Don't add things to comments that aren't there.

Re: 280M e-bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

#122

Post by wtp1saac »

johnea wrote: post #3

I'm not really sure where in the US people live that makes them think transportation can be replaced by a bike. I live in San Diego, the climate is great, but there is no way a person can travel any farther than their neighborhood on a bike. The main impediment at this point is the outrageous price of EVs in the US. In China cheap EVs are readily available, trade policies are preventing their import into the US. Bike…

I also live in San Diego, and have gone between Pacific Beach, La Jolla, Clairemont, Mission Valley, Downtown, and even as far as La Mesa or National City via e-bike (sometimes also using the trolley / light rail).

Is it convenient? No. Is it outright impossible? Absolutely not.

Work can, should, and is being done by the city to improve bike safety, and that’s a crucial factor that should be supported more. e-bikes are surprisingly capable at navigating the clusterfuck of US urban planning, however, so I suspect with effort we can massively improve and make this more viable. (This also includes densifying neighborhoods so you don’t have to cross the city for something you need).

Re: 280M e-bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

#123

Post by PopAlongKid »

hurryer wrote: post #109
PopAlongKid wrote: post #104

Another comment mentioned pros and cons for the user of the ebike. As a frequent pedestrian on the nearby heavily-used trails, I see a number of cons for everyone else: Despite a prohibition on motorized vehicles on these trails, they exploit a loophole for handicapped users, and the agency in charge refuses to do anything to fix it. Even if it makes sense to allow these motorized vehicles, the 15 MPH speed limit is…

Why do you care if they don't wear helmets?

Because if they suffer a serious injury they are going to drain hospital resources from people who did not cause their own disease/injury, possibly become a permanent disabled person on the public dole, and in general raise the cost of health care.

Re: 280M e-bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

#124

Post by ryukafalz »

johnea wrote: post #3

I'm not really sure where in the US people live that makes them think transportation can be replaced by a bike. I live in San Diego, the climate is great, but there is no way a person can travel any farther than their neighborhood on a bike. The main impediment at this point is the outrageous price of EVs in the US. In China cheap EVs are readily available, trade policies are preventing their import into the US. Bike…

Plenty of places in the Northeast are potentially great for this. I live in a suburb of Philly, there's a train station into Philly a mile away, a major shopping center also about a mile away, a downtown area with lots of shops and restaurants, and two neighboring towns with similar downtowns. The schools are within easy walking or biking distance. The infrastructure is pretty hostile but the distances are perfectly reasonable for cycling.

Re: 280M e-bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

#125

Post by Rebelgecko »

nravic wrote: post #60
davidw wrote: post #21

I do almost all the grocery shopping for our family of 4 with a Rad Runner Plus with a large basket and bag. I love that bike. Even as someone pretty comfortable getting around on a 'regular' bike, having that extra power just makes it a really easy choice for more trips compared to the car. If it's hot out, it is so much nicer to hop on the bike and get an instant breeze compared to a hot stuffy car. If it's cold ou…

what kind of pannier bags do you use to haul groceries? All the ones I've used have been too small for my purposes.

I don't have a cargo bike, but you can fit a surprising amount of crap in a milk crate strapped to a bike rack. Especially if you have a pannier on the side (they even make some grocery tote bag style panniers)

Re: 280M e-bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

#126

Post by r00fus »

davidw wrote: post #21

I do almost all the grocery shopping for our family of 4 with a Rad Runner Plus with a large basket and bag. I love that bike. Even as someone pretty comfortable getting around on a 'regular' bike, having that extra power just makes it a really easy choice for more trips compared to the car. If it's hot out, it is so much nicer to hop on the bike and get an instant breeze compared to a hot stuffy car. If it's cold ou…

My biggest frustration with bikes here in the US is the lack of security in high traffic areas.

The fact that law enforcement doesn't seem to care about stolen bikes is a huge hurdle in my desire to bike to the store, leave alone paying thousands for a decent e-bike that I'd be even more worried about.

I say this as an avid cyclist.

Re: 280M e-bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

#127

Post by nickthegreek »

davidw wrote: post #21

I do almost all the grocery shopping for our family of 4 with a Rad Runner Plus with a large basket and bag. I love that bike. Even as someone pretty comfortable getting around on a 'regular' bike, having that extra power just makes it a really easy choice for more trips compared to the car. If it's hot out, it is so much nicer to hop on the bike and get an instant breeze compared to a hot stuffy car. If it's cold ou…

Wife and I did our shopping on a Vespa for last few years before it got stolen this summer. We really enjoyed scootin around the city and were going to many more events since parking became a nonissue.

Re: 280M e-bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

#128

Post by mattmaroon »

camgunz wrote: post #83

I've said it before and I'll say it again: building the future around cars of any kind is completely unsustainable. We cannot reproduce the rates of rich world car ownership in the developing world without mass catastrophe (raw materials/labor needed for construction and maintenance, raw materials/labor/space needed for roads and parking lots, literal tons of waste--batteries, tires, steel, plastic, foam--, energy ne…

I think that that’s not only incorrect, it’s exactly what we are going to do and it will be fine.

Also self-driving cars would help quite a bit if they actually work. It’s only been just a place to park money because they don’t yet. No technology is a solution to anything until it actually exists.

Re: 280M e-bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

#130

Post by aftbit »

woodruffw wrote: post #101
aftbit wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly in the Bay it's pretty easy to get by with no car at all - just rent or borrow one if you want to take a trip to Tahoe every once in a while. If you go deeper into the country though, there are many places where car ownership is nearly mandatory, especially for people who can't WFH. EVs are pretty close to being able to replace ICE cars around here, but still can't match the range, cost, or longevity of an…

> If you go deeper into the country though, there are many places where car ownership is nearly mandatory, especially for people who can't WFH. This is true, but it's also worth noting that it's true because small and medium-sized cities systematically dismantled their public transportation systems between the 1920s and 1960s, replacing them with infrequent bus services. One of the things I do when trying to understa…

Yes, my city is one of those. Sadly it leads to a death spiral. The bus sucks, so nobody rides it, so the bus gets no money, so they cut routes, so the bus sucks more, so fewer people ride it.......
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