E-bikes etc are great, but they’re no replacement for cars, both because of the weather and because of cities designed around commuting by car for decades. We need to electrify the vehicles people use and that infrastructure has been built for.
Or we can reduce our infrastructure costs and make it easier to people to move around without needing to own a car. Maybe reduce some of that Euclidean zoning that forces so many to need to drive in the first place.
Cars were no replacement for pedal bikes when I lived in Yellowknife. Car just didn’t work on the cold, or required massive costs to preheat before driving. Walking and biking you just went.
Cars were great (and necessary) for getting out of the city in the summer though.
For sure. And it was different when I didn’t have kids. I don’t bike commute with my kid below -20° windchill, since that’s the temperature my kid stops going outside for recces at. But in Eastern Ontario thats a couple days a year. And people with the means, or abilities, I have, must continue to use active and public transit even in extreme conditions as that is all that is availible to them.
We can also solve urban sprawl. There’s millennia of different solutions. We just choose not to and, at least in Canada, continue creating new sprawl.
Meanwhile, the brand that’s actually making EVs affordable and accessible to the masses is BYD.
Chevrolet Bolt. $CDN43K.
Nissan Leaf $CDN 48K
BYDs will not be cheaper than this in Canada.
In Europe, they start at 25K euro , but typically 45K euro, or $CDN40-65K.
You will not buy an EV in Canada for under $40K. Our dollar is worth shit.
https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/chinese-evs-buy-for-price-one-us-car
Electric cycles, scooters, and other micromobility already exist as EVs a hundredfold more affordable than electric cars.
Not as useful in more northern climates
Why not? No issues in Canada, Finland, or Sweden that I’ve seen.
E-bikes etc are great, but they’re no replacement for cars, both because of the weather and because of cities designed around commuting by car for decades. We need to electrify the vehicles people use and that infrastructure has been built for.
Or we can reduce our infrastructure costs and make it easier to people to move around without needing to own a car. Maybe reduce some of that Euclidean zoning that forces so many to need to drive in the first place.
Cars were no replacement for pedal bikes when I lived in Yellowknife. Car just didn’t work on the cold, or required massive costs to preheat before driving. Walking and biking you just went.
Cars were great (and necessary) for getting out of the city in the summer though.
I’m all for urban density and reducing new suburban sprawl, but it already exists. Yellowknife isn’t a very representative example.
For sure. And it was different when I didn’t have kids. I don’t bike commute with my kid below -20° windchill, since that’s the temperature my kid stops going outside for recces at. But in Eastern Ontario thats a couple days a year. And people with the means, or abilities, I have, must continue to use active and public transit even in extreme conditions as that is all that is availible to them.
We can also solve urban sprawl. There’s millennia of different solutions. We just choose not to and, at least in Canada, continue creating new sprawl.