• dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    125
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    TL;DR: Due to being smaller and lighter, electric bikes and mopeds require significantly less energy to move themselves around than an electric car. The article starts with a headline about “oil demand” but then spends much of the rest of its length harping on consumer monetary costs instead. I could have said that in a lot fewer words. Actually, I just did.

    Also, in SE Asia and other places where the primary mode of transport is a small motorbike, as it happens these small motorbikes actually pollute a lot for their displacement due to having basic uncomplicated engines, often not running very well, and lousy or absent emissions controls. ICE vehicles are also at their worst fuel consumption/distance traveled ratio when they’re idling or crawling around urban areas at low speed. Replacing these with electric versions just makes sense.

    Full disclosure: I own a gas guzzling truck, a fuel efficient car, seven motorcycles, and an electric bicycle. I use different tools for different jobs, as appropriate. If you’re looking for a magic bullet, you will probably need it in a few different calibers.

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        31
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’ll bet you weren’t expecting to get an actual answer to this, but I’m going to give you one. (Spoiler: None of them are a Harley.)

        First, I do use all of my bikes for commuting (the electric bicycle often, too, when the fancy strikes me) and usually ride a different one each day. They all get better mileage than my car and certainly better than my truck.

        KLR650: Long distance touring and adventure rides, motocamping, hauling comically large objects that should not be transported by motorcycle.

        Bashan BSR-250/Enforcer: I ostensibly bought this for my nephew to ride on adventure trips with me, but I also use it for tooling around town, light duty shopping, etc.

        Honda VT750C/Shadow A.C.E.: Two up riding and touring, also good for making lots of obnoxious noise. My wife likes the passenger seat and sissy bar. Goes faster than the Vanvan, even with two people on it for long trips.

        Yamha FZ6R: Dicking around on twisty roads. Irritating Tesla/M3/AMG/Corvette owners.

        Orion/Nicot RXB250L: Playing in the dirt, at the motocross track, off road, doing wheelies, and narrow technical trails I probably shouldn’t try to manhandle the KLR down.

        Honda CH50/Metropolitan: In town errands, shopping trips. It achieves ludicrous fuel economy and you can fit a lot of stuff under the seat. My wife rides this one more than I do.

        Suzuki RV200/Vanvan: Bought for my wife to learn how to ride a “real” motorcycle, i.e. with a clutch and gears. She uses it for motocamping trips.

        • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          1 year ago

          Relevant username, lol.

          I used to have a DR650, and used it much like your KLR. It was getting tothe point where I had to fix it all the time, I had another weird little bike that I couldn’t get parts for which also needed help… I ended up selling both and buying one bike that I could just ride. I love riding, and love different bikes for different things, but I don’t like maintaining a fleet of stuff, keeping tags up to date on a fleet of bikes, so…

            • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Well you tried to spin it like they’re each a unique tool serving a special purpose that you need fulfilled.

              But really you’re just a guy who likes motorcycles.

              • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                Yes? That’s how it works.

                You can draw a triangle and label the points “highway,” “dirt,” and “urban” and any bike you pick will describe a dot in one position on that triangle and never ever touch all three points at the same time.

                All vehicles are for the purposes of transportation (or recreation), just possibly for moving different types of things across different terrain with different strengths and weaknesses. You’re trying to split a hair that doesn’t need to be split as if it’s some kind of “gotcha” that everyone in the world knows is irrelevant except you.

                • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Driving on dirt isn’t exactly a special purpose that you need fulfilled. Most people live their lives just fine with zero motorcycles, and here you are with seven trying to tell us you need them all.

    • glimse@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      If you’re looking for a magic bullet, you will probably need it in a few different calibers.

      That’s a clever way to put it and I like it

    • Wanderer@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Over consumption is probably worse for the environment than petrol powered cars

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      If you’re looking for a magic bullet, you will probably need it in a few different calibers.

      This is an excellent phrase and I’m going to have to start using it

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Zlich. Because – stay with me here – I can only operate one of them at a time.

        “BuT tHe PrOdUcTiOn ImPacT!!!”

        I bought all but two of them used. That ship sailed before I even swung a leg over.

        • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Buying second hand definitely reduced the impact. But it still creates a demand for second-hand that motivates people/companies to buy more new products because they know they can easily sell it back.

  • grue@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    80
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    This article is vastly understating the potential benefits of e-bikes. Like-for-like replacements for car trips are only the tip of the iceberg; the real benefit of e-bikes is that the more people that use them, the less car parking we need. That means we can put back all those buildings we destroyed when we razed our cities for the car.

    • Wanderer@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Don’t forget you can ride a mile or two to the train station and get around like that.

      Even if you have a bike in town and one at home. Two bikes are cheaper than 1 car and more space efficient.

      • rckclmbr@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        If everyone had an ebike, getting on and off the train would be a complete pain in the ass. I guess if there were lock boxes it might be OK, but hundreds of people trying to get their bike on a train would be a nightmare

        • pirat@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          11
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Many urban-suburban trains, and even some regional trains, have entire cars dedicated for bicycles, with no (or only few) seats. This is very scalable on multiple scales, when the demand is growing:

          1. Adding more bicycle cars to existing bike-friendly trains 🏩🚞🚃🚃🚃🚃🏫
          2. Adding more bike-friendly trains to existing lines 🚆🚆🚉🚊🚇🚇
          3. Building new well-placed bike-friendly stations on existing lines 🏢🏪🚵‍♂️🚵‍♀️🚈
          4. Adding more passenger railway lines to existing rail networks. 🛤️🛤️🛤️🛤️🛤️
  • marine_mustang@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    57
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I did the math once for my own commute, on my e-bike and with my electric car, and found that while the electric car uses only 20% of the energy that an average gas-powered car would, the bike uses just 1%. My bike, on my route (both directions averaged together) got 2,200 mpge.

      • marine_mustang@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        38
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        Just another example of how Americans will use anything but metric (we do use metric sometimes, I know, it’s just a meme). We could easily measure it in Wh/km, but then we would also have to change how we measure gasoline cars if we want people to make direct comparisons. But, since we sell gas by the gallon, we would also have to change how gas is sold. When the EPA first came up with mpge I thought it was stupid (we don’t buy electricity by the gallon!), but I’ve come around to the convenience of being able to easily compare the two types of fuel. The EPA assumes 1 gallon of gas to contain 33.7 kWh of energy.

        Maybe we should get everyone to switch to Joules for measuring, buying, and selling gasoline and electricity?

        • frezik@midwest.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          10
          ·
          1 year ago

          It’s a pretty flawed comparison, though. It assumes a certain amount of fossil fuels being burned at the power plant that’s feeding your electric car. That’s a number that varies a lot between regions, and is bound to change as more and more renewables are spun up. Putting solar panels on your home throws the whole comparison out. It’s nearly useless.

          • turmacar@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            Isn’t the point for the consumer to measure their cost? Not the overall efficiency of the production and distribution for each source of fuel?

            Like I buy X gallons per month of gas because my car gets 20 mpg and I dive Y miles. If this electric car uses Z amount of electricity and I still drive Y miles, I’ll save ß dollars.

            • PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              It is not really possible for the consumer to calculate their respective mpge, since your specific utlities power mix will differ region by region.

            • frezik@midwest.social
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              That’s the idea, but it doesn’t actually do that. Even if it did, the cost would be variable by region, so it’s still imperfect.

        • The Hobbyist@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          To be fair, even in metric countries in Europe, they use imperial occasionally. This is the case for wheel sizes and display sizes, both usually measured in inches.

          • frezik@midwest.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            1 year ago

            Don’t tell them. Once you start looking for exceptions to “use metric for everything”, you’ll find one in every country, and people get really angry when you point this out. As if not being 100% metric is some kind of moral failing.

            Car tire sizing is a bizarre, design-by-committee thing, though. Diameter is in inches, width is in mm, and sidewall width is a percentage of the width. Why?

        • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          You’re using kWh instead of Joules in your comment. :P

          Joules represent a very small amount of energy. We probably want kWh or kJ. Although, I think just places in the US already use kWh for electricity?

        • cantsurf@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          It’s not complicated. Mpge allows you to compare energy efficiency vs internal combustion cars. They also provide kWh/100 mi, which allows you to calculate actual cost of operation, depending on how much you pay for a kWh.

      • nicetriangle@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        22
        ·
        1 year ago

        The E is for Equivalent. It’s how “fuel” efficiency is discussed when referring to non liquid fuel vehicles.

      • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        This is a weird definition they’re using, and it doesn’t encompass the whole box. An electric vehicle might be more efficient on a distance per unit energy basis, but it’s less efficient on a total energy basis because we lose some of the energy in the electrification.

  • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    53
    ·
    1 year ago

    My only problem with ebikes is there’s no chance in hell I’m consistently driving on the road with cars.

    With how convenient these are, I hope there’s more push to add protected bike lanes in road heavy places to increase adoption.

      • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        18
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        To clarify - I’m not going on the road in anything but a car

        Protected lanes or paths only for me on any form of bike/scooter

        • bassad@jlai.lu
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          So you are afraid of cars so you take your own car… I fully understand that but it is all the problem.

          We have to constantly remind drivers that road are for everyone, and not only to go full speed.

          Here they painted bikes on roads and put speed limit at 30kmh so it is better, drivers seems more conscious, but we still see too much distracted people that don’t realize they can easily kill someone just by not looking constantly at the road.

          • Smk@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            I’m a bit in the same situation. I can a lot with my bike but it’s dangerous at times, especially with my kids in the back. People need to go to places and unfortunately, everything we built for the last 70years were almost just for cars.

            There’s a need for more bike lanes and bus/tramways/métro.

            • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Even with more bike lanes, we need better visibility at points where bike lanes intersect with the roadway to better alert both the car and biker to the danger. They’ve been working on painting those areas all green on the road here, but there’s a lot of spots to do.

              E.g bike lane intersecting an entrance to a parking lot

          • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            There are way too many cyclist accidents here, it’s not worth it. Some of the accidents even happen at the special bike crossings because of bad drivers.

            And scooters just like motorcycles are death traps.

            Edit: nearly everyone I know who’s commuted to work on a bike has been hit by a car at some point. Not all city speed hits, some just taps. And the stories of how shitty the drivers are to them on the road is astounding.

        • SuperSaiyanSwag@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          I work remote now, but my last job was only 20mins away, but I pretty much had to use the highway. Other routes just made the trip too long, so I can’t even imagine commuting in a bike to that job.

      • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        It is, and we have some of the best in the country at that. It’s just takes a long time to make a place meant for cars into meant for bikes

        We aren’t no Netherlands.

  • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    41
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    When I was younger and more invincible around 2005, I bought one of these crappy Ebay engine kits for a bicycle. One thing I noticed is that it wasn’t really any slower from home to work than a car, because I could go around traffic. An E-bike would have been great. A lot of them get around on 500 watt or 750 watt motors, which is considerably smaller than an electric car’s motor.

    I’d have one now, but it’s hard to ride one when I have to carry a kid with me most places.

    • grue@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      50
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’d have one now, but it’s hard to ride one when I have to carry a kid with me most places.

      I got an e-bike because I needed to carry a kid (actually, two) around with me. FYI, cargo bikes are a thing:

        • PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          No less safe than wheeling a kid around in a little red wagon or letting them ride their own bicycle.

          • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            arrow-down
            7
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            Little Red wagons generally don’t travel at 20mph in the street with cars going even faster. That kid in the photo can barely hold herself upright. One little wiggle or unexpected turn and she’ll slip right through those bars and under an SUV.

            Seriously, you might as well just put your kid in to one of these.

        • Uranium3006@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          it’s only unsafe because of all the cars. aside from that, whats’ the danger, they might fall out?

          • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            9
            ·
            1 year ago

            it’s only unsafe because of all the cars. aside from that, whats’ the danger…

            Swimming in a pool of razor blades is only unsafe because of all the razor blades. Aside from that, what’s the danger?

            …they might fall out?

            Yes

        • daltotron@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Nah this is completely right though. Soon as she stops those two kids are gonna bonk heads together, the smaller one needs a bike seat at the very least, and the toddler probably needs one as well. You could still do that with a bike like this, so it doesn’t discount the point entirely, but the image itself is a pretty stupidly conceived piece of work.

        • DrFuggles@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          It will never not be funny to me how scared some people are of any transportation that’s not a car.

          • Uranium3006@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            there are so many people who have both no cognitive ability to imagine something they haven’t personally experienced or is the norm and have never gotten anywhere any other way but a car.

            it’s funny to because compared to literally anything but a motorcycle cars are hella dangerous, and the deaths from all the other modes except airplanes are from getting hit by a car

    • paraphrand@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      It’s fun how the preview image for the article has two kids being carried around. But I can understand if you don’t see that as safe in your area, etc.

          • downhomechunk@midwest.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yes. For context, she’s 4 and very skittish. I have a burley trailer for my bike I got in the hopes that we could ride together. I only successfully got her in it once for a gentle ride around the park. She screamed in terror the entire time. She does, however, love taking public trans.

    • PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I have both am ev and an ebike, and a 7 mile commute.

      Driving takes between 20 minutes and an hour and a half. Biking takes 45 minutes no matter what.

      Car uses about 25x more energy though and parking is around $20/day.

      I should add my son much prefers the bike.

    • erwan@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I love my Bafang too but be careful of regulation depending on your country, an e-bike is 250W so of you put a more powerful motor you get in the moped category with different rules (helmet, back mirror, insurance…)

  • TurboDiesel@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    40
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Whaaaaat? You mean electric last-mile micromobility cuts down on emissions in a significant way, just like people had been saying for years? Who would have thought?

  • scarabic@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    33
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Goddamn I love my ebike. It’s still very much a bike, but it changes the equation. I can ride a nice big heavy comfortable cruising frame, pull my kid in a trailer bike, get up steep hills that would otherwise stop me, and go 4x as far before I’m tired. It is just a total game changer. I’ve rediscovered the joy of riding my bike like I haven’t known it since college. I’m older and creakier than ever but my bike enjoyment hasn’t diminished - it has increased.

    • Lenny@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Same! I live on the top of a big hill, so leaving my house on a bike was never the issue, but I always dreaded the ride home. Now I own an ebike and I regularly use it to go into town for groceries. In fact, I just added a second basket so I can buy three full bags of groceries in one trip. I find myself actually looking forward to errands now.

      • scarabic@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yes! And I’m pretty lazy about exercise so having the “help me” button there keeps me from avoiding the bike.

  • beeng@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Watched a YouTube about electric vs gas scooters in Taiwan 🇹🇼. Apparently it’s like 6 scooters for every 10 people, crazy!

    But the uptake of electric scooters wasn’t as much as they thought, but a lot of complaints were around “cost”, “parking” and “weight”

    Sounds like an electric bicycle would solve all those issues over an electric scooter 🛵

    Especially for the poorer, high 2 wheel usage nations, like Vietnam or India.

    Just have to pedal a bit! 😉

  • computerscientistI@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    30
    arrow-down
    8
    ·
    1 year ago

    I have heard this for years now. This all fine. I also have an E-Bike. I really love using it. But I live in central Europe. Weather is really shitty here from October-March. I use my car then. And no, clothing for biking in bad weather is not an option for me. I really can’t be bothered to change clothes on my job. I just won’t do that.

    • nexusband@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      And the issue is where? You can just fuel up your car with co2 neutral fuel (like many Europeans already do with HVO100 Diesel in Sweden, the Netherlands and many other countries) and do the rest with your ebike. You probably dropped your co2 footprint to less than 5 tonns. The fact that HVO100 Diesel right now is ~30 cents more expensive doesn’t matter anymore. B33 gasoline is coming and 2025 it’s expected to be ramped up to 100% sustainable.

      And compared to a BEV that needs more than 10-15 tonns to be even produced, just driving an older or cheaper car longer still makes it less co2 overall.

    • negativeyoda@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      9
      ·
      1 year ago

      I really can’t be bothered to change clothes on my job. I just won’t do that

      I mean… you do you, but that gear generally amounts to a jacket, pants that go OVER your pants and different shoes. You’re just fucking lazy. Own it

      • Moneo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yup. I invested in rain pants and a jacket, all I need now are shoe coverings. Get to work, strip it all off in 30 secs and put it in a waterproof bag. It’s just a matter of adjusting expectations and habits.

        To me it’s way less complicated than driving. I don’t have to worry about gas, traffic, parking, maintenance, break downs, and the stress of driving in the rain trying not to kill anyone. I understand why people are hesitant, but I think a lot of people just need to suck it up and give it a shot.

        Also, public transportation is just straight up better than both driving/cycling when done right.

  • jabjoe@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Great. All technologies that bring down CO2 emissions are needed.

    As long as people get rid of their dino juice cars, who cares.

    • nexusband@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      12
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, right. And make 15 tonns of co2 extra, that would not have been needed when filling up the “Dino juice” car with “techno juice” that has 0% CO2.

      But, we’ve lost the battle anyway already, so who cares.

      • jabjoe@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        1 year ago

        Oh I see, you thinking alterative fuels to keep legacy car going. Problem is, those are biofuels and use a lot of land to grow and end up even more expensive than dino juice.

        EV running costs is way cheaper and their up front costs is coming down fast. They use slightly more CO2e to make, but way way less to run. Plus those of us lucky enough to have drives can just charge at home, which is great. There does need to better infrastructure for those without drives.

        • Moneo@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          Bingo bongo. There are also tons of greenhouse gases + other pollution associated with cars that are not the gas they burn to drive. Road infrastructure is a big one.

          • jabjoe@feddit.uk
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Ties are a problem that we are just beginning to understand. But we can replace and keep the car.

            I mean don’t get me wrong, I’d love good public transport instead. When it’s good, people use it instead. When I go to a decent (European) city I want to ditch the car a.s.a.p as it’s just a hamper.

    • Michal@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      1 year ago

      Second, they are more fun and you get to avoid all the traffic.

      Third, cheap to run, no need to pay insurance, taxes, parking.

      Fourth, anyone can ride it even children, no drivers license needed.

      And so on…

      • PinkPanther@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        In Norway, insurance is mandatory. And you have to be over 13 (or something like this). But in general, I agree with you.

  • YⓄ乙 @aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    1 year ago

    I think big cars and SUV should be banned.everyone should use a moped or a bike but 9-5s pretending to be rich will hate it.

    • mob@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I think people always go to the extremes way to fast.

      I have to transport a large rehabilitated mammal back into the mountains this week. Without a big car or SUV, we’d have to just euthanize everyone we receive

      Which we probably wouldn’t receive many due to transportation issues… that leaves quite a bit of animals slowly suffering and dying.

      And this is just one real random use for big cars/SUVs. There are countless more reasons they are beneficial…

      I know there are dickheads rolling coal, and people using large vehicles that don’t actually need large vehicles. But there is also a lot of harm that happens taking away large vehicles from people who do need them

      • hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        SUVs have lower cargo capacity than more fuel efficient vans, and often even less than cars like old Foresters. They 100% serve no purpose, but people have been tricked in to believing this lie about cargo capacity.

        Even trucks today have lower cargo capacity than vans, while also having worse fuel efficiency.

        But lets for s second assume this lie is true. Why not require a commercial license for any vehicle built on a truck frame? Prove you need it and you could get an exception.

        • mob@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          SUVs in general do better in the Wasatch/Unintas than a van.

          Kind of weird to accuse me of lying and then want to continue the conversation though. You already have the conclusion you want, so no point to continue even though it’s a real short sighted /fuckcars conclusion… so cheers

  • nutsack@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    20
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    these are feasible in cities that you wouldn’t want to drive a car in anyways. probably not so good for commuting around Boise Idaho

    • mob@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’d bet an electric bike would work well in most cities, especially ones that you can reference and people recognize.

      I think the market that it misses most is the people who live outside of cities/towns, and have to travel that initial 10+ miles just to get into the city. Still feasible, but less so

      And winters.

      I live in one of these out west cities. I’d take an electric bike over my car in a heartbeat for most of the spring/summer/fall. To bad a decent electric bike is extremely expensive.

      • uis@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        And winters.

        Say it to delivery workers in Moscow. No, say it to Finns.

        • mob@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          I’m curious what you mean about this? Do you think Finns and Russians are delivering packages/food/whatever during bad winter weather on Ebikes?

          • uis@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            Given winter being almost constant weather condition in Finland I assume they don’t stop delivering because they are on another side of melting point.

            And about Russians yes. I see food delivery workers using ebikes entire year in any weather.

            • mob@sopuli.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Do you live close to the equator? Cause that shits uniformed.

      • grue@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        To bad a decent electric bike is extremely expensive.

        I’d say decent ones are down to about $1000 these days.

        • mob@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Oh yeah, a decent ebike in the mountains costs around 2-3k. Probably not that bad for settled people.

          But sadly, that’s as expensive as my car. Hopefully this college thing pays off though

    • hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      We sold our car and committed around Tacoma for about 6 months before we moved to the Netherlands. It was awful in a ton of ways, but for a lot of trips it was way better. The majority of trips are under a mile, so dropping the kids off at preschool and stuff was way better on a bike. It’s actually quite a bit faster since kids love to get on the bike instead of the long fight against the car seat.

      We also did a few shopping trips. You can’t really do much more than 3 bags on a long tail bike with two kids in the back, but it worked well enough for shopping trips. People look at you like you’re crazy in the US when you’ve got things strapped all over your bike, but here it’s just completely normal. We probably would ride year round there if it wasn’t for how dangerous cars are when it rains. I have no problem biking in the wind and the rain here because I know I’m not going to be randomly murdered by some idiot in a multiton metal box.

      I’m not familiar with Boise, but I’d bet that an eBike would still be better for a lot of trips.

    • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Because Boise, ID is not interested in building the necessary infrastructure for ideological reasons.

      • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I’m going to wager this comment was posted and upvoted by people who have never been to Boise. Because that place has a good amount of people biking around. Especially around Boise state and for recreation.

        • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Been to Boise many time. Take a trip to Europe and then come back and tell me what you think of Boise’s bike infrastructure.

          • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Any American city is going to look like shit compared to Europes biking capitals.

            Compare a super blue “bike friendly” city like San Francisco to Amsterdam. It’s not even a fair contest. SF is a fucking cycling death trap in comparison to Amsterdam.

            • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              Sure. I’m just saying that there are a lot of opposition in many US cities to building green and more progressive infrastructure that doesn’t specifically benefit cars. Especially in red states.

              • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                True, but often times stuff like this boils down to the city planning and city budget, not the state. And a lot of major metro areas are pretty blue, even in red states.

                Oftentimes the biggest barrier is that the bones of US city planning was done with cars in mind, and trying to accommodate bikes afterwards is difficult. Which is why US cities that want bikes struggle with supporting them.

                Many old European city layouts were baked before cars were a thing.

  • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    1 year ago

    Oh really? Maybe not moving 2,5 tons of metal and battery isnt a good idea? Maybe bikes were always a better mode of transport? I have a feeling that this was pretty obvious.