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Alternatives to Cars?
H0NGK0NGPH00EY asks: "I hate cars. -- Why in the heck am I lugging a giant steel box with me everywhere I go, and paying through the nose to make it go? Well, the main reason is because there aren't any affordable, viable alternatives. Are there?"
"I drive about 18 miles to work, mostly pseudo-highway (60mph, two-lane
road with two stop lights on the way). Too far to bike, or I would--during the summer months, at least. I would get a motorcycle, but in my mind, it's only better than a car on one count, it's size. It still uses gasoline, is dirty, noisy, and has too many moving parts. Plus they don't protect me from the weather.
I've looked into small, commuter electric vehicles. And I've come up largely empty-handed. Here's what I have found:
Corbin Motors' 'Sparrow'
As you may know, Corbin produced about 300 of these beauties before one of their largest investors called in his money, and forced them into Chapter 7 bankruptcy. There were a number of technical problems, and due to their scarcity they're a bit hard to come by now. Besides, who would want to spend $7,000 + on an un-supported vehicle?
Cree's 'SAM'
Basically the same as the Sparrow, but not available yet. The company has been around since 1996(!), and has just recently basically 're-started.' Who knows when, if ever, they'll have a marketable product, especially in the USA.
Commuter Cars' 'Tango'
A local guy with a dream. And a dang fine looking vehicle. But alas, also not in production in any real way, and only currently available in a $85,000 kit. He talks about a $20,000 mass-marketed version, but I'll believe it when I see it...
Nevco's 'Gizmo'
Finally one that appears to actually be available. But at $12,000 it's a little steep for me, especially seating only one and only getting up to 45mph, with a 45 mile range.
So, has anyone here had any better luck?"
I've looked into small, commuter electric vehicles. And I've come up largely empty-handed. Here's what I have found:
Corbin Motors' 'Sparrow'
As you may know, Corbin produced about 300 of these beauties before one of their largest investors called in his money, and forced them into Chapter 7 bankruptcy. There were a number of technical problems, and due to their scarcity they're a bit hard to come by now. Besides, who would want to spend $7,000 + on an un-supported vehicle?
Cree's 'SAM'
Basically the same as the Sparrow, but not available yet. The company has been around since 1996(!), and has just recently basically 're-started.' Who knows when, if ever, they'll have a marketable product, especially in the USA.
Commuter Cars' 'Tango'
A local guy with a dream. And a dang fine looking vehicle. But alas, also not in production in any real way, and only currently available in a $85,000 kit. He talks about a $20,000 mass-marketed version, but I'll believe it when I see it...
Nevco's 'Gizmo'
Finally one that appears to actually be available. But at $12,000 it's a little steep for me, especially seating only one and only getting up to 45mph, with a 45 mile range.
So, has anyone here had any better luck?"
I drive a motorcycle to work every day. A 250cc bike gets more than 50 miles per gallon and is nice and flexible. Also, the insurance costs about $100 a year. For protection from the weather you can have a cowl, windshield, and rain gear. Stop whining because it's not everything a car is and do something to make things better. Besides, it's fun!
I have to agree here.
I have a 8-mile commute, and I bicycle when the weather and my schedule permits. For such low mileage, it just doesn't make sense to invest in gas-saving technology. I'll never spend enough on gas to cover the cost of a more efficient vehicle than a used economy car.
...but a substantial proportion of the population do live either in a major city *with* decent public transportation or within cycling distance of their place of work (say 5 miles). I'd even say a majority fall into one of these two categories (I'm in Europe.) That doesn't stop all of those people driving.
http://www.electricvehiclesnw.com/main/lite.htm
Mine is arriving on Monday.
Take another look at motorcycles.
Actually you'll find that motorcycles get much, much better mileage than any car. Not only do they not use nearly as much gasoline, but look into some of the better brands of bikes and you'll find that their quiet, and clean, especially triumph, and BMWs. Not every bike is a hog.
You'll also find that motorcycles are quite mechanically simple, all the parts are easily accessible, making the bike easier to work on than a car. Also depending on where you work you may get a better parking spot from riding a bike.
As for when weather is bad, that's when you either break down and drive your car. Or a better solution is a revolving car pool with people who live near you. If you can't wrangle one with coworkers, try your local transit authority, they can usually help you find a carpool.
Well art is art isn't it, but then again water is water; and east is east; and west is west; and if you take cranberries
I personally haven't owned a car since 1986. I did own a motorbike for two years but sold it off and went back to bicycles when I noticed I was starting to get fat.
:)
I bicycle year 'round, never have to worry about exercising; get lots of excitement dodging cars, peds and cougars; and, at 49 I'm in better shape than most everyone else I see except for younger bicyclists.
It's doable: dress apropriately for the weather, put fenders on the bicycle, and always be ultra-aware when on the road -- the cars try to kill you from all directions.
Also consider moving closer to your work.
Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
Though I've never been to the United States, it sounds like public transport infrastructure is less than desirable from the second hand reports I get.
Isn't this sufficient grounds to be an advocate and lobbyist for more public transport.
Why look to new technology for alternatives, when the real problem is the underutilation of existant technology.
I was involved in lobbying for a train station to be built at the University of Newcastle in Australia. It was built the year I left, but it opened up public transport as a viable means of transport for thousands of students who lived further up the valley and were filling the roads with cars.
A big part of that is that our national policies subsidize the crap out of owning a home. The income tax deduction for mortgage interest and Fannie/Freddie allow borrowers to get US government rates mean that it is silly not to own a home (denser housing has not historically appreciated as well as single family housing). These two combined with most homeowners lack of financial knowledge (not counting leverage as part of the return equation, leads people to believe that homes appreciate in value faster than other assets (they don't but most assets don't allow 5+ leverage). I really don't understand why our policies continue to encourage homeownership, especially in the light of current policies moving slowly toward oil conservation. There are lots of people who would benefit from denser apartment living closer to work. Good luck trying to change that, however, the mortgage tax deduction is even more of a third rail than social security. Even flat taxers try hard not to bring up the fact that that would go away on the post card returns.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
Welcome to the modern age. People today don't believe in down payments... 100% financing is the new way. Its going to be a real wake-up call when interest rates go up.
Look at the people around you. 85% have less than $5,000 in assets. 45% have less that $300 saved.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
That's exactly right, but there's hope in New Urbanism. I'm going to do it a horrible injustice in my explanation, but New Urbanism is a movement to shift city planning back to walkable spaces. The idea is to look at how communities were (unconsciously) formed before mass transit as we know it, and then consciously design in adapted but similar ways.
For example, one of the tenets of New Urbanism is that all services for daily life must be available within every two-mile circle of population, and these should be arranged around centers such that nobody is more than a mile from everything he/she needs. In cities such as Minneapolis, the New Urbanist movement has largely been responsible for the formation of legally-recognized Neighborhoods within the city, which get their own separate pool of taxpayer money (within the city's budget) to develop local business, residences, and other Urban Renewal programs.
In Minneapolis it's been spectacularly successful - according to the 2000 census, the Minneapolis/St. Paul area is the only Metro Area in America which saw population *growth* for the urban cores from 1990 to 2000. I live in the city of Minneapolis and I don't need to use my car for most daily tasks (including going to work), though because of our foul winters I often end up doing so for a few months of the year.
I grew up in the suburbs, where you couldn't buy a cup of coffee without driving ten miles and burning half a gallon of gas. Even though all my family lives 600 miles away, I put less than 10K a year on my car now. It's truly wonderful.
So yes, I absolutely, wholeheartedly agree that the car-centric design of the suburbs is the problem. Outer suburbs probably will never change; but if more cities and inner suburbs can succeed with New Urbanism, at least some people will be drawn back in from the outer ring car parks into the walkable communities of urban life...
I did not design this game/I did not name the stakes/I just happen to like apples/And I am not afraid of snakes-AniD
I think too often environmentalists overlook the absolute utility of having a car.
It's big, but its comfortable. It is easy to drive in all types of weather. (Try biking in snow.) It is available whenever you need it. It is actually pretty cheap if you want it to be. They are well-understood devices that are easy to maintain (you can rotate the tires, change the oil, and do all sorts of stuff yourself with just a few tools.) You can carry luggage or more passengers with ease.
People have wanted a car (abbreviations for carriage) ever since they got tired of riding horses. They've built first chariots and later buggies and finally enclosed carriages. When the motor was invented, they got rid of the messy and unhygienic horses and replaced it with the much cleaner and more powerful engine.
I think people tend to emphasize the downsides of owning a car without realizing the benefits. With a car, anywhere in the United States is accessible in hours. You are free to go anywhere you like whenever you like without having to ask for permission or wait for a bus to show up. You enjoy comfort in cold, hot, wet, or snowy weather.
What are the downsides for this freedom? A bit of pollution, a higher price tag than most other things you own, and the risk of getting into a collision.
As for me, until a better solution that is more versatile and useful comes out, I'll be holding on to my cars.
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
This is a very good point -- if you start thinking of your milage in terms of "person-miles" per gallon (PMPGs) then it really quickly makes alot of sense to carpool. A huge SUV @ 10 mpg with 4 passengers gets better PMPGs than almost any single-occupant vehicle. With email, PDA's, cell phones, etc..., flexible car pool management is easier than ever too. Plus, you might make some new friends in the process.
An extension to this- a number of years ago my brother created an electric car for my grandmother that went 26 miles on a charge. He started with her old Datsun subcompact (I want to say Z80, but I'm not sure and it's been years now), added 96 volts of truck batteries to it, and an 80 HP electric engine hooked up to the transmission. He said his one mistake was leaving in the automatic transmission- it's amazing how much torque those transmissions eat up.
The upside- it'a possible for a good hardware hacker to do this himself. There's better battery technology out there now- think NiMH or Li-Ion; way better than the old lead-acid things my brother used. A cheap, light, non-working subcompact might cost you $200 at the wrecking yard, and you might get a discount if you're willing to leave the engine and transmission with them. Do the wiring yourself, get a machine shop to hook the engine directly to the drive train (skip the transmission, it's not really neccessary in an EV anyway, just reverse polarity for a forward/reverse switch). Don't forget the extra 12v battery for your lights/accessories. EVs are WAY simpler to build than most people think- fewer moving parts than an internal combusion engine. And with today's battery tech, you could even end up with MORE cargo space.
Ted
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Used cars cost lots more in repairs and unless you're a serious mechanic you aren't going to be fixing things such as blown head gaskets and dead transmissions.
The most affordable thing to do is buy a $20,000 Japanese car and run it into the ground. You can put 200,000 miles on it easy and you probably wouldn't have any major repairs until way past the 100,000 mark.
Hollow words will burn and hollow men will burn.
I have to drive 30 miles to work on some of the most congested roads. Without traffic, it takes 30 minuts, on a day with a avgerage-substantial amount of traffic it takes 1:45.
This has me seriously looking into helicopters. You can get them about about $20,000, but the licensing and all will cost another 50k.
There are some 1-person ultra small helicopters that you don't need a license for, these are ~50k, but don't need a license. The smaller ones have much smaller rotors, and I could land them in the parking lot at work. I'd still have to fill up the same amount and on the same scedule though. So no gas savings, but I get 2-3 hours of my day back.
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Actually, it went 65 just fine (downhill anyway) with the Automatic transmission- but one of her big complaints is that it shifted late, and pulling the hill back up to her house at the end of a trip there was often not quite enough battery power left and it could take an hour jut to go the 100ft from the road to the garage at 6% grade.
At the time, she was retired and living on a farm 5 miles from Odel, OR. She'd use the electric car for going to church and grocery shopping- went to church in Pine Grove, about 3 miles from the farm in the opposite direction. Highway yes- freeway never- closest freeway was Hood River, and she would have had to plug it in for 8 hours after getting to the on ramp. Plus, country highway- not much traffic out there even now, when we buried her this past January I never saw a single car between Odel and the graveyard. She of course had a gas IC vehicle for longer distance trips.
This all ended when she moved to Bend in 1995 into a retirement community. She left the car behind and my druggie cousin forgot to flip the key to turn off the motor one day, and burnt out the relays while recharging it. It's currently sitting on my parent's farm in Silverton, and my brother swears one day somebody in the family will need a car that only goes 26 miles that will be willing to pay the $1500 for new relays and new batteries (the old lead-acid batteries are far gone now), and the little green EV will go again. If I wasn't commuting 40 miles right now, it would have been my car of choice when my last one burnt out it's catalytic converter and stopped passing DEQ. If my wife ever needs a new car and she doesn't mind- I think it will be the next used car we buy.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.