Ebikes are already insanely affordable and cars are here to save the car industry, most certainly not the environment. Any way forward will be about moving away from using cars for every single journey (especially the 40% done daily that are under 5km) and designing our streets to move people, rather than metal boxes.
The point is we need alternatives that are an improvement over the status quo, not making the current options worse. In some cases it might mean making things cheaper (EVs), in other cases it might be improving the service even if the cost goes up a little (public transit). In any case no one’s going to switch to a much worse or more expensive product or service for environmental reasons, it needs to be better on its own merits.
I live in Alberta, I know well what happens in the winter. Although a lot of the problems are about the way your city prepares for the weather than the weather itself. Both feel equally changeable sometimes though…
Maybe if I was in my 20s or 30s, but those days are long passed. Not willing to risk getting myself killed to save in a year the amount of gas usage that an oligarch burns in a minute.
Again, it’s not about risking to get yourself killed. Kids cycle in the winter every day in countries with climates colder than ours. It’s not about the weather, it’s about the infrastructure in your and the way it prepares for the winter. The video I linked is much more graceful and by a guy who moved from Canada to the Netherlands specifically to raise his kids in a better environment where they can independently get around.
Affordable EVs exist outside of the empire NOW, the infrastructure changes are not going in the direction we need, and are not likely ever to do so. Not everyone is young, in good physical condition, or live in metropolitan areas with acceptable transit options.
Ebikes are already insanely affordable and cars are here to save the car industry, most certainly not the environment. Any way forward will be about moving away from using cars for every single journey (especially the 40% done daily that are under 5km) and designing our streets to move people, rather than metal boxes.
The point is we need alternatives that are an improvement over the status quo, not making the current options worse. In some cases it might mean making things cheaper (EVs), in other cases it might be improving the service even if the cost goes up a little (public transit). In any case no one’s going to switch to a much worse or more expensive product or service for environmental reasons, it needs to be better on its own merits.
Not riding an e-bike in this climate, except for the 3 months of the year when it is actually habitable.
I live in Alberta, I know well what happens in the winter. Although a lot of the problems are about the way your city prepares for the weather than the weather itself. Both feel equally changeable sometimes though…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU
Maybe if I was in my 20s or 30s, but those days are long passed. Not willing to risk getting myself killed to save in a year the amount of gas usage that an oligarch burns in a minute.
Again, it’s not about risking to get yourself killed. Kids cycle in the winter every day in countries with climates colder than ours. It’s not about the weather, it’s about the infrastructure in your and the way it prepares for the winter. The video I linked is much more graceful and by a guy who moved from Canada to the Netherlands specifically to raise his kids in a better environment where they can independently get around.
Meanwhile Ford is ripping out bike lanes.
Affordable EVs exist outside of the empire NOW, the infrastructure changes are not going in the direction we need, and are not likely ever to do so. Not everyone is young, in good physical condition, or live in metropolitan areas with acceptable transit options.
$15,000 - $30,000 simply isn’t affordable to me and tons of other people and I want the freedom to not to have to drive.