> Of Perth’s 4.2 million daily car trips, 2.8 are for distances of less than 2 km.<p>Sometimes I get a bit more hopeful and then I read stuff like that... two fucking kilometers...<p>That explain why my city is in constant traffic jams, roads full of 2 tonnes cars displacing a single individual as far as the eye can see. Good thing they'll soon be electric cars, that surely will make it very sustainable and clean
It's an interesting article. I am at odds with supporting full push to large electric vehicles in the wake of articles that have also been posted recently on HN: <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/news/tire-dust-makes-up-the-majority-of-ocean-microplastics-study-finds" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.thedrive.com/news/tire-dust-makes-up-the-majorit...</a><p>I don't see any issues with the electric bicycles being relatively light compared to electrics mopeds and cars.<p>I would love to see a full and impartial comparison of all this EV vs Gas stuff, from the methods used for extracting the raw materials to the emissions and to the fact that the ocean is the main source of earths oxygen.<p>It's insane that countries are fighting petty wars over land claims when the earths environment is seemingly at a point of no return.
I live in a suburb of a cold midwest US city, electric cars are not popular here because of cold weather. People always drive large pick-ups or Harley in the summer. But electric bikes are very common here. All types of types of them, including the ones that have no paddle and the paddle assist ones. All are very common here. If I hadn't bought a expensive road bike recently I would have bought an electric bike already. My only problem with them is they are not "bikes" as in exercise, they are a means of commute.
Related recent post with 711 comments: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38304485">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38304485</a>
I live in the US, mid-atlantic region. This moment its 44°F and a wind chill of 25°F. My commute was 39miles each way. Quite often I experience jams and slowdowns such as 10mph on a 65mph highway, with headlights and heater on, or max AC in the summer when its mid 90°F. E-bike on some of these roads are illegal. If they weren't, they be death magnets.<p>My town has many e-bikes and scooters, mostly rentals. They litter the sidewalks and streets, sometimes are left in the roads. More often than anyone admits, the local youths throw them into the harbor - Boston Tea Party-style. You might go directly to the store and back, but you aren't making multiple stops as the few-as-they-are miscreants would steal your store #1 goods while in store #2. Or just take your bike, leaving you to shop and then rent another bike, all before explaining to the e-bike vendor that it wasn't you who mysteriously lost the GPS signal when your bike vanished at waters edge.<p>I'm a fan of EVs. But I'm not giving up my ICE vehicle. The 7 day electrical blackout at my home years ago convinced me of that. And people in dead EVs sitting in a blizzard in Texas a few years ago. With giant wind generators offline due to ice on the right, and oilfield pumps stopped for political reasons on the left.
The headline makes perfect sense from a purely first principles perspective. If your grid is dependent on oil, replacing gas cars with electric cars won't change anything. However, if people start using bikes rather than cars, there's a lot of savings in not having to drag a 1 ton metal cage around with you.