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electric cars are potentially more environmentally friendly than vanilla cars, but still pretty bad compared to a decent public transport system. here's an ene

by shoo 11y ago

electric cars are potentially more environmentally friendly than vanilla cars, but still pretty bad compared to a decent public transport system. here's an energy-consumption versus speed plot from MacKay's "Sustainable Energy - without the hot air" book: http://www.withouthotair.com/c20/page_128.shtml http://www.withouthotair.com/c20/page_128.shtml i reckon "everyone needs their own car" is nonsense. sure, a nice aspirational goal for the middle-class consumer world, but increasingly irrelevant as we update our thinking to match reality edit: to give a tiny personal anecdote, i live in a city with decent public transport and haven't owned a car for over 5 years, and don't plan on getting one any time soon. i don't use taxis / uber either, it isn't necessary.

sambeau 11y ago
Your last point is I think what has the potential to change things here. > i reckon "everyone needs their own car" is nonsense Once cars are self-driving the need to own more than one (if any) is vastly reduced. A family could easily share one car if it can drop everyone off at work and still be available for use mid-day. It looks like Uber is betting on the future being one where even those who own a self-driving car would be hiring it out during times of low-usage. Why own a car when you can summon a driverless one at any point? Similarly we could see a large decrease in the need for at-work and on-street parking if a car can take itself off home. Perhaps there might be a rise in commercial car-parks scattered around a city where a car can retire to safety and for a charge while it awaits its next job. A clever car could pick the most efficient of those to be ready for all users. The biggest concern I have about the rise of the electric car is that we are currently doing little about the cleanliness & CO2 emissions of our electricity generation. Clean/safe nuclear power can't come quickly enough.

by shoo 11y ago

sambeau 11y ago

Your last point is I think what has the potential to change things here. > i reckon "everyone needs their own car" is nonsense Once cars are self-driving the need to own more than one (if any) is vastly reduced. A family could easily share one car if it can drop everyone off at work and still be available for use mid-day. It looks like Uber is betting on the future being one where even those who own a self-driving car would be hiring it out during times of low-usage. Why own a car when you can summon a driverless one at any point? Similarly we could see a large decrease in the need for at-work and on-street parking if a car can take itself off home. Perhaps there might be a rise in commercial car-parks scattered around a city where a car can retire to safety and for a charge while it awaits its next job. A clever car could pick the most efficient of those to be ready for all users. The biggest concern I have about the rise of the electric car is that we are currently doing little about the cleanliness & CO2 emissions of our electricity generation. Clean/safe nuclear power can't come quickly enough.