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Anecdote time: I am driving a Zoe multiple times a week and thoroughly enjoy it. Is it premium class car and will take me 600km? No, but that's not why I am d

Anecdote time: I am driving a Zoe multiple times a week and thoroughly enjoy it. Is it premium class car and will take me 600km? No, but that's not why I am driving Zoes. I drive them because it's short city commutes 99% of the time. Rarely more than 10-15km, usually transporting something or bypassing public transport in busy times/Corona/if car is just quicker. I use them via Sixt Share, a car-sharing service. Always find parking within a few minutes with the privilege of getting the e-parking spots and the small size. Zoe is perfect for European city dwelling and short commutes. Not as expensive as BMW i3 or VW e-Golf. Same type of car as the e-Up! which I haven't tried yet.

darksaints 6y ago
It sounds like it could be great for a lot of US city dwellers as well. I have lived in Seattle for several years, and can count the number of >50mi trips I've taken with my personal car on zero hands.
- WorldMaker 6y ago
  There have been a few times I've been tempted to try to petition a Nissan dealer to try to import a Zoe to the US. Nissan America's short-sighted truck focus belies so much more interesting work going on in their siblings in the larger Nissan Group. The Honda e at least has the excuse that the US has been the slowest to allow sideview cameras in its safety regulations, though Honda America similarly is short-sightedly focused almost solely on trucks in the US.
Markoff 6y ago
wouldn't electric bike/scooter without renting make more sense for you? unless you use it to do big grocery, though this could be resolved by ordering grocery online I'm living in the Prague without car, only missing car when doing the grocery, but there is no point to buy car just to do big grocery once a week, might as well rent a car or take taxi or order grocery online, if I would be that lazy.
- holri 6y ago
  I have a bicycle trailer which caries 80 kg and has enough room for a big grocery.
  - Markoff 6y ago
    never thought of this good idea, so after all the car is not necessary even for grocery, but I guess parking would be issue unless you live in house, not that big deal to find place for ebike/escooter or leave car on street, but trailer inside?
    - fulafel 6y ago
      Lots of apartment buildings have street level storage usable for bikes and trailers, eg in gated inner courtyards or dedicated bike storage rooms. But trailers are not very attractive vtargets for theft anyway because they are cheap and there aren't that many trailer users.
      - Markoff 6y ago
        not where I live, people here park bikes either in their apartment or in their cellar, which is usually very small, parking it in some common area on building would be quite rude towards other residents blocking the space and nobody will dare to park bike on street overnight
- r00fus 6y ago
  The problem with bikes in big cities is parking and theft. Stealing an auto is a felony while a bike theft doesn’t even get marginal attention form law enforcement. Sorry to say but we’ll need some large policy shifts to support ebikes despite how perfect they’d be.
  - stinos 6y ago
    Yes those shifts are needed, but in some cities/countries (talking Europe here for example) that has been going on already. Resulting in more parking spaces including surveillance, and police caring about bike theft (data point: my fairly normal bike has been stolen twice, and brought back by the police twice, thanks to the engraved serial number, and that was over a decade ago). Also with electric bicycles reaching price levels of small cars and becoming way more common, law enforcement gets pushed automatically towards caring, I think.
deleted 6y ago
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darksaints 6y ago

It sounds like it could be great for a lot of US city dwellers as well. I have lived in Seattle for several years, and can count the number of >50mi trips I've taken with my personal car on zero hands.

WorldMaker 6y ago
There have been a few times I've been tempted to try to petition a Nissan dealer to try to import a Zoe to the US. Nissan America's short-sighted truck focus belies so much more interesting work going on in their siblings in the larger Nissan Group. The Honda e at least has the excuse that the US has been the slowest to allow sideview cameras in its safety regulations, though Honda America similarly is short-sightedly focused almost solely on trucks in the US.

Markoff 6y ago

wouldn't electric bike/scooter without renting make more sense for you? unless you use it to do big grocery, though this could be resolved by ordering grocery online I'm living in the Prague without car, only missing car when doing the grocery, but there is no point to buy car just to do big grocery once a week, might as well rent a car or take taxi or order grocery online, if I would be that lazy.

holri 6y ago
I have a bicycle trailer which caries 80 kg and has enough room for a big grocery.
- Markoff 6y ago
  never thought of this good idea, so after all the car is not necessary even for grocery, but I guess parking would be issue unless you live in house, not that big deal to find place for ebike/escooter or leave car on street, but trailer inside?
  - fulafel 6y ago
    Lots of apartment buildings have street level storage usable for bikes and trailers, eg in gated inner courtyards or dedicated bike storage rooms. But trailers are not very attractive vtargets for theft anyway because they are cheap and there aren't that many trailer users.
    - Markoff 6y ago
      not where I live, people here park bikes either in their apartment or in their cellar, which is usually very small, parking it in some common area on building would be quite rude towards other residents blocking the space and nobody will dare to park bike on street overnight
r00fus 6y ago
The problem with bikes in big cities is parking and theft. Stealing an auto is a felony while a bike theft doesn’t even get marginal attention form law enforcement. Sorry to say but we’ll need some large policy shifts to support ebikes despite how perfect they’d be.
- stinos 6y ago
  Yes those shifts are needed, but in some cities/countries (talking Europe here for example) that has been going on already. Resulting in more parking spaces including surveillance, and police caring about bike theft (data point: my fairly normal bike has been stolen twice, and brought back by the police twice, thanks to the engraved serial number, and that was over a decade ago). Also with electric bicycles reaching price levels of small cars and becoming way more common, law enforcement gets pushed automatically towards caring, I think.

deleted 6y ago

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