4 ms·

I suppose if there's any place EV's make sense, it's the EU. Dense enough populations and prevalent enough trains that odds are you aren't going to find yoursel

by jakear 4y ago

I suppose if there's any place EV's make sense, it's the EU. Dense enough populations and prevalent enough trains that odds are you aren't going to find yourself on a 500 mile trip through the middle of nowhere. Amusing to see American city slickers claim the same is true here.

cowl 4y ago
|prevalent enough trains Everyone keeps repeating this farce. No Trains are not prevalent enough. Those are prevalent only between major cities and do not offer a good service. (Most of trains in rush hours do not have enough capacity, are a health hazzard, heating or cooling does not work etc, on the otherside of the coin, outside of rush hours you have these trains run practically empty, total waste of Energy). Asking people to exhange their 1 hour commute for a 2.5 hours (each direction) public transport is not a solution. But the main problem is that not everyone need to move between major cities where these trains are prevalent. I drive one hour to get to work. there are no Train lines there. While that distance is doable with an EV, it makes you nervous, there is effectivly zero infrastructure build for EVs outside of Major cities and I know fully well that the infrastructure will not be ready by 2035. EU has put the cart before the horse. They should have first mandated the building of the infrastructure and I am sure more people will adopt the EVs. Meanwhile more incetivising of Hybrid Cars should be in place.
ben_w 4y ago
EU is as variable as the US for such things, but with more languages and currencies and the police may ask to see your ID when crossing borders (happened to me twice in recent years when leaving France, with the border inspection on the train itself, even though I've also gone across the French-German-Swiss borders on bike without even a signpost in all cases). We've got the Blue Banana region[0] which is well connected, and western Europe more broadly, but if there's a way to get from Berlin to Athens only by train I don't know how to find it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Banana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Banana ironically straightened by Brexit
- jakear 4y ago
  > EU is as variable as the US for such things Eh... not really. The population density across the entire EU is 3x that of that of the US. The only countries in the EU with a lower population density than the US average are Estonia, Latvia, Sweden, and Finland. Of those, the lowest is Finland, with 41 people per sq. mile. There are 11 US states with lower density than that, including Alaska, with 1.6 people per sq. mile. This is where the cliche of Germans coming to the US to park out in the middle of nowhere and look at nothing with no one around comes from. Not a thing in the EU! And if it is, you'll be cold. That said, my only claim was "if there's anywhere they'd work, it's the EU". If not even the EU is suitable, well that's that.
  - ben_w 4y ago
    I think population density misses a lot of important detail. The general absence of people in Alaska or Lapland isn't as important as the willingness to take a 5 hour journey (car or train) to get to e.g. some nice mountain climbing for a weekend. But the mediterranean coast is seen as a desirable holiday destination, not sure what the comparable destination is in the USA despite it resembling California central valley and coast. Can people make the journey they want to those places in a low-carbon way? Sure, so long as it's Barcelona or northern Italy. Athens, not so much.

by jakear 4y ago

cowl 4y ago

|prevalent enough trains Everyone keeps repeating this farce. No Trains are not prevalent enough. Those are prevalent only between major cities and do not offer a good service. (Most of trains in rush hours do not have enough capacity, are a health hazzard, heating or cooling does not work etc, on the otherside of the coin, outside of rush hours you have these trains run practically empty, total waste of Energy). Asking people to exhange their 1 hour commute for a 2.5 hours (each direction) public transport is not a solution. But the main problem is that not everyone need to move between major cities where these trains are prevalent. I drive one hour to get to work. there are no Train lines there. While that distance is doable with an EV, it makes you nervous, there is effectivly zero infrastructure build for EVs outside of Major cities and I know fully well that the infrastructure will not be ready by 2035. EU has put the cart before the horse. They should have first mandated the building of the infrastructure and I am sure more people will adopt the EVs. Meanwhile more incetivising of Hybrid Cars should be in place.

ben_w 4y ago

EU is as variable as the US for such things, but with more languages and currencies and the police may ask to see your ID when crossing borders (happened to me twice in recent years when leaving France, with the border inspection on the train itself, even though I've also gone across the French-German-Swiss borders on bike without even a signpost in all cases). We've got the Blue Banana region[0] which is well connected, and western Europe more broadly, but if there's a way to get from Berlin to Athens only by train I don't know how to find it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Banana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Banana ironically straightened by Brexit

jakear 4y ago
> EU is as variable as the US for such things Eh... not really. The population density across the entire EU is 3x that of that of the US. The only countries in the EU with a lower population density than the US average are Estonia, Latvia, Sweden, and Finland. Of those, the lowest is Finland, with 41 people per sq. mile. There are 11 US states with lower density than that, including Alaska, with 1.6 people per sq. mile. This is where the cliche of Germans coming to the US to park out in the middle of nowhere and look at nothing with no one around comes from. Not a thing in the EU! And if it is, you'll be cold. That said, my only claim was "if there's anywhere they'd work, it's the EU". If not even the EU is suitable, well that's that.
- ben_w 4y ago
  I think population density misses a lot of important detail. The general absence of people in Alaska or Lapland isn't as important as the willingness to take a 5 hour journey (car or train) to get to e.g. some nice mountain climbing for a weekend. But the mediterranean coast is seen as a desirable holiday destination, not sure what the comparable destination is in the USA despite it resembling California central valley and coast. Can people make the journey they want to those places in a low-carbon way? Sure, so long as it's Barcelona or northern Italy. Athens, not so much.