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Reducing weight sure is the most effective way to improve efficiency. The best Tesla model 3 uses 25 kWh / 100 miles and weighs two tons. A top of the line car

Reducing weight sure is the most effective way to improve efficiency. The best Tesla model 3 uses 25 kWh / 100 miles and weighs two tons. A top of the line cargo bike like the Tern GSD is capable of carrying passengers and luggage using only ~1 kWh / 100 miles, because it weighs only 75 pounds. Slightly reducing the weight of the battery pack in a full sized car is missing the forest for the trees when it comes to lowering transportation emissions. As long as we're supply constrained for lithium battery cells, those 50 kWh of batteries going into the Tesla would be better going into 50-100 e-cargo bikes that each take a car off the road.

rnk 3y ago
It's not going as fast as the tesla. iirc the wind resistance goes up as the square of the speed (I need to find a ref for this, I read it all the time, I guess https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_equation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_equation). Anyway, you can't compare a bike going much slower than a vehicle. If we were riding bikes, at much lower speeds than 70, then no doubt we'd be getting vastly more distance for energy used. But that's a separate argument from the impact of weight on energy usage.
- dublinben 3y ago
  They’re both vehicles that can take you from point a to point b, so they can be compared.
  - rnk 3y ago
    That's true they they are both vehicles that move you, but a bike vs a car are in very different classes, unless your car only goes 30 mph in normal use, like in a congested city.