657
BYD Trolling (thelemmy.club)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/electricvehicles@slrpnk.net
97 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 18 points 3 months ago (9 children)

My cargo e-bike could do that, assuming you can carry an extra battery and the passengers are kids. And for a lot less than $10K, too.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 9 child comments
    •
  • [–] 17 points 3 months ago (7 children)

    It's annoying how the world, especially North America, is designed around vehicles that "can fit at lest three people" but are most frequently driven by a single person.

    I love my ebike, and don't own a car, but even for short trips things would be more convenient with a car. The roads are designed for cars. Parking is designed for cars. Laws protect cars far more than bikes.

    Maybe that will change. What happened in the Netherlands since the 1970s gives me hope. But, right now it's sad how the switch away from the gas-powered car seems to be toward electric cars rather than bikes, ebikes and mass transit.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago

    Any vehicle I have must fit at least 3 people, because at any time I must be able to move myself + the 2 kids. I could get a little 2-seater runabout for 90% of my driving (or maybe a motorcycle or something similar), but then I would have to have another vehicle, at additional license costs, interest costs, storage costs, and then have to guess which one I will need by the end of the day at the start, consistently every time. Because of this, every vehicle I own must be able to do every thing I can conceivably need to do in a given day.

    From what I can tell, this condition exists for a plurality of drivers in the driving-centric parts of the US, and so became the standard because it's the minimum for those people.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 7 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Car brain really is a thing. Here in the UK it seems to be considered a thing that if you can afford one, you have one.

    I sold my car (my wife has and needs one to be fair) 4-5 yrs back. Tried to make an ebike work but it didn't fit my lifestyle so I bought an electric moped and it's handled everything I've thrown at it.

    Traffic is no longer a thing so it saves me so much time not having to allow time for it, it's generally quicker/as quick as a car on all the trips I do, parking is easy and it's dirt cheap to run.

    Not sure I'll ever buy a car again

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago

    How often is your wife's car used for household errands? I don't own a car but occasionally I've borrowed one for certain things.

    It's cheaper to buy bulky packages of say rice or toilet paper, but they're inconvenient to move without a car. Furniture is nearly impossible to move with the bike I have. I could get a cargo bike, but where I live that would be impractical without a garage or a big shed to store it, whereas a car can just sit in a driveway.

    I think I'll be able to get by without a car for the foreseeable future, but I'll probably end up using cars occasionally. If I can't borrow one, I'll maybe start using a car sharing service.

    I'd use public transit, but honestly where I live and where I want to go it's only slightly faster than walking, and so it's almost never a worthwhile option.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    I live in Atlanta, which ain't exactly the poster-child for bike-friendliness. But even here, at least in my part of town, it actually is getting to the point where short trips are genuinely more convenient on a bike. Dropping the kids off at school definitely is because I don't have to wait in line, and any destination downtown is best reached on a bike because I don't have to pay for parking. Going to the grocery store isn't quite better by bike, but the margin is close enough that I bike anyway.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Parking is one of those things that could be improved for biking. I really hate most of the bike racks that most places use, and if you get a bad one it can take a significant amount of time to lock up your bike. And, a big reason why locking up a bike takes a while is that bike theft isn't really treated seriously. IMO if bike theft were taken more seriously you wouldn't need to make sure you had an excellent lock and had your front wheel secured, etc. Thieves would be much less willing to take the risk of stealing one, so a simple chain would be enough to discourage most thieves.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

    Additionally, Americans are typically fat and need even more radial maneuvering room. That’s why they find European cars cramped. The comments on cupholders in American car forums are very funny.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent