[ausev] NEVs for local transport (was: Speed limits...)

[MLAB]

gary wrote:
> Of course we don’t want 25 mph NEV’s on the highway, but perhaps 
> changes can be made to increase or improve the routes for NEV commuting.
That "we" certainly isn't all-inclusive. I am often a 10-15 mph bicycle 
(5-10 on climbs) on the highway, and I am typically in full possession 
of a lane (width allowing). And God bless Texas for having the wisdom to 
allow that under the law. At a 50 mph speed difference, you don't want 
them passing too close -- I've been there and wouldn't let it happen 
again. I'd be greatly in favor of more 25 mph grannies altering the flow 
of any roadway, just as I'd be delighted to see more 15 mph Segways out 
in the lane with me downtown (and not on the sidewalk).

It brings up an important matter underlying much of the talk about EVs 
vs. gas powered cars. We may crow about how we are the solution for when 
the gas runs out, but it is the rate at which we use energy that has 
forced that gas-crunch problem on us. If we switch to EVs with the same 
performance characteristics (i.e. power requirements) as regular cars, 
we will still be depleting resources at as fast a rate, if not a faster 
rate (since it takes more power to charge a battery, or produce hydrogen 
or bio-fuel, than one can take out of it). The short term problem of 
where to get the power may be helped by EVs, but not the big problem of 
our rate of consumption.

I'll grant that it is easier to suggest that a person drive slower than 
it is to actually do it. Perhaps we can agree that driving any kind of 
vehicle at 25 mph instead of 65 mph would not only save a whopping load 
of fuel, but it would also increase the range of an EV considerably. But 
this hits the non-technical and very human problem that sitting in a 
little box, holding down a throttle at 25 mph is boring, boring, boring. 
It may be exciting to do 25 on a bicycle, but the sensory experience of 
driving a car is such that one needs the landscape to whiz up at you 
just to stay amused, and that amusement is a more pressing motivator, 
moment by moment, than global energy depletion.

-- 
Mike Librik, LCI #929
Easy Street Recumbents
(512) 453-0438
45th and Red River Streets, thereabouts
Central Austin
info at easystreetrecumbents.com
www.easystreetrecumbents.com
www.urbancycling.com