Meanwhile in Germany:

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    8 months ago

    It could, if cheap, light, efficient EVs become legal and popular in Europe.

    I personally want something that would never be legal; A 4-wheeled, beefed up, 100+ km/h electric velomobile with something like CanAm Spyder tires (and track width) and a proper comfortable seat. A bit like the LCC rocket, but fully enclosed and possibly lighter.

    I could get something more dangerous, like a motorcycle. While this would be in an illegal limbo between car and motorcycle.

    The Renault Twizy is a too tall, simply ugly, and thoroughly nerfed version of a simile of what I wish for, and Europe will continue just vaguely trying (and complacently falling) to make speed-limited microcars for cities of type L6e and L7e the “green option” looking for adoption, but that will never reach any kind of tipping point and we all know it. Not quite designed to fail, but definitely not designed for mass adoption.


    The legal limbo of what I think would be more appealing is due to both the public and the governing bodies being entirely unwilling to tolerate what safety-wise amounts to a motorcycle with a car’s stability, without reducing speed. They’d never expect to successfully lock motorcycles down to “max 45 km/h”, but the category of “motorcycle” is uniquely privileged as a traditionally recognized transport device permitted to trade away safety for other benefits. Presumably because the trade is explicit enough, as there’s no mistaking it for a car.

    Anyways…

    The conclusion is that no, “it” doesn’t include vehicles, and won’t any time soon. The only desirable electric cars will remain massive and heavy and expensive (but thoroughly armored), so adoption will continue to be fairly slow, and they’ll be a big drain on the grid.

    I’ll end on the note that motorcycles not being popular is a huge part of why western bureaucrats (barely) tolerate them. If this was to become popular among young guys who want a cheap fast car, it’d be extremely problematic for them, and not at all worth the accelerated energy transition.

    Last note, Sierra Echo is also one I’ve been keeping my eye on, but since it’s fast and light, it’s also open-air like all these things apparently have to be. Oh, and it’s also not cheap.