So... 24hrs later, and in a forum titled "Transportation & Infrastructure", in a thread titled "Is Toronto bike friendly?", nobuddy here wants to discuss the "problems" with Trans/Infrastructure, and whether the smallest and cheapest vehicles might be used to save a lot of folks a LOT of money???
Yet other threads here in the Trans/Inf forum appear perhaps FULL of "hand wringing" and "nashing of teeth" esp. about public (sp?) vehicles???
AFAIK us human creatures love our own private vehicles, given the CHOICE?
The world has a love/hate relationship with the German people, but the first "car" I owner and drove (I'm not proud) was a gasoline-powered "Peoples Car" designed by Ferdinand Porsche. And as a young guy living for a few years outside London (UK), my father drove around in a TINY vehicle (Made by the German company "Messerschmitt". After the 2nd "World War", for German Co's, mfg'ing war machines was VERBOTEN, so the little car has a clear plastic aircraft-style "canopy" over the driver/passenger two seats - driver in the front.)
Even today, Canadians LOVE their "BMWs" and "PORSHEs" and "AUDIs" and "MERCEDES".
And today, many/most Canadians can buy vehicles from ANY of these manufactures.
BECAUSE THOSE COMPANIES ALL OFFER their style of electric BICYCLE.
Seen elsewhere, in part:
Former Chrysler and Ford President Lee Iacocca jumped into the E-bike business in the early 2000′s with a purpose built frame. The bike did not sell well with its heavy sealed lead acid battery (SLA) and lost millions for Iacocca and his investors.
In 1980, American John B. Goodenough disclosed the first Lithium battery (Lithium-Cobalt-Oxygen), over 100 years since French physicist Gaston Planté invented the lead-acid rechargeable battery in 1859.
Today of course most Canadians use Lithium batteries in their portable devices.
Well MY "portable device" currently is a tricycle.
I CAN pedal it comfortably/easily, but it also has installed a front wheel "hub" motor, and a 48V 10Ah Lithium-ion battery, that I can recharge perhaps 1000 times.
Last fall from the eastern end of Toronto I rode my trike out to Port Credit and to Bramalea.
Sorta "leaning" on the battery to spin the hub motor/front wheel, as I am currently on the Ontario Disability Support Plan ("ODSP") due to an unfortunate accident (NOT vehicle/traffic related) over one year ago.
And last fall I passed thousands of folks trapped (?) in their "cars", travelling to/from "work", etc having to smell the stink (?) of their gasoline engine exhausts.
Some might conclude Canadians are a pretty pathetic bunch.
In the Netherlands for an example, in 2012 their "Fietsberaad" reported there were now one million electric bicycles on THEIR roads... seen here:
http://www.fietsberaad.nl/index.cfm...wsYear=2013&repository=One+million+e-cyclists
And in April last year, the European Cyclists' Federation reported "Car sales down, bike sales up: Two new bikes are sold for every car in Europe", online here:
http://www.ecf.com/news/car-sales-down-bike-sales-up-two-new-bikes-are-sold-for-every-car-in-europe/
And by one report (now out, from 2011), "The annual production of electric bicycles in China has grown from 58,000 in 1998 to 27 million in 2010. According to the Chinese National Statistics Bureau, in 2006, China has 450 million bicycles and in 2009, China has over 100 million ebikes."
But Canadians will say "Great hockey game last night!" and go back to their grumbling.
