The problem with today's cars is exactly that they are mass-produced.
Mass-producing electric cars isn't going to solve that.
The problem with most electrics is that the job they do best of all is the job
we should be doing with our feet.
The entire debate around the ecology of transport is that the matter of scale
is always left out. Arguments rage about so many of molecule x versus so many
of molecule y, without ever considering that patterns of use will radically
influence the overall volume of molecules we're talking about. The first issue
should be to address vehicle use patterns. This requires a holistic approach,
and a sound appreciation of the purposes of most vehicle trips, and how that
relates to the structure of cities.
The bulk of one's effort should be oriented to developing a living environment
in which driving is unnecessary, and walking supported by public transport is
the obvious way to get from A to B. Given that, the entirely subsidiary project
of designing cars and fuels concerns not so much cleaner cars and cleaner
fuels, but types of vehicle and fuel best suited to manufacture for a
very-low-demand scenario.
The beauty of ethanol and biodiesel is predominantly that it is perfectly
suited to such a scenario. If motor vehicles are rare, we aren't going to run
them on a fuel that requires drilling very expensive holes in another country.
We would need a fuel that can be made in small quantities as an agricultural
by-product.
The same applies to manufacture of vehicles. In the light of the above, the
Toyota Prius is an ecological disaster compared with Keith's Landies, or other
classics, or something Lotus-7-ish, or a traditional hot rod, or a proper
motorbike made out of bent tubing. Note how typical current legislation
militates against this approach.
-Dawie
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