this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2024
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micromobility - Ebikes, scooters, longboards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility

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Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!

"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.

micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

That's terribly inefficient for a motorcycle

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 hour ago

How do you figure? 70mpg isn't too shabby for a motorcycle today. In the 40s? 70mpg is pretty bonkers for a 40s machine.

[–] GlendatheGayWitch 3 points 1 hour ago

It looks like a bumper car without the bumpers and pole

[–] Hikermick 5 points 2 hours ago

The world would be a more fun place if we all drove bumper cars

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 hours ago

it looks like a Twinkie fucked a space ship.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 hours ago (4 children)

It's easy to make a 100mpg car. All you need is to make it small, flimsy, no aircon, no heater, no stereo, no airbags, toss emissions standards out, pack you in like a snake going up a bear's anus, and drive around at a steady 25 mph without any stops.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 hour ago

It's that last thing that america (or at least California) has an issue with. We fucking love stop signs. If you have a stop sign every other block, your mpg is gonna be in the range matt gaetz would be interested in regardless of what car you drive.

[–] Dasus 2 points 1 hour ago

Idk man, I got comfy 50mpg from a 2 ton Mercedes-Benz with most of the trimmings. Well... it was too old to have AC.

The acceleration was utter dogshit tho. Comfy ride tho.

[–] FuzzyDog 10 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Idk, Dutch micro cars are pretty comfortable. They're quieter, safer for pedestrians, and environmentally friendly. Had a chance to use one last time I was in the Netherlands. The American mindset of "it has to be a giga-truck or it's bad" really sucks.

[–] tetris11 16 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

I'm in love with the Citroen Ami

I mean just look at this little guy. If I had ovaries, they'd be popping right now.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

They're cute but very niche. They're very expensive for what they are, those weird plastic folding windows are not fully waterproof, and the ami generally inferior to a scooter in every way except safety kinda. It's not like it can carry more than a large grocery bag anyway.

Owning that car really tells a complete story: "I am a 16/17 yo suburbanite so I can't get my license yet, daddy/mommy is tired of driving me to school, my wealthy parents won't let me ride a moped because it's too dangerous, and riding a bicycle or the bus isn't even an option for someone of my social standing".

Unsurprisingly, it's not been selling particularly well. Which is a good thing, because what cities need is more micromobility solutions not cars cosplaying as micromobility.

[–] ChonkyOwlbear 2 points 1 hour ago

Micromobility will never be a solution for places where it rains a lot or where it gets cold often. People need an enclosed cabin like this.

[–] tetris11 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I was leaning more on the "I am a 30/40 yo city worker who lives in a small village with no train station and poor bus service. I don't have kids, but like weekend getaways with my partner and this car speaks to my meagre price range and eco sensibilities."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Then get a small car like a VW Up. It will be cheaper, will be more practical in literally every way, and will have a lot more range. It's also not limited to 45 km/h, which you will quickly find is painful on the kinds of semi-rural roads that separate your hypothetical village from the city.

With a 75 km announced range and no fast charging (!) your best bet for a weekend getaway is to use the Ami to get to the nearest train station. Hell, if you can't charge at work it might even struggle to get you back home.

The Ami is simply a terrible value proposition if it's your only mode of transportation. And if it's your secondary mode of transportation, then its carbon footprint skyrockets as all the lithium that makes up its battery will hardly be used over its lifetime.

One can always make up a scenario where someone, somewhere, somehow has the exact situation to justify such a purchase, but it is very niche. What Citroen really tries to market it as is a "city car", which is anything but a green concept but also the only way a 45 km/h car with 75 km of range actually makes sense.

[–] FuzzyDog 3 points 6 hours ago

I got to see one at a Stellantis exhibition here in the US! Although they won't be sold here, so IDK why they brought them to a US event. They're such neat little cars.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

No, that's pretty much what I mean. I'm having trouble finding references to the gas milage of the Canta, but Kei cars tend to max out around 60mpg, and the Canta is only a bit smaller. I also found plenty of posts from locals saying it's loud, uncomfortable, and unsafe.

The Peel P50 can get close to 100mpg, but that's pushing what a person can even fit in. This sort of thing is pushing into "why not get a moped?" territory.

[–] FuzzyDog 6 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

The original Honda Insight from 2001 got 68 highway, 60 city. And it had all the goodies you'd want in a "modern" car like airbags, aircon, heat, 2 relatively roomy seats, etc. Close to the Doodlebug's best possible mpg with twice the passengers.

Unfortunately, after 20 years of improvement in auto design, material science, etc, the new Honda Insight in 2022 actually has notably worse city /highway mpg from the original, because it's so much bigger.

I guess my point is all the innovation in the world won't fix the fundamental problem that people want bigger and bigger cars?

[–] A7thStone 8 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Auto manufacturers want bigger and bigger vehicles, and they've done an excellent job of convincing the masses that they aren't safe without one, or a man, or they'll look poor. Most people I'd wager if given the proper knowledge and experience wouldn't want to drive a huge lumbering land whale, they've just been told their entire life that they do.

[–] markstos 2 points 6 hours ago

But it’s hard to make such a car street-legal in the US.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

My 2007 Ninja 250 made about 35 horsepower, could achieve a top speed over 100 mph and could also travel nearly 70 miles on a gallon of gas.

[–] dual_sport_dork 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

My Honda Metropolitan gets 117 MPG. As a result, its fuel tank is precisely 1 gallon.

...It only makes 4 horsepower and has a top speed of 40, though.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago

Yeah I couldn't quite hit that efficiency with my Ninja but it was fully capable of traveling on the interstate and it it had a damn near 5 gallon tank. That bike was designed in 1988 and received only minor adjustments for 20 years and basically nothing has that combination of efficiency and capacity.

[–] jaybone 15 points 11 hours ago

That thing looks like it falls over on its side if you look at it funny.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
[–] tetris11 5 points 6 hours ago

Ah yes, a scrotumnudger

[–] RememberTheApollo_ 12 points 13 hours ago

So a motor scooter with a car-like wrapper.

[–] BenLeMan 39 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

Looks like if you ever hit a pebble on the road it would probably flip and kill you. Note also the conspicuous absence of a seat belt. Cute little death machine.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 17 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

Did anything have a seatbelt in 1944?

[–] WhatYouNeed 11 points 8 hours ago (3 children)
[–] teamevil 1 points 3 hours ago

Drug Church?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 hours ago

I like it. Why live with potentially life changing injuries, when you can simply have your neck broken by your seatbelt instead.

[–] BenLeMan 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

NO SHOT. That's a joke, right?

[–] WhatYouNeed 4 points 5 hours ago

Unsurprisingly it was not a successful prototype.

Still, better to have an instantaneous snapped neck/ decapitated than to be speared through the chest by the steering column.

[–] AngryCommieKender 14 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Volvo filed a patent for some sort of seatbelt in 1889. SAAB became the first car company to make any sort of seatbelt standard in 1958. Volvo became the first car company to install modern 3 point belts as standard equipment in 1959.

So yes, but actually probably not.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 7 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

So a patent existed prior, but that doesn't mean they were made. SAAB made them standard 14 years after this car. Do with no other data, I'd say no and no.

Edit: just realized that reads like I'm being pissy, but that wasn't the tone my finger was swiping with. Thanks for the data!

[–] AngryCommieKender 7 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Well the key word there is standard. I'm guessing that seatbelts were optional equipment prior to that, because I have seen a '50 SAAB 92 that had a driver's side lap belt, which I believe was original equipment. I have also seen a '45 Chevy truck that also had a lap belt, but I'm unsure if that was original equipment.

That's why I said yes, but probably not.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 3 points 9 hours ago

Got it, thanks

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[–] BenLeMan 7 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

No, that was before Ralph Nader made a whole ruckus about car safety (and rightly so). Still, we're looking at this from the year 2024 so you can really tell this vehicle doesn't make sense in our time.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

I sometimes think about Ralph Nader, and the overall balance sheet of lives he is directly responsible for saving, vs lives that he is (I guess indirectly) responsible for ruining and/or ending due to spoiling the 2000 election.

Interesting thought experiment. I guess.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

I admire the hell out of him, even if I resent what happened in the 2000 election. He really did stand for what he believed in.

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