this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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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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The world's 280 million electric bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars (theconversation.com)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/micromobility
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[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Better for the environment, better use of urban spaces, cheaper to maintain the infrastructure, lowered healthcare costs, far fewer people being killed going to work, less dependency on oil, more affordable for families...

Wouldn't it just be cheaper overall for the governments of the world to gift every household an e-bike? Surely, it would be more sustainable than having more and more and more large vehicles with one occupant doing less than <10km of driving all day long, no?

[–] silencioso 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The biggest hurdle is the lack of bike infrastructure (manly bike paths and parking)

[–] Nouveau_Burnswick 11 points 11 months ago

There's tons of bike infrastructure everywhere. We've just collectively decided that it should exclusively belong to cars.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

And if the reason we don't have more bike infrastructure is because money is being put into other things, this would solve that problem, too :)

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Hell, even a regular moped...I had a gas powered genuine buddy 50 in college. That thing had a ~1.5 gallon tank, which I only had to fill up once a week. I got 80-100 mpg depending on how much I had to do. It was insane.

[–] alphabetsheep 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Only issue with gas mopeds is emissions. If they don't have a catalytic converter than the emissions are far worse than cars. Same is true with other small gas engines - lawnmowers, pressure washers, generators, etc.

[–] Nouveau_Burnswick 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

On moped emissions:

  1. They emit less GHG but more smog than cars. So in a city, the smog is probably not great, but in a rural areas the lower GHG is probably better.

  2. That's only operating emissions, mopeds have lower production and disposal emissions that cars.

  3. Four stokes are becoming more common and are much less emitting than two strokes.

[–] alphabetsheep 3 points 11 months ago

Fair point. The production emissions make a huge difference. As best I understand batteries still have very high production emissions which roughly balances out their lower runtime emissions.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Oh good point. Thanks.

[–] w2tpmf 2 points 11 months ago

50-100mpg?

My 125cc sportbike gets 125-150mpg. I'm saving the planet! 😊

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

We have been using out Moped since spring. I love filling the tanks since its at most once a month for $5 for the 1 gallon tank. We use it for 90% of our driving needs in the warm months.

I would be interested in getting an electric model but maybe for the next one.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I hate electric bikes as they pass me on a hill as I sweat my butt off going up it, but I love this headline. More people on electric and more people on bikes please.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you're sweating that much, why not just downshift? It's slower, but it's also easier!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I go uphill to go downhill. Enduro is my jam. The hills I go up are in the lowest gear already, they're just steep.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Just get robot legs

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I know just the man for the job.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

"'Zone 2?' More like danger zone!"

[–] Maalus 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As a youngin, I used to bike to school often. For some reason I made it a point of pride to never downshift from the highest gears front and back. Took some getting used to when you had to push it when going around tight corners very slowly. Ended up with melon cracking thighs

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

"You're nuts junior!"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

The first comment makes more sense now lol, if you're doing a big climb like that and someone zips past on an ebike, I'd be kinda peeved off too 😂

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (4 children)

This is an interesting observation: emotorcycles, escooters, etc. can lead the way to low carbon transport.

My issue is that for months every year it is colder than I like for two wheeled transportation. I have a motorcycle but don't want to use it below 50 F and will not use it on snow/ice. I've seen some better ways to handle this (enclosures, etc.) but they're not common. I hope good cold weather solutions for 2 wheel transport DO become more common along with being more electrified.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

As someone who lives in the upper midwest we have been using our moped from May-November it would be nice to have something to use when it gets cold. Riding it now isn't super pleasant unless its a sunny day

[–] Nouveau_Burnswick 2 points 11 months ago

I'll still commute to -30°C, but I'm not likely to use a bike for any other trips under -10°C.

[–] grue 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

That was interesting. Thanks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I still commute when it's cold, but past a certain point I stop using my ebike and switch to my hybrid because battery. A waterproof/breathable shell with appropriate levels of insulation really helps a lot in terms of comfort.