Life in the technological fast lane

I haven't owned a car in a decade. Living in Tokyo, I don't really need one. Public transportation and taxis get me everywhere I need to go in the city with a minimum of fuss and expense. Back in Canada, I nearly lived in my car, putting 20-30,000 kilometers a year on the succession of old jalopies I owned. Living out in the countryside or in the suburbs in Canada, a car was an absolute necessity and given the totally inadequate nature of public transit even in the largest cities, having a car even in an urban setting was mighty useful. And expensive ("gas is how much a liter this week?"). And stressful ("traffic is backed up how far?"). And dirty and smelly and noisy and all the other things that go with a gasoline powered vehicle. Traffic in Tokyo is insane and the air is already nearly unbreathable anyways, so as long as I'm here, I don't want a car.
I write about a lot of pretty nasty things on this blog - politics, hypocrisy, war, pestilence, corruption, stupidity and petty meaness and ignorance (and that's just Canadian Prime Minister's office) -- so its really nice to mention something positive for a change.

MDI is a French company that is going to save the world if people give them half a chance. They have created a radical new reimagining of the automobile industry, based on building small local plants that manufacture cars for a local market. Imagine a car built right at the dealership. Their labour-intensive plant design allows for an environmentally-friendly car to be built every half hour at a very, very reasonable cost - meaning lots of steady, decent-paying jobs building non-polluting products where they will be sold. No more having to head to the big city for a factory job. No more stinking industrial hellscapes. No need to ship vehicles thousands of miles to market. Hopefully, their cars will be available in Europe and the US this year.

Oh, and did I mention the cars run on compressed air? No need to waste food crops on biofuels, no need to mess with superflammable hydrogen or propane, no need for gasoline. There is a hybrid model that will run on anything from gasoline to alcohol and give you about 80 km per liter of fuel intended for highway driving, but for city driving, you just hook them up to an air compressor and you can go about 100 km before you need a refill. The bodies are mostly fiberglass, so they never rust. Hook that ordinary air compressor up to a neighbourhood windmill and you might never pay to run your car again. And the basic model sells for between $7000 and $12,000.

They may never replace the gasoline-engine roadster for long-distance highway driving, but think what it would do for air quality if you replaced every taxi, delivery vehicle, commuter car and bus in a city like Tokyo or Los Angeles or Mexico City with something that has zero emissions. Think how much money could be saved in fuel costs. And the loudest thing in them is probably the car stereo.

cross-posted from the Woodshed.

Your Moment of ZENN . . . .

Thanks to the folks at Things are Good: good news blog for posting this Rick Mercer video on the made-in-Canada ZENN car. (The blog is a great place to get away from all the negative news in the world, BTW.)

I want one ! ! ! !

No. Green is not impossible.

How would you like to get 360 miles per gallon over 120 miles - from a real automobile? That's 0.78 litres per 100 km.

It's got three wheels, two seats (plus a child seat rear-centre) and it just looks cool. Take a look.

Cost is dependent upon the type you order. The all-electric plug-in version (limited range) will sell for about $27,000 US. The plug-in hybrid is a little more at $30,000 US.

The developers describe the fuel consumption and range this way:

With the Plug-in Electric Hybrid version of the Aptera(typ-1h) the mileage of the vehicle is difficult to describe with one number. For example, the Typ-1h can drive 40 to 60 miles on electric power alone. Perhaps for such a trip, the engine may only be duty-cycled for a few seconds or minutes. This would produce a fantastic number, an incredible number that, though factually true, would have no useful context, i.e. it's just a point on a graph.

An asymptotic decaying exponential is an accurate way to describe the fuel mileage of the Typ-1h. For example driving say, 50 miles, one might calculate a MPG number that's 2 or 3 times higher, say, 1000 MPG. As battery energy is depleted, the frequency of the engine duty cycle is increased. More fuel is used. at 75 miles, the MPG might be closer to 400 MPG. Again, we're using battery energy mostly, but turning the engine on more and more. Just over 100 miles we're just over 300 MPG, and just beyond 120 miles, we're around 300 MPG. So why pick a number at 120 miles? Well, it's more than double of most available plug-in hybrid ranges that achieve over 100 MPG. It's three times the distance of the typical American daily commute. It's a meaningful distance that represents the driving needs of 99% of Americans on a daily basis. Sure, it's asymptotic, after 350-400 miles it eventually plummets to around 130 MPG at highway speeds where it will stay all day until you plug it back in and charge it up.

Production is scheduled to start in October 2008.

VELIB. Putting pedal power on the streets of Paris.

Paris is going to try a new transportation system. Bicycles.

Paris is set for a transport revolution this weekend when a fleet of 10 000 self-service bicycles hits the city, providing a cheap and fun alternative to the metro for Parisians and tourists alike. As the Tour de France annual bike race wends its arduous way across the country, in Paris amateur cyclists will from Sunday be able to use swipe-or credit-cards 24 hours a day to rent cycles for short trips, dropping them off at any of 750 bike points to be picked up by a new user. The scheme, named Velib, is part of a growing global trend for eco-friendly, easy-access urban bike rental, but is the first in a major capital and is being keenly watched by city planners from Rio de Janeiro to Montreal.

Given the way Parisiennes drive their cars, this could be quite interesting.

City Hall hopes Parisians will adopt the system en masse, and expects to have at least 200 000 regular users by year end, when the number of bikes is set to double to 20 600 at 1 451 stations.

The modern looking bike docking stations are located 300 meters apart. The bikes, weighing in at 22 kilograms (48.5 lbs) are durable enough to handle the multitude of users, come with three gears, a basket and a locking system for those occasions when stops away from a docking station may be necessary.

Cost to Paris taxpayers? Nothing. Advertising firm JC Decaux is providing the money for the system in exchange for advertising space in the city. In 2005 JC Decaux set up the same system in Lyon with 4,000 bikes.

Fifty-five percent of the scheme's users in Lyon say they now drive less, and bike traffic has jumped 75 percent.

Cool idea. The system is available to both residents and tourists of Paris. Regular users can get an annual subscription to the system for 29 Euros and casual users can get a day-ticket for one Euro daily. After that, the first 1/2 hour of use is free.

Costs for the user have been kept right down. Rental is free for the first half hour, rising to one euro for the second, two for the next and so on - a progressive charging system designed to encourage short rents and quick turn-over.

The ParisInfo site has information on it and if you're really interested in learning more, there is the VELIB site, which is a good place to practice your French.

While the system advertises that it can accept both the VELIB contact card (which you purchase) or a credit card, some observers have reported that there appears to be no place to actually swipe a credit card. And, there is a phone number and online information site which will provide information of the availability of bikes at any given station.

This is an idea worth watching.