@tikibunnyimports Yeah, but #KeiCar - #Roadsters show that a restrictive envelope breeds innovation!

• One doesn't need liters of displacement to get fast and have fun!

• And that makes it good, because if one has a "fun vehicle" it better not require an oversized garage to park in...

Also with a smol engine and "low" speeds everything else gets cheaper:

• smaller, low speed-index all season tires are cheap even from high quality brands.

• the engine barely sips fuel and oil

• emissions are low and thus vehicle tax is also lower

• a small vehicle that isn't commonly stolen or ran into the next tree by beginners is cheaper to insure.

Which is why I think #KeiCars are good at incentivizing #SmallCars and that more manufacturers - espechally outside #Japan - should do such vehicles!

• It's really embarassing that only the #SmartK was launched as non - #JDM Kei-Car and that basically noone even tries it* despite there being enough models and options.

• But I also guess that like with European Car Brands, #ServiceNetworks and coverage with branded repair shops is really what makes or breaks it for #consumers!

So small companies like #Aixam never had a chance to establish themselves and due to existing expertise inhouse none of the Kei-Car manufacturers was interested in "Badge-Engineering" anyway.

@BruceMirken France, the same. Every new car with a curb weight over 1,800kg pays €10 per kg. So, a Ford F150 Lightning #EV at 3,000kg would pay €12,000 or about CAD$18,000.

The NA auto industry has supersized profits by supersizing cars for decades. #Electrifying these cars is costly because of large #battery requirements. If Detroit made #smallcars #AffordableEVs would be selling in volume and they could actually make money. The case for minimizing use of scarce resources.

@humantransit +9001%

I think people should be offered #FreePublicTransport if they have no driving license and/or no #car in their possession...

• Also if #PublicTransport and #BikibgInfrastructure ain's subsidized then anything is just #greenwashing of #cars and thus #CarCentrism.

Personally, I'd make any subsidies basically antiproportional to MGW/Net Weight ratio, Capacity, Deadweight and price, to incentivize not #SuperUselessVehicles, but #PersonalLightVehicles.

• This should then get the highest subsidies for people choosing a bike or pedelec, followed by (cabin) scooters and like #SmallCars like #KeiCars, capping the subsidies at 3500kg MGW / 1500kg Dead Weight so that even edgecases like families with a lot of children are not completely empty-handed.

Ideally also #UsedVehicles are eligible as most people just can't afford a new one and incentivizing #Repairability, #UseLonger & #ReUse as well as #Upcyclibg over new production is more envoirmentally friendly.

Personally whilst I'd wish every village hat 24/7 15min cycle public transport access, I also acknowledge the unavoidable edgecases, which is why I propose #PersonalLightVehicles:

• Since energy needed for transporting is (in ideal cases!) mass × speed ^ 2, and since we can all assume that a Vmax ≥ 130km/h is deemed the lower limit of what would be seen as acceptable to flow in traffic globally, keeping mass low & minimize drag aka. 'air resistance' in terms of design should be mandatory...