Eric Growdeni'm so sick of car companies complaining about the slow sales of EVs when all they build are super-sized SUVs and cross-overs that cost well north of $50K. Volume is NEVER going to be there, as most are not able or willing to devote a year's salary to transportation. They have other expenses...
One might think perhaps they are self-sabotaging the market--they wouldn't do that. would they?
Kevin Karhan 
@growdene OFC they do...
#PersonalLightVehicles are perfectly possible, they are just comfortable with #sabotaging #Competition and leveraging #Lobbyism to literally outlaw #SmallCars similar to the nice ones that @tikibunnyimports offers...
Sadly this isn't #USA-exclusive (tho there the flood of #SuperUselessVehicles including the #Enshittification as well as #Fattening of #Cars got started) but the #EU does the same with making a lot of #bloat mandatory that enshures that any #PersonalLightVehicles can't be sold "legally" as a #Car but only "#LightVehicle" as per classifications L2e-L7e, introducing a lot of restrictions in terms of net- & MGW, speed and/or power output to the wheels.
https://github.com/KBtechnologies/PLV
#SuperUselessVehicle #SUV #PersonalLightVehicle #LightVehicles #LightTrucks #Trucks
Adrian@kkarhan @growdene @tikibunnyimports
You realize that a lot of this "bloat" makes the difference between needing a doctor, needing a hospital or just the grave digger?
Physics are not kind to fast small vehicles and neither are they towards humans inside.
Fast
Cheap
Safe
Choose two.
Motorcycles which can be considered a type of #PersonalLightVehicle have one of the highest fatality rates of all motorized transport. Going fast without safety very quickly leads to death in accidents that you would have survived in any car built the last 2 decades.
@AdrianVolt @growdene @tikibunnyimports I know, but also I acknowledge that the #SUV-cation leads to an increase in #lethality of #traffic in the #USA, and since sadety standards have only increased it's safe to assume the vehicle design leads to more lethal accidents...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo
These Stupid Trucks are Literally Killing Us
Save $20 on an annual subscription to Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/notjustbikesEngineers, planners, politicians, and advocates all around the world are tryin...
Tiki Bunny Imports 🍹🐇🛻🏳️🌈@tikibunnyimports @kkarhan @growdene
Certainly, the bloat of today is ridicolous and needs to die, yet the fact remains that some crumble zone is necessary if you want a reasonable chance of survival at speeds above 30 mph / 50 kph.
Two things injure or kill you in a crash when sitting in a car:
Penetration of object into your body due to the vehicle giving in arround you
G-Forces
And to limit those, you need a lot of sacrifical material that can lessen the blow to survivable levels.
It is possible to build a shell that makes most penetration unlikely, but the sheer g-forces of that shell coming to an aprupt stop with you inside it are more than enough to kill you instantly.
Smart Car Crash Test #TBT- Fifth Gear
@AdrianVolt @tikibunnyimports @growdene I know...
But there are ways to achieve that...
@kkarhan @tikibunnyimports @growdene
Could you explain the ways that you think that it could be achieved? 🙂
@AdrianVolt @tikibunnyimports @growdene designing cars to be less of a battering ram and more sleek and lower in profile for example.
Classic sedan (i.e. Audi A4) and compact car (i.e. Opel Corsa) designs still exist and they ain't absurdly phat "light trucks" that rival WW2 tanks in their dimensions...
OFC ideally we'd just have #PublicTransport that works because even a 20yr old Diesel Bus guzzling 40l/100km in Stop & Go of a 200k city is better than having it's passengers at 10% occupancy rate (i.e. 10 people) each drive a car.
But since we can't have nice things it seems reasonable to push for #PersonalLightVehicles that ain't pure "Egoism on wheels"...
@kkarhan @tikibunnyimports @growdene
I certainly share your desire for sleeker and more elegant cars again, instead of the ugly boxes that for reasons beyond my understanding of taste, are so popular.
Just take a look at this classy Ford Mondeo.... a long hood but it is very low to the ground, granting the driver great view on the road and making the blind spot in front of the vehicle very small.
Now, that is a car. Build for elegance, build for speed. Not some obese box with a battering ram attached. And it speaks volumes, that besides its dated engine, it still consumes only arround 1L more fuel than my 2009 Ford Focus.... Just imagine... building things aerodynamically reduces fuel consumption. 🤯
Ohh, and unlike #PersonalLightVehicle or very small cars, this can be just as safe for the people inside than any SUV - without hurting the safety of other road users, cyclists and pedestrians remotly as much.
In fact, it will be safer, because hugging the ground actually grants vastly superior handling
@AdrianVolt @tikibunnyimports @growdene
Agreed...
Cars don't have to be ugly battering rams on wheels whilst complying with the latest safety standards...
As a matter if fact, it wouldn't requirce much effort to take some regular sedan like a Ford CV P-72a and up it to modern standards without making it's exterior fatter:
That Platform was designed with comfort and cruple zone in mind as well as repairability.
Ford only canceled it as they closed down it's original factory line and entire location.
OFC for the European market, they would've likely to offer some turbocharged sub-2l inline-4 (because vehicle raxes here are calculated by displacement * emissions classification) but as we know from the Mondeo, Fiesta and Ka models, it's not as if that's impossible...
Mind you I learned driving on an 1999 Audi A4 B5 with it's 1,8l turbocharged i4 engine and that thing is swift and sleek af and even my current 2007 Corsa D with it's smol 1l i3 ECOTEC engine can flow perfectly fine with traffic, and maxes out at 160 km/h...