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"...
@AdrianVolt @tikibunnyimports @growdene personally I do suggest to look at "#CabinScooter" like designs that reduce the footprint even if those ain't legally cars as a compromise between the comfort and safety of a car and the space efficjency of motorcycles and bikes.
It won't do 0-60 on a dragstrip, but it'll 1-3 people from one place to another dry and cheaply...
https://github.com/KBtechnologies/PLV
@kkarhan @tikibunnyimports @growdene
For safety reasons, you really want to have a certain minimum vehicle beam. Going below that leads to quickly increasing disadvantages while offering fewer and fewer advantages to the driver and other road users alike:
https://digitalcourage.social/@AdrianVolt/112151736946931214
Adrian (@[email protected])
@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] That is correct, but I guess having a reasonable survival change in the event of a side impact is worth it. Even it it makes the vehicle wider in beam. While to fat (beam) vehicles are a problem, the advantage for the environment and other road users quickly decreases as beam decreases. The difference between a 170 cm wide vehicle and a 185 cm one is less valuable to other road users than the difference between a 200 cm and an 185 cm wide vehicle is what I mean to say. As such I consider it a unnecessary design flaw, that so many #PersonalLightVehicle are so thin in beam. If you have almost zero crash protection in the first place, at least give me some side room so that my left or right arm isnt instantly pressed into service as a human crumble zone. Due to our roads for decades having been made with cars in mind, having cars that fit next to each other on a single lane is a rather minor advantage as traffic rules (and safety) dont work well.
@AdrianVolt @tikibunnyimports @growdene depends...
I'm convinced that such a low vehicle would go below the minimum height legally required for any vehicle with any propulsion beyond human on pedals...
@kkarhan @tikibunnyimports @growdene
I did not speak about vehicle height, I spoke about vehicle width/beam. 🤔
@AdrianVolt @tikibunnyimports @growdene Sry...
Well, there's only so much smaller one can go, and I'm certain a 1+2 seater can't get thinner than 1,4m and certainly it would get too crammed for me to fit in....