I’m a country boy all my life. I can’t cycle or take the metro anywhere. Walkable cities are great but they’re a hundred miles away.

Everyone goes on about how they hate cars, but what else are you supposed to do?

https://electrek.co/2023/12/04/livaq-equad-unveiled-as-most-capable-electric-atv-ever/ – this article talks about something with a 108km/h and a range of 273 km. It’s mad expensive unfortunately, but that is normally to do with adoption rates and scale.

(It says “claims a range of 170 miles (273 km) from its 15.4 kWh battery pack”, which implies consumption of about 55 watt-hours per km travelled, though that’d be variable depending on speed and conditions)

If I had one of these, I could get to town, get to a train station, without a car. I could carry one child, which is worse than a car, but the energy consumption is a 3-4× lower than a car. If train stations had swappable batteries, that would be ideal, but I don’t see that coming any time soon.

  • 8Petros (he/him)English
    1•1 month ago

    It all depends on local conditions.

    1. The “last mile” loop will be different in Europe, in Africa, North America or Australia. It shapes your need for speed and range, as well as required safety (how long will it take to get assistance in case of need).
    2. In rural applications you rarely need strictly personal transport. On average it is a 2-5 people and some cargo, with occasional trailer.
    3. Serviceability is an important factor.

    For Eastern Europe, where I live, I would recommend a slow (~45km/h) pickup (2 + 1000kg) - the one pictured below. For extended range you can add a PV canopy and even a small gas-powered genset for emergencies.

    https://www.melex-ev.com/cargo/

    • @[email protected]English
      1•30 days ago

      Seconding this - if I ever move back home I’ll be looking for some kind of little electric kei truck for hauling trash and supplies. Most of my driving when I lived there was under 50mph and over fairly short distances.