Transport: Bicycle vs Electric car

[Zikke]

I have not had anything better to do with this rainy day than think about things like the following:

The day we have electric powered cars or motorbikes, charged by solar power, available to a cheap price, do you think using bicycles is still a good and viable way of transport? It will of course still have its health benefits. Will bike messengers be obsolete when we have fast, non-pollutive and less noisy motorcycles? Will there be more cars on the roads and worse conditions for us commuters? Post your views on this.

 

[nelson249]

I have not had anything better to do with this rainy day than think about things like the following:

The day we have electric powered cars or motorbikes, charged by solar power, available to a cheap price, do you think using bicycles is still a good and viable way of transport? It will of course still have its health benefits. Will bike messengers be obsolete when we have fast, non-pollutive and less noisy motorcycles? Will there be more cars on the roads and worse conditions for us commuters? Post your views on this.

Even electric vehicles use nasty things like batteries and electronic dodads containing heavy metals and other dangerous materials. These have to be manufactured and disposed of. Not only that, but batteries have to be replaced as they get older. Bicycles are fairly simple, efficient and cheap. If anything, they are liable to increase their presence on the roads even if the miracle of inexpensive electric vehicles comes to pass.