493 bike & battery

If you're here for Chapter 8 of The Flood, thank you! It's already in progress and the story will resume tomorrow. But I had a bunch of screencraps pilling up on my phone, so it's time for the ever-popular nerd fest known as Wake Blake's Bike & Battery special.

Let's start with the picture at top. 

Walking through town on Saturday, we were happy to run into this weekend-pedestrianized street. It's amazing how much busier all the businesses were along these closed blocks than on all the "fully open" blocks.

And yet, the .014% of streets that are even temporarily car-free in SF are still highly controversial.

It's nice to see some industry heavy hitters agreeing with me.

The design isn't exactly nailing it, but the idea is right-sized.

Watching the video, they really need to work on the suspension.

Like Arcimoto has. Their giant "Fun" three wheeler is a little excessive, but this little runabout is starting to really get to the heart of micromobility.

And what's more awesome, is the CEO knows why.

And even made this awesome graphic to show how many little electric trikes can be made with the same resources as one electric Hummer.

On the other hand of the spectrum, we can see how many car drivers can fit in one train car. Are we starting to get a picture of what efficiency might look like?

Speaking of efficiency, how many electric bikes does it take to shut down a convoy of 18 wheelers "rolling coal?"

One.

In Critical Mass, we learn to ring our bells and shout for joy when cars honk at you. I think this man's solo effort at playing deaf was a good tactic for when you don't have a crowd to support you.

But what kind of bike is that?

My first guess was a Radwagon, because they're popular. But the rear drop outs don't match.

It's a testimony to the exploding popularity of ebikes in America (it has already exploded elsewhere) that I can't easily identify the model. Yay!

It's not this CSC, either. See the drop outs?

These are closer, but don't exactly match. I do like the CSC brand, tho. They're made in so cal from a mix of imported parts.

They've got a few sweet models. This is kinda spendy, but that's a 1000 watt mid-drive motor... We're talking 35 miles an hour with no throttle.

This little fat-tire BMX bike looks hysterically fun. And it could almost fit in the hall outside our apartment.

But what bike was that courageous cyclist riding?

It's not a classic Yuba.

Or Xtracycle. You have any guesses?

While we're on the subject of electric bikes, how about we look at a few more models?

This Wildtan also has a 1000 watt mid-drive motor. It's a couple hundred bucks less than the CSC. It would be awesome to test either one!

This Buzz has none of that. But what it does have is the style of a townie, and I think it's priced under a grand. This simple utilitarian style actually looks kinda awesome to me.

Meanwhile in battery land, people are frantically searching for the resources (minerals and metals) that will allow our massive fossil-fuel based infrastructure to transition.

Basically, the goal is to use more common stuff, and less rare earth minerals.

"Scale" is an overused catch phrase for a reason.

That seems like a very definite number, and I was going to run the math, but, uh, maybe my bother will. He's the one who told me the entirety of Van Ness avenue could be covered in gold foil half the thickness of aluminum foil for the same $300 million we paid to run a dedicated bus lane down the middle of the street. 

I don't think he included labor, tho.

Copper is kind of a big deal, too.

Didn't know where else to put this, so here's another new EV. Even Cadillac is rushing into the game. Of course, as "skateboard" platforms become a reality, we're going to see tons more models. 

Finally, an electric motorcycle. In general, I'm not as big a fan of this category. Why? For the same reason I stopped riding them years ago: they're dangerous.

Actually, the bikes aren't dangerous. It's the fact that you have to mix with cars. In my fifteen years of riding, I wound up in the hospital twice, neither time was directly my fault. Both times I slammed into the side of a car cutting me off.

Be safe out there, see you tomorrow for more story time.