BY DAVID NORTH
Former Chair
Los Alamos County Transportation Boar
Learning about electric bicycles naturally leads to curiosity about other forms of Micromobility, particularly since not everyone wants to — or can — ride a bike. The most obvious example is wheelchairs.
Most forms of micromobility have been around for quite a while, but recent advances in batteries and drive systems (mostly designed for bikes) have led to a watershed of new, fun and very liberating interpretations.
Nowhere is it more exciting than in assistive technologies. There are now all-terrain wheelchairs that can go on most trails. They’re even allowed in National Parks, anywhere that’s legal for foot traffic — even including wilderness areas. Some parks even have loaner programs!
So what else is there?
There are scooters, hoverboards, skateboards, and just about everything else you can imagine. Though the advantages of micro travel are just starting to enter the US zeitgeist, it has become such a growth industry everywhere else that the international Society of Automotive Engineers has evolved a definition that includes some small cars. There are even better categorizations in most of Asia and the European Union.
The basic idea? For local travel, smaller and lighter transportation is preferable to using a typical automobile. They’re cheaper, easier on resources and the environment, and from my point of view the most important factor is: they’re much more fun.
Dave getting home on his Jackrabbit. Going to the store is entertaining for the rider and anybody along the way. Courtesy photo
The field is so new in some ways that innovation has only begun. The Jackrabbit bike is a great example: what if you get rid of the pedals completely, use a small battery, and shrink everything down because you no longer need the drive train? You get an electric bike that weighs a bit less than my newest mountain bike, can go nearly 20mph for about ten miles, climb hills with no rider effort (no sweaty arrival!), and fit in most cars. We can stick two of them behind the back seat in a Rav4 if we want to go on a trip. In more enlightened places, such devices are allowed on busses and trains.
Many trips can be shorter and faster than by car. More direct routes can compensate for the somewhat slower speeds. Parking is a non-issue. Most are more versatile than is immediately obvious: I’ve seen kids handily navigating the Canada del Buey trail on little stand-up scooters. Students could easily get back and forth from school most days, alleviating some of the Pickup Panic seen when school opens and lets out.
There is a fly in the ointment: weather. Around here we have it pretty good most days, but even so there are times when nobody wants to be out in the elements. And that’s where we’re really falling down.
In most other countries there are various classes of closed vehicles that are much cheaper, smaller and more maneuverable than the family car. In Japan the Kei car is a major industry — in fact, their most popular electric car is a tiny kei van. In the EU, they have “quadricycles” of which my favorite is the Microlino (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microlino). How could you not want one?
Most households have at least two cars, and it would make a great deal of sense if one of them were a little, highly efficient electric. Unfortunately that’s just not legal above 25 mph here. You probably wouldn’t get too many people honking at you in White Rock, but it would be nearly impossible on The Hill. More advanced ones could actually go between the towns without holding up traffic at all.
Until recently, the USA was the world leader in electric cars. There’s no reason to believe we lack the engineering know-how or manufacturing skill to excel in this new, growing field. But we’re kneecapped by our own laws.
The main point, though, is not where we are: it’s where things are going. Things are moving so fast that just keeping up with the pace of development is almost a full-time job. Transportation is on the cusp of getting cheaper, better and more fun for most of the world. We need to consider if we want to be part of it.
Dave North spent four years dealing with bicycling issues during his tenure on the Transportation Board and rides bikes almost daily. He was also involved in the development of highly efficient electric motors in the latter part of his career. This is an exclusive series to The Reporter about how to get the most out of cycling (and just this once, general transportation) in Los Alamos County.