Canberra's first registered electric car arrives

farq said :

steveu said :

Free parking for fully EV vehicles may assist the take up of these things…

Exactly.

I’d get one if I could park it at work for free.

Public transport is not going to work in the near future. I don’t have an extra 80mins a day to waste on the bus.

Electric cars are going to be great for Canberra!

Ride a bike or motorcycle if you want free parking. Whether it’s petrol or electric, cars with sole occupants still take up way too much space and deserve no concession.

And even if electric cars did get free parking spots, they’re not going to magically generate parking spots or improve the flow of traffic in Canberra. It’ll still be the same old shit fight, only the shit will smell of roses.

steveu said :

Free parking for fully EV vehicles may assist the take up of these things…

Exactly.

I’d get one if I could park it at work for free.

Public transport is not going to work in the near future. I don’t have an extra 80mins a day to waste on the bus.

Electric cars are going to be great for Canberra!

“Yes but what do the ’studies’ show when the hour by public transport covers a journey that takes ten minutes by car which is what can occur in Canberra?”

Haven’t seen any data on that, although I share your annoyance. It is one of the things that the consultant who presented draft findings for the STAP looked at. he defined these as ‘local’ services and recommended reducing the service frequency to around an hour per service. Which to me is ridiculous.

If the Canberra Transport Plan, which was due the first quarter of this year, ever arrives, it will be interesting to se what the final recommendations are. It is bus-focussed BTW, although the ‘rapid’ routes provide a good idea of the first stages for a light rail route.

“I think it is more reasonable to assume if public transport takes the same time as a private journey people are more likely to use it. If it takes a lot longer and runs at times not suited then the car (or possibly the bike) will win every time.”

Sure, and Mr Stnahope and co will charge you 6 to 10 dollars a day for that privilege. They love having empty cars that carried one person sitting idle for as many hours as you care in their carparks. At a STAP seminar i saw a slide which had percentages of people who would choose public transport at various parking rates. When parking was 30 dollars a day, 80% chose to use the bus.

The way to promote public transport begins with quality public transport that is frequent, reliable and attractive. You cannot punish people into using it.

damien haas said :

“The there is the extra hour a day that I would spend sitting on a bus…”

Studies have shown that an hour is an acceptable time for people to get to a from b using public transport. Anything longer than that and they turn to private vehicles.

Yes but what do the ‘studies’ show when the hour by public transport covers a journey that takes ten minutes by car which is what can occur in Canberra?

I think it is more reasonable to assume if public transport takes the same time as a private journey people are more likely to use it. If it takes a lot longer and runs at times not suited then the car (or possibly the bike) will win every time.

When bicycle is faster than bus, why bus?

“The there is the extra hour a day that I would spend sitting on a bus…”

Studies have shown that an hour is an acceptable time for people to get to a from b using public transport. Anything longer than that and they turn to private vehicles.

damien haas said :

If a two car family got rid of one car it would save 10,000 dollars a year (according to the NRMA). Thats an expensive free car park – even if your car runs on batteries – compared to an $80 a month public transport ticket.

That does make it all seem nice and simple. Currently though our second car is a bike, costing a whole lot less then $10k a year (unless I crash it and buy a new one each couple of years). The there is the extra hour a day that I would spend sitting on a bus…

Public transport will have to improve rather a lot to make it seem worth while.

Ideally, I see there being hundreds and hundreds of small electric cars like these, and anyone can use them any time to go anywhere. If society could get over the weird idea that they have to own something to use it. While it might not be as instant as having your own car in the drive way all the time, it would be much better, quicker etc then waiting for the current awesome buses.

Phewww!! rant over for the day, pass the beer.

While electric vehicles are a good alternative to fossil fuelled vehicles, they are not a substitute for public transport. The danger in the sustainable transport debate is that people get sidetracked by the peak-oilers and alternative fuelled vehicles proponents, and lose sight of the fact that all an electric car does is change places with a commodore sitting for 9 hours a day in that free carpark in barton.

Proper sustainable transport begins with quality public transport that is frequent, reliable and attractive. This will allow people to use public transport as their primary mode of transport between employment, education and residential areas.

If a two car family got rid of one car it would save 10,000 dollars a year (according to the NRMA). Thats an expensive free car park – even if your car runs on batteries – compared to an $80 a month public transport ticket.

Yay! Electric cars need to become more popular.

If I get a regular petrol car on a lease plan, salary sacrifice, I can roll the fuel into the package and get a tax break on the fuel.

If I get one of these on a salary sacrifice deal, can the electrickery be part of that deal?

…and if I charge it while at work, do I have to pay FBT on the power it uses?