Kudos to Quebec for being slightly ahead of the game.
We might as well start getting used to it and get a glimpse of the future.
If the population and energy demand stay the same on this planet there is no where else to go but this.
I for one am not that disappointed. In fact I am thinking of getting a scooter or refurbishing my motorcycle and putting it on the road.
I have a vague remembrance of driving it in the open, smelling the clover, smelling the cow **** as I drove past a field, hearing all the sounds around me, spitting bugs out of my teeth.
I'm only kidding it was extremely enjoyable.
I'm just about ready to get my leathers out of the closet, clean them and the carbs on the bike and go out and smell the roses or the cow **** again.
Electric car link
Wow, that`s an amazing coincidence. I am also considering reviving my motorcycle days. I was having a lengthy discussion with mrs Kosh about it. I would like to head back to a larger bike, but I guess that kind of defeats the object of saving gas money. I was reading the Kijiji website, some one has an old BSA motorbike for sale 500cc. Would make a nice little project for me in the garage plus that size engine won`t be a big deal with the gas. A moped would be tempting, but it doesn`t quite do it for me on an open highway!!!!
It’s getting to the point that a scooter or a motorcycle would be the way to go for most driving
The bike would be used to subsidize the car not replace it. I venture to guess the bike could be used for 65% - 75% of the driving.
However, biking is not for everyone. But there is no reason the small electric car could not work in this niche.
Same here, a moped would not really work all that well. A larger type scooter perhaps.
The bike has not been on the road in years, but I think I could get it operational again.
Carburetor kits, a new battery and some tuning would probably do it.
In fact I think I will push it out of the corner tomorrow and clean it up.
It’ a Honda CB 650. I would not want to go any bigger. As you say that would probably defeat the purpose of driving it in the first place.
Yup, a 500cc would be a nice project. I think BSAs are by and large a good bike.
You should be able to track down parts for just about any bike of any year on the internet now.
First motorcycle I had when I was a kid was a BSA 250. It was a bit on the large size for a 250 but worked like a swiss watch. The only problem, it did not have an electric start and the back of my leg was constantly black and blue from my foot slipping off the kick start.
Small electric cars would be very convenient...if only the average Canadian could afford them.
Even before our very eyes changes are being forced on us. Mention a "small" Japanese or European car to the average North American 20 years ago, you would have been laughed at. Now these smaller compact cars are more popular than ever.
I still will never understand the North American mentality of the bigger the vehicle the better (for a man, it must be an extension of manhood!!). Seriously, why the need for a 6ltr dodge ram just to drive around town? Why the need to buy a hummer when they are better suited on a battlefield, jeez it`s just fun to watch these guys trying to park them!
Us Europeans, we had no choice but drive smaller cars owing to our massively government taxed petrol. We got laughed at by Americans, but hey the smaller car has never hurt us. We get from a-b and still get to enjoy more vacation time than most Americans and we ended up with more spare change in our wallets. It seems now, those silly little small cars are no longer funny!
Mopeds/scooters were once exclusively a silly European and Asian thing, they often got mocked at by Americans driving their gas guzzling harleys. Funny how mopeds are now becoming a hot commodity.
The old saying "what goes around........." !!
Yes, absolutely agree with you guys.
There would be no point at all building small environmental vehicles then trying to make record profits on them.
This is the same kind of thinking that partially got us into this mess and that thinking will certainly not get us out.
This is the thing I rant about so much, it has to be more than just jumping on a popular fad of the time. If any change is to take place it must through a change in living style and a total change in thinking. Green bags, compost, garbage separation, etc.... will not do it.
The change will take place over time. The thing is we can fight it or adapt.
The ones that will not or can not adapt will be in for a rough ride.
Sometimes I think that is why some multinationals strive to acquire record profits. They 'see the writing on the wall' and are trying to accumulate as much money and power as they can in the time available. This would be in tune with the way of thinking today.
However, I think in the long haul it will make no difference what so ever.
Yes, I have admired the Europeans for a long time with their frugal attitude. Too bad some of it had not rubbed off on us.
LOL, I have no doubt "it will" in the next several years.
Yup, the price of environmentally sensible things will have to be kept in line with improving our living and [u]not[/] making people rich and certainly not record profits.
The general way of think can be summed up in the old metaphor used sometimes, "the guy with the most toys at the end of the game wins".
Perhaps yes, wins the battle be in all respect looses the war.........
I agree with what's been said as well. Although I dislike paying more at the pump just as much as the next person, looking at the big picture, higher gas prices are not completely bad. It's definitely making some people take a second look at the type of vehicle they drive. Being a rural area, this place is polluted with pickups. While pickups definitely have a place, it seems to me that at least 75% of the people driving them would be just as well served by a compact car which would use less than half the fuel. I think some of the owners agree with me - I'm seeing a lot of pickups with "For Sale" signs on them these days.
I have driven Corollas for years, and for years I have been teased about it, mostly by owners of big North American gas guzzlers. It's amusing to look at how many of those same people have switched to Honda, Toyota etc. in recent years. I guess he who laughs last........
In a related type story as gas vs electric autos.
I see that the Saudis are going to up the oil supply by .7 millions of barrels, as they say try to bring down the price.
I think there is a little bit of apprehension seeping into oil producers that a day may come when they can't see all the oil they extract.
Because of the price the western demand is dropping.
I heard some people saying this was good, it will bring down the price of oil.
I think not.
The Government is making mega bucks on gas tax revenues, the oil companies are reaping record profits and speculators are keeping the prices up.
With wealth comes power and the oil companies certainly have that now and the corporate [u]greed[/] has simple spiraled out of control.
I really don't think raising the supply output of any oil producing nation will do much to elevate pump prices.
Sort of a modern twist on Aesop's "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg".