RE: (ET) Re: new electrics

["David Roden (Akron OH USA)" <roden ald net>]

On 20 Feb 2004 at 9:20, Rod Hower wrote:

> Hyster, Yale, Toyota and Linde are going all AC
> across the board on their forklifts in the near
> future. 

Which reminds me that I should point out an EV success story.  Two, 
actually.

One is E-bikes and E-scooters.  They're selling reasonably well.  The 
larger 
scooters and E-bikes solve a problem for consumers ("I want to ride but 
I'm 
out of shape"), and the small ones are kids' toys that don't make noise 
and 
don't require the kids to handle gasoline (and don't require mom to drive 
to 
the gas station to buy more.)  They aren't trying to emulate gas-fueled 
vehicles; they have their own niche.  And they don't cost much; many are 
cheap 
enough to buy with pocket money.  (Partly this is because they're even 
more 
popular in China, where most are made, than here.  And BTW, there are some 
people who believe that the first 4-wheel road EVs to be really popular in 
the 
US will most likely be Chinese imports.)

The other success story, a more mature one, is burden carriers.  Although 
LPG 
has some share of the market, EVs (forklifts and golf cars) mostly rule 
the 
roost in enclosed areas such as warehouses and airports.  These are places 
where it costs far more to deal with ICE emissions than to eliminate them 
altogether by using EVs.  They are also places where the vehicles have 
circumscribed daily missions, and running out of charge is seldom an issue.

David Roden
Akron, Ohio, USA
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