Hybrids, E-Bikes and Small Steps

[mcwetboy]

The next generation of the Toyota Camry will only be available as a hybrid in North America. One might expect that the move to an all-hybrid lineup by the fifth best-selling vehicle in the U.S. might make an actual dent in total U.S. gasoline consumption. Jalopnik does the math, calculating the difference at about 48.4 million gallons (183.2 million litres) per year of Camry sales. While one commenter points out that U.S. gasoline consumption is about 135 billion gallons per year, it’s still a reduction of two percent. Each year the Camry is sold. (Other things being equal, viz., that sales numbers remain constant and that the net effect is equivalent to all Camry owners buying a new, hybrid Camry.) Two percent ain’t nothing, especially when it isn’t the only thing going on.

Because something is also going on in the e-bike space: a total of 280 million electric mopeds, motorcycles, scooters and e-bikes are now on the road, and that, according to The Conversation, is already having an impact on oil demand: four times as much impact as electric cars. That’s because they’re not displacing regular bicycles so much as they’re replacing mopeds and scooters—many of which had dirty two-stroke engines, so that’s another benefit.

Mirrored from Jonathan Crowe.