Transportation as if people mattered

The world’s car population is booming. Cars are polluting the world cities, dumping increasing amounts of carbon dioxide and other climate-altering greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and consuming vast quantities of petroleum. “The North American dream of a car – or two or three of them – in every garage is beginning to look like a nightmare for our planet,” warns the former president of the World Resources Institute. Is this true? Will our thirst for automobile mobility inevitably lead to environmental and economic cataclysm? Many believe so, and with some justification.

The alarming reality is that the automobile population is growing at a much faster rate than the human population, with saturation nowhere in sight. In 1950, there were approximately 50 million vehicles on earth, roughly 2 for every 100 persons. By 1994 the vehicle population had soared to almost 600 million, roughly 10 per 100 people. If present trends continue, over 3 billion vehicles could be in operation by the year 2050 exceeding 20 per 100. Even then, world car ownership rates would fall far short of current (2009) U.S. rates of 70 per 100 people.

A sobering assessment of the future? Yes. Is disaster inevitable? Not necessarily. The future needs not to be a simple extrapolation of the past; public policy can be changed and private investment altered. We can shift to a more environmentally friendly transportation system without unduly restricting freedom of movement. I envision a future only a few decades distant in which petroleum consumption, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions by new motor vehicles are reduced to near zero – at little or no additional cost.

Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEV) are good for running errands or commuting to work. For short city/urban travel, NEVs make perfect sense. Replacing the 2nd or 3rd vehicle in household with a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) is an appealing option.

The Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) will not only change the way that you drive, but the way you live. It’s not a car, it’s a cause.