Scooter planet

As personal transportation becomes cheaper, the poor benefit and the climate suffers

Posted by Adam Stein (Guest Contributor) at 7:36 PM on 29 Dec 2007

Read more about: placemaking | China

In an interesting bit of synchronicity, the Times ran two nearly identical articles on the rocketing popularity of motor scooters in the developing world, one focusing on Iraq, the other on Laos. Although neither article mentions global warming, the pieces do neatly wind together some of the threads that will continue to pressure our climate system well into this century.

The first thread is the rise of China as the world's factory floor. In this case, cheap Chinese bikes are flooding foreign markets. Available for as little as $440, these scooters are within reach of the very poor.

Of course, a scooter with a 110cc engine is far more fuel efficient than a car, but far more polluting than the walking or bicycling it tends to replace. This is the second thread: the energy intensity of economic development. Scooters aren't just a convenience in rural Laos or urban Iraq. They provide a vital link to markets and medical care.

The pineapples that grow on the steep hills above the Mekong River are especially sweet, the red and orange chilies unusually spicy, and the spring onions and watercress retain the freshness of the mountain dew.

For years, getting this prized produce to market meant that someone had to carry a giant basket on a back-breaking, daylong trek down narrow mountain trails cutting through the jungle...

The improvised bamboo stretchers that villagers here used as recently as a decade ago to carry the gravely ill on foot are history. In a village of 150 families, Mr. Wu counts 44 Chinese motorcycles. There were none five years ago.

I don't see any particularly easy solutions here. In the wealthy and wasteful U.S., we can achieve a lot of easy and inexpensive emissions reductions simply by tightening efficiency standards and deploying already available technology. In the developing world, the equation is different.

As in so many other areas, I suppose we have to hope for and encourage technology leapfrogging. A bounty awaits the entrepreneur who can come up with a cheap, rugged electric scooter (and, presumably, a way to charge it off-grid).

For story: Scooter planet
13 Comments | Post a Comment

Easy Solutions

Unsure how easy, a possible solution is Direct Injection conversion kit from Orbital, similar to a successful project in the Phillipines. A way to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions of two-stroke engines.

by jcwinnie at 5:59 AM on 30 Dec 2007

Tuk-Tuk

Interesting story about the Tuk-Tuk, as those little motorcycle carts are known in Thailand and India. Previous work was on retrofit kits to enable direct fuel injection, which reduces fuel loss scavenging by about 35% (meaning lower concomitant CO2 emissions, along with HC, CO, and PM-2.5). I'm not sure how successful some of these programs were in Asia, since most were launched 3-4 years ago.

The Tuk-Tuk promises to be a great vehicle for the European trade as well, especially given congestion and high fuel prices - the new Tuk-Tuk can be powered by CNG, electricity, or gasoline engines achieving EU emission standards. Even the new conventional models being marketed in England have near-zero emissions and get over 70 MPG on regular gasoline. Wow, Tuk-Tuks, the bane of Bangkok existence, could be the savior for western cities!

Further, they look cool.

As to those cheap Chinese motorcycle engines, usually 100-125 HP, I'm not even sure their emissions are regulated. China does follow EU standards - but on a delayed time schedule and only for light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles (cars and trucks, perhaps not motorcycles). Beijing and Shanghai have slightly accelerated schedules. But in all fairness, the US didn't regulate motorcycle emissions until 2005 (mainly for combined HC and NOx).

Onward through the fog

by Sam Wells at 7:23 AM on 30 Dec 2007

Didn't need to until recently...

But in all fairness, the US didn't regulate motorcycle emissions until 2005 (mainly for combined HC and NOx).

Yeah, but until recently there really wasn't much need to. Motorcycles were extremely fuel efficient, even when compared to small cars, and there weren't that many of 'em (when compared to total number of vehicles on the road). But all of a sudden (due to cultural trends), motorcycles became bigger, dirtier, and more popular and regulations had to be installed.

by Tasermons Partner at 7:17 PM on 30 Dec 2007

It mostly comes down to battery cost

at this point. Technically feasible batteries are finally here. They charge fast enough, are light enough and are durable enough, they just cost too much. I suspect people would find ways to charge them. The infrastructure that provides gas might be replaced by something that produced enough power to charge batteries, which is not all that much if you are talking about scooters and electric bikes.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 7:30 PM on 30 Dec 2007

The Tuk-Tuk can handle it!

Interesting comment about the battery situation. The Tuk-Tuk unlike a two-wheel motorcycle can handle well over 500 pounds of payload. Scads of room for batteries when you have three wheels, long as you have the cold cranking power and a quick recharge. Ever see a taxi in Bangkok? I'd put a picture here but it might make Grist a little pissed off ... good idea anyway, Bio-D, perfect application.

Onward through the fog

by Sam Wells at 8:41 PM on 30 Dec 2007

Electric scooters work

Electric scooters are already manufactured in China and growing increasingly popular. So popular that they have been banned in some places for rather dubious reasons. Millions already exist and the numbers are growing.

The millions of existing gas scooters can be converted to electric scooters or can use dual fuel (hydrogen, propane, methane boost) retrofits to increase efficiency and reduce pollution.

Electric scooters are good clean technology second only to bicycles in efficiency. We should be giving the things away in exchange for old gas scooters.

Links:http://jcwinnie.biz/wordpress/?p=2220
http://shanghaiist.com/2005/11/16/why_in_the_worl.php
http://www.wildernessenergy.com/EbikesinChina.htm
http://www.china.org.cn/english/Life/148781.htm

Put the Carbon Back

by Pangolin at 10:22 PM on 30 Dec 2007

Americans don't take motorcycles seriously

To Americans, motorcycles are toys, something you ride because its a nice day, not a serious transportation alternative. As such, they're all about either image/comfort (cruisers) or uncompromised performance (sportbikes). Let's talk about how they fail to measure up.

"Extremely fuel efficient?" I don't think so ... my 800cc Honda Interceptor is lucky to break 40mpg, which is awful for a modern 500 pound vehicle. But, it'll go 0-60 faster than a Ferrari -- and its pretty darn clean -- beginning in '02, this model met 2008 CARB requirements. All that's typical for a modern sport bike.

Bikes in the 350-500cc range do better and are still manufactured, but not sold in the USA. The few 125-250 models you see typically get around 70mpg, but these are strictly budget-driven designs few want if they can afford better. Surely, if there were a serious market for clean, fuel efficient commuters we'd have fuel injection, catalysts, ABS, and decent suspensions in this end of the market.

And then there are the diesel curiousities one reads about from time to time -- the Hayes diesel, which has only been built in limited quantities for military use, gets about 100mpg. Wanna guess what big time R&D budgets could do with a concept like that? We won't find out until gas costs $8-10/gallon because a bike that's slower to 60mph than an econo-box car won't sell until then.

by jtd at 5:18 AM on 31 Dec 2007
[ Parent ]

Electric transmission

An electric transmission that replaces the mechanical one would allow plugin power to save fuel. The more the battery capacity and the bigger the proportion of electric propulsion, the better the mileage overall.

This also eliminates the clutch. And it allows a much smaller ICE to power a motorcycle or car.

When high torque is needed the electric transmission can supplement the ICE.

Mass production would make these systems as cheap as a bigger ICE with a mechanical tranny and clutch. The electric transmission is a low tech device easily built in a local economy that uses three wheeled motorcycles.

The lithium ion battery is not easily manufactured and very expensive. The graphite foam lead acid battery might be a better alternative. it should be easier to construct from recycled lead acid batteries.

Since a lot of lead acid batteries are already recycled in lower tech nations, because of no pollution or worker safety regulation, the raw materials are there.

The graphite foam battery nearly meets the energy density of lithium ion.

This design would also lend itself to using the bike or car in a stationary application to provide electric power and charge it's own batteries using a more renewable fuel like biogas from waste. ICEs are easily converted from liquid fuel to biogas and back again with a dual fuel system.

The waste heat from this stationary application could be used as well, for heating and sterilizxing water for instance. A very important health measure for underdevekloped areas.

The largest killer of humans on planet earth is water bourne disease from unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 7:07 AM on 31 Dec 2007

Starbucks

Starbucks claims to be very socially/green conscious, for instance. Why not get them to sponsor some three wheel taxi conversions to this mode?

Then mount a portable esspresso machine that runs on the waste heat, great advertising and a small business for the taxi owner/operator. Get a few green coffee companies to compete.

The investment capital to make these kinds of technologies available with manufacturing right in the areas where they are used exists already. It is in the advertising/charity budget of companies that make money by projecting a green image. Challenging them to live up to that image.

That is something blogs can do, by infiltrating it into main stream media.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 8:22 AM on 31 Dec 2007

Cutrual trend towards excess doomed efficiency...

Extremely fuel efficient?" I don't think so ... my 800cc Honda Interceptor is lucky to break 40mpg, which is awful for a modern 500 pound vehicle. But, it'll go 0-60 faster than a Ferrari -- and its pretty darn clean -- beginning in '02, this model met 2008 CARB requirements. All that's typical for a modern sport bike.

That's because, as ya pointed out, it's a sports bike. Not really intended to be used in everday transpotation. It's part of the cultural trend where motorcycles either became dirtbikes or huge huly ammenities that were bought mostly as a hobby or as a show of social status...like buyin' an SUV for a single, middle-class individual who hardly ever has anyone else in the vehicle or much in the way of luggage.

Before the cultural shift, one of the biggest advantages of owin' a motorcycle was the great fuel mileage. But they thought (and rightfully so) that they could hit more of the market by turnin' it into a high-end social status symbol for misguided folks with a mid-life crisis rather than a reliable form of efficient transportation.

And then regulations were needed to cover the increase in pollution that accompanied the increase in excess.

by Tasermons Partner at 11:27 AM on 31 Dec 2007

Tired of Elitism

I am really getting tired of the elitist attitude in Grist articles.

In particular, the statement, "In the wealthy and wasteful U.S., we can achieve a lot of easy and inexpensive emissions reductions simply by tightening efficiency standards and deploying already available technology. In the developing world, the equation is different."

There seems to be the implied assumption that we can continue to drive automobiles everywhere as long as we just improve the fuel efficiency. Even if we do this, our per capita transportation emissions and resource usage will still be far greater than people in the developing world.

Instead, we would be all better off if we stopped driving so much and used public transit and bicycles much more thus showing leadership for those in other countries. How can we expect people in developing countries not to increase their emissions when ours are 3 to 4 times as high?

We have some fundamental changes we must make here before we start fretting about people using scooters in other countries. This is merely a distraction and a justification for doing nothing.

by racc at 5:08 PM on 31 Dec 2007

Ford Model T

You sound exactly like the people who hated cars, Mr. Ford, and his model T automobiles. Those cars would crash, catch fire, make pollution, and cause the horses to break away in fear. Circa 1909 or so.

When in college in the 1970's I audited some engineering classes (not bad for an English major who studied Blake, Twain, and D.H. Lawrence) and the most famous were those on automotive technology and getting rid of the cars as we know them today. I wrote essays about it and got lots of A's. That was somewhere about 30 years ago. My best piece was about the relationship between car culture and the food industry in my parody of T.S. Elliot: "The world will end not with a Big Mac, but a Whopper."

The sad part about the real poem and my cheap parody is that it is all too true: it will take decades for the cars to fall into disfavor, when we finally see how bad Climate Change and air pollution is messing with us. I fear that us poor environmentalists will end up like nannies preaching to a field of rocks.

The real words were "The world will not end with a bang, but a whimper." Prescient dude, huh?
-sam

Onward through the fog

by Sam Wells at 8:23 PM on 01 Jan 2008

"What immortal hand or eye

could frame thy fearful symmetry?!"

From William Blake's "The Tiger." There is an old New Yorker cartoon, of a cat looking at itself in a mirror, and saying those lines.

Quite a leap to Eliot's "not with a bang but a whimper," no?

Nice parody, Sam.

The front page of Sunday's New York Times featured another environmental hazard caused by an increase in the numbers and use of small motorized vehicles, viz. all-terrain vehicles in Western states of the US, trashing federal lands:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/us/30lands.html?_r=1&am ...

Amazing,
that is a great comment, on unsafe drinking water. And I like very much your suggestion about applying blog pressure to Starbucks etc. Doesn't that work best with the social networking sites, e.g. Facebook and MySpace?

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 12:45 AM on 02 Jan 2008

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