We hop in the car to get groceries or drop kids at school. But while the car is convenient, these short trips add up in terms of emissions, pollution and petrol cost.
Close to half (44%) of all Australian commuter trips are by car – and under 10km. Of Perth’s 4.2 million daily car trips, 2.8 million are for distances of less than 2km.
This is common in wealthier countries. In the United States, a staggering 60% of all car trips cover less than 10km.
So what’s the best solution? You might think switching to an electric vehicle is the natural step. In fact, for short trips, an electric bike or moped might be better for you – and for the planet. That’s because these forms of transport – collectively known as electric micromobility – are cheaper to buy and run.
But it’s more than that – they are actually displacing four times as much demand for oil as all the world’s electric cars at present, due to their staggering uptake in China and other nations where mopeds are a common form of transport.
I just replaced my chainring after about 1600 miles and a year and the tire is about to be replaced. Most of my chain trouples are from a few emergency stops to avoid a car and so I ended up starting in high gear - it should have lasted longer. 80 gallons of fuel costs about 240 and at that little use time is why you do most other maintenance so we can ignore those costs - they are much higher but you would pay them anyway.
the key to the above is you keep the car and so are paying the costs just keeping it even when you don’t use it. if you drive more per mile costs add up but you quickly get out of ebike range.