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Electric Scooters’ Sudden Invasion of American Cities, Explained

           

Turns out there’s a lot of latent demand for a quick and cheap way to get around.

vox.com - by Umair Irfan - August 27, 2018

 . . . Amid the feverish passion for and against scooters, there’s a larger reckoning taking place about rapid changes to our cities and public spaces. The scooters are forcing conversations about who is entitled to use sidewalks, streets, and curbs, and who should pay for their upkeep.

They’re also exposing transit deserts, showing who is and isn’t adequately served by the status quo, and even by newer options like bike share. That people have taken so readily to scooters shows just how much latent demand there is for a quick and cheap way to get around cities.

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When Will Electric Cars Go Mainstream? It May Be Sooner Than You Think

           

A Volkswagen e-Golf electric car being charged in Dresden, Germany, in March. Volkswagen and Tesla each have plans to produce more than 1 million electric vehicles per year by 2025. Credit Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

CLICK HERE - Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) - Electric Vehicle Outlook 2017

nytimes.com - by Brad Plumer - July 8, 2017

As the world’s automakers place larger bets on electric vehicle technology, many industry analysts are debating a key question: How quickly can plug-in cars become mainstream?

The conventional view holds that electric cars will remain a niche product for many years, plagued by high sticker prices and heavily dependent on government subsidies.

But a growing number of analysts now argue that this pessimism is becoming outdated. A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a research group, suggests that the price of plug-in cars is falling much faster than expected, spurred by cheaper batteries and aggressive policies promoting zero-emission vehicles in China and Europe.

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Volvo to Drop Traditional Engines

           

GETTY IMAGES

Carmaker Volvo has said all new models will have an electric motor from 2019.

bbc.com - July 5, 2017

The Chinese-owned firm, best known for its emphasis on driver safety, has become the first traditional carmaker to signal the end of the internal combustion engine.

It plans to launch five fully electric models between 2019 and 2021 and a range of hybrid models . . .

 . . . "The announcement is significant, and quite impressive, but only in a small way. The hybrids they are promising to make might be mild hybrids, anything as basic as a stop-start system."

A stop-start system is one where electricity from batteries restart a car's petrol engine, after it has shut down when the car has come to rest at a junction, or in stationary traffic.

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ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES WITHIN THE LINKS BELOW . . .

CLICK HERE - Volvo, Betting on Electric, Moves to Phase Out Conventional Engines

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To Flood-Proof Subways, N.Y. Looks At Everything From Plugs To Sheets

Engineers test the Flex-Gate, a big sheet of waterproof fabric designed to cover subway entrances and keep water out. Its creation was inspired in part by roll-up metal doors used to cover store entrances. Joel Rose/NPR

Image: Engineers test the Flex-Gate, a big sheet of waterproof fabric designed to cover subway entrances and keep water out. Its creation was inspired in part by roll-up metal doors used to cover store entrances. Joel Rose/NPR

npr.org - October 8th, 2015 - Joel Rose

New York City may have dodged a major storm recently when Hurricane Joaquin headed out to sea, but it was an unwelcome reminder of what happened three years ago when the city suffered catastrophic flooding during Superstorm Sandy. Now, the New York subway system is racing to get new flood-proofing technologies ready in time for the next big storm.

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Notable Absence of New Ebola Quarantines at New York Area Airports

NEW YORK TIMES    By Anemona Hartocollis                                                          NOV. 24, 2014

NEW YORK   ...since Kaci Hickox, a nurse, flew into Newark’s airport on Oct. 24 and was kept at a hospital for three days, no one else has been caught up in the quarantine dragnet at the New York and New Jersey airports.

The absence of quarantines is striking, not only because both governors emphatically defended the policy as a necessary precaution, but also because most people returning from Ebola-stricken countries arrive in the United States through Kennedy and Newark Liberty International Airports.

...New York and New Jersey officials say no one coming through the two airports since Ms. Hickox has reported direct contact with Ebola patients.

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New York and New Jersey Tighten Ebola Screenings at Airports

NEW YORK TIMES                    Oct. 24, 2014

The announcement comes one day after an American doctor, who had worked in Guinea and returned to New York City earlier in October, tested positive for Ebola and became the first New York patient of the deadly virus.

“A voluntary Ebola quarantine is not enough,” said Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York. “This is too serious a public health situation.”

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Gov. Cuomo’s Plan To Use Clean Water Funds For Tappan Zee Bridge OK’d

Tappan Zee Bridge as seen from Chopper 880 on May 13, 2014. (Photo by Tom Kaminski, WCBS Newsradio 880)August 6, 2014 7:31 PM - cbslocal.com - CBS Radio Inc.

ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to use clean water funds on the new Tappan Zee Bridge was approved Wednesday by a key state board despite objections from environmental groups that said the money should support drinking water and sewer treatment projects. 

The $256 million loan from the clean water fund would help pay for the $3.9 billion span being built north of New York City. Cuomo’s administration argues the novel use of the funds would help minimize the cost of tolls on the new bridge and pay for work associated with the construction that would protect the Hudson River Valley.

 http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/08/06/gov-cuomos-plan-to-use-clean-water-funds-for-tappan-zee-bridge-okd/

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A New Car-Share System Could Change the Urban Landscape

     

A new car-share system could change the urban landscape William Lark, Jr., MIT Media Lab

newsweek.com - by Jillian Rose Lim - April 16, 2014

Traffic congestion, limited space and air pollution are a few of the many plagues of urban life. But what if a network of svelte electric cars were waiting at hubs in your city, charging up their batteries until their next drivers come along?

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Canarsie Community <Light our Way to Recovery> October 29, 2013, Canarsie Park 6:30pm

 Light Our Way To Recovery is a candlelight commemorative gathering of the constituents of the Canarsie community, one of the many disaster impacted communities on the Eastern USA coastline. This event is given in remembrance of those persons who lost their lives as a result of Hurricane Sandy; to honor the people who volunteered and who continue to help; to highlight the need for support for Canarsie disaster victims who continue to struggle to rebuild, recover and survive the emotional maelstrom caused by the life changing events of October 29th 2012. 

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Report: A New Direction - Our Changing Relationship with Driving and the Implications for America’s Future

uspirg.org

Released by: U.S. PIRG Education Fund Release date: Tuesday, May 14, 2013

The Driving Boom—a six decade-long period of steady increases in per-capita driving in the United States—is over.

Americans drive fewer total miles today than we did eight years ago, and fewer per person than we did at the end of Bill Clinton’s first term. The unique combina­tion of conditions that fueled the Driving Boom—from cheap gas prices to the rapid expansion of the workforce during the Baby Boom generation—no longer exists. Meanwhile, a new generation—the Mil­lennials—is demanding a new American Dream less dependent on driving.

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Report:  A New Direction - Our Changing Relationship with Driving and the Implications for America’s Future (69 page .PDF file)

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