The velomobile is one of the many intermediate modes of travel -
© Ben Kerckx / Pixabay
There are hundreds of types of vehicles that consume less and pollute less than cars, according to a study published by our partner The Conversation.
These vehicles could be the individual mobility solutions of tomorrow.
The analysis of this alternative was carried out by Frédéric Héran, economist and town planner at the University of Lille and Aurélien Bigo, researcher on energy transition in transport at the École Polytechnique.
How to reduce greenhouse gas emissions emitted by motor vehicles?
To comply with the national low-carbon strategy that France has set for itself, current technological developments are far from sufficient, especially if cars tend to be heavier and heavier.
Thus the efficiency of new thermal cars has stopped improving in recent years, instead of the strong improvements planned by the national strategy.
As for the electric car, the production of the vehicle and the battery weighs heavily in the total carbon footprint of the vehicle.
Hence the idea of establishing a bonus-malus system based not only on CO2 emissions but also on the weight of vehicles.
Is this measure, seen by many as controversial, sufficient?
Tax increasingly heavy vehicles
In the 1960s, the new "average car" weighed only 800 kg.
It then continued to gain weight until it weighed 1,250 kg around 2005. Then its weight stabilized and started to rise again in recent years, under the effect of two phenomena: the rise of SUVs, which today represent hui 39% of the market, and that of electric cars, equipped with heavy batteries.
This is why, in July 2019, France Stratégie (the State's expert and prospective body) proposed in a memorandum to base the bonus-malus on the weight of vehicles and no longer only on CO2 emissions.
The idea was then taken up, with a few details, by several NGOs (RAC France, WWF, etc.), by the Citizen's Climate Convention, by the High Council for the Climate, by the Mobile Lives Forum.
In September 2020, the Ministry of Ecological Transition encrypts the measure and suggests including it in the finance bill for 2021, a proposal immediately rejected by the deputies.
Then the government finally proposes to introduce a penalty for vehicles over 1.8 tonnes.
The penalty would only affect less than 2% of sales and would exempt electric cars, falling into the pitfalls of the current bonus-penalty system, too little incentive ...
But, even with a lower threshold of 1.3 or 1.4 tonnes, as some institutes mentioned above proposed, would this measure really solve the problem?
For all that, are vehicles below this limit virtuous, when they have multiple negative externalities (insecurity, place occupied in the city, pollution during manufacturing, depletion of natural resources, etc.)?
Our “Automobile
The car and its very poor fuel efficiency
Even lightweight, a car, whether thermal, hybrid or electric, remains heavy for what it transports, more than 90% of the materials that constitute it and not people or loads.
In other words, its energy efficiency per person transported is deplorable, since it is 110 times less than the efficiency of a “velomobile”.
A velomobile is a streamlined tricycle or quadricycle, weighing approximately 32 kg, capable of carrying one person (and even two for certain models) and a few items of clothing, protected from the elements.
Its aerodynamics are excellent, allowing it to reach a record speed of 144.17 km / h.
To ride at 25 km / h on flat ground, a cyclist spends half the energy in a velomobile than with a conventional bicycle.
Very good, but who knows this type of machine and who uses it?
Can it really replace a car?
The debates are open.
Intermediate modes often ignored
There are, in fact, hundreds of vehicles of all kinds, much less heavy and therefore consuming less resources and emitting less greenhouse gases than cars.
Thousands of engineers are interested and are currently inventing the individual mobility solutions of tomorrow.
To make these devices visible in the debate, we propose to name them “intermediate modes”, ie all vehicles weighing less than 500 kg between the classic bicycle and the car.
There are some vehicles already well known and others totally ignored.
Here is a typology.
The
VAE
(electric bikes) are bicycles that have limited support to 25 km / h to 250 Watts.
The
speed pedelec
are fast electric bikes that can run up to 45 km / h to fall into the category of mopeds.
The
special bikes
bring together cargocycles, recumbent bikes, velomobile, tandems, folding bikes, bicycles, cars and other vehicles hybridizing these solutions (their lounges are even dedicated).
The
microcars
are kind of electric quad bikes without pedals in a place.
Like the following, these are so-called passive modes.
The
carts
(or "unlicensed cars"), carrying two people, have an enclosed cockpit, a speed limit of 45 km / h, weighing less than 425 kilograms.
The
two-wheeled, motorized tricycles and quadricycles protected
benefit of a roof or a closed cockpit;
they generally have two seats and require a motorcycle license.
Finally,
mini-cars
(for example, the Renault Twizy that can travel at 80 km / h) have a power limited to 15 kW, an empty weight of less than 450 kg, are two-seater and require a B1 license.
Intermediate modes, so many alternatives to the car © Frédéric Héran, CC BY-NC-ND
Among this world teeming with intermediate modes, the only ones that are already developing rapidly are electric bikes and special bikes.
There are many reasons for this: the rise in the population of the desire to be more active in their travels, the economic difficulties which lead some to give up the second car, the growing sensitivity to environmental issues, the desire to control repair of his vehicle, the desire for a more sober life ...
The carts are also having some success, but suffer from a poor image, because always compared to the car.
The overwhelming standard of the car
The automobile remains, in fact, a powerful social norm that works the imaginations in depth.
It is difficult, we think, to do without it in most daily trips.
However, this standard is a social construct integrated into lifestyles and which has a long history.
It is constantly worked on by manufacturers through design and advertising.
Who knows, for example, that the intermediate modes make it possible to cover most of the current home-work distances (around ten kilometers on average [2008 data]).
And why are cars so heavy after all?
Four reasons can be cited: having space to transport people and goods, being able to drive quickly and safely in a passenger compartment lined with reinforcements, taking advantage of comfort elements (air conditioning, electric windows, etc.) and enjoying a vehicle "which imposes it".
These four reasons are now more and more contested.
Cars are rarely used by more than one or two people.
Vehicles could go slower without wasting a lot of time.
Current comfort is largely superfluous.
And automobile prestige is dwindling more and more.
This is why the intermediate modes are slowly starting to gain credibility.
A bonus-malus for all individual modes of travel?
Concretely, all cars, even electric ones, should suffer a penalty and active modes benefit from a bonus in the form of increased financing of public spaces, facilities, vehicles or the services they need.
An ecological bonus-malus concerning only cars or all individual modes of travel? © Frédéric Héran, CC BY-NC-ND
An industrial sector to build
The world market for intermediate modes is still embryonic.
This is an opportunity for France to position itself as a leader in these ecological vehicles, inexpensive and meeting the majority of travel needs.
With, at the end of the day, exciting challenges for young French engineers in search of meaning, immense potential for innovation, and thousands of jobs in the industry.
The government's stimulus plan in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic could make an immediate contribution to structuring this new sector.
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This analysis was written by Frédéric Héran, economist and urban planner at the University of Lille and Aurélien Bigo, researcher on energy transition in transport at the École Polytechnique. The original article was published on The Conversation website.
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