"Norway says it isn’t hoping to simply replace ICE engines with electric counterparts 1:1 but motivate people to get out of their… vehicles and walk, cycle, and take public transport, the latter which was particularly hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic."
A comment on Hacker News, where I discovered this article:
"The usual fare is to keep maintaining and upgrading the road network with only automobiles in mind and then act surprised when people keep choosing the mode of transportation that the infrastructure was built around."
The real shift shouldn’t be as much about privately owned petrol cars vs electric cars as about a shift from private transport to (efficient, electric) public transport. As has been said, real progress isn’t when the poor have access to cars but when the rich take public transport.
With public transport like trams and trains we’ll not only see a reduction in noise and microplastic pollution but a reduction in road sprawl and increase in urban density, meaning more areas of town become easily accessible to residents.
Related: 70% Bombay-Poona ‘Shivneri’ buses are now electric; remaining diesel fleet to be replaced by Diwali 2023.