Not sure about the last one, but maybe.

NIMBY thinking: Mass Transit is great for the poor to get them off the roadways…

Mass transit I believe is doomed because as Society get “rougher” folks will fear waiting for transportation alone or in the night because of increased crime.

Thanks

Great supplements for many folks.

But yes, getting people to do the math and understand this is a challenge.
Last I heard, car companies were the #1 TV advertisers. That has an effect — people think they need to own a car when many of them don’t. It’s an assumption baked into our society, but not necessarily correct.

I see no need for someone to haul their scooter around town on a public bus.

Car2Go – Zip Cars – card swipe rental scooters – free bikes – there are solutions for the occasional need for personal transportation in dense cities.

There are ‘extreme’ solutions such as bikes with trailers. But I’m guessing a small percentage of the public who would utilize those solutions as opposed to public transportation or low cost personal vehicles.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Bangkok which has excellent public transportation. Driving and parking in BKK is a PITA. People use small motorbikes to scoot around their neighborhoods. Lots of people leave their cars parked, use them for family outings and trips out of town.

The future will see massive increases in transit ridership that will be using powered scooters because the cost of them will drop as battery tech and volume sold drive prices downward.

I expect we’ll see more ‘tiny’ EVs, something about the size of the Smart that will hold four people in a pinch or a couple of people and a bunch of groceries. (My city experience is that you don’t walk to cheaper grocery stores in most neighborhoods.)

We should be able to build a highway-capable modest range small EV for under $15k once batteries come down. A great city/suburban car that can be supplemented with public transportation and highway-friendly rentals.

Scooters on city buses? Don’t see that happening. Walk the last block or two….

Have you seen folks in their mobility scooters pulling small trailers with kids and or groceries?

We will see a completely new type of “bicycle” lane being constructed in order to give those not using cars their own space “on the road”…

Because the price of gas, tags and insurance are all going upward with no end in site a much large segment of those that traditionally used to own one or more vehicles will start to rent what they need instead.

Have you seen the Car2Go concept: http://www.car2go.com/

(BTW: I have no economic interest in them)

Why take a car when you can “scoot” around, park anywhere, and have fun doing it while not paying for tags or insurance?

Mass transit will struggle to provide ways for the huge numbers of new riders that want to also bring their scooters with them on the bus, remember the number of folks turning 65 will skyrocket over the next 10 years as the baby boomers retire.

Instead of seeing buses with a few bicycles on the front, future buses should be designed to allow folks in scooters to ride aboard and “park”, providing their own seating until they scoot off at their stop!

Ride ON

I can see electric scooters taking over a sector of the market – those who don’t have children to take to day care, who travel mostly by themselves, who are willing to scoot in crummy weather, don’t need to bring home a lot of groceries, etc.

I expect to see folks in the future RENT when they want to take a long trip and then rely upon a much smaller vehicle that requires no gas for local shopping and cruising around.

Remember electric “bicycles” do not require insurance and or tags so they pretty much save their own cost the first year as compared to a tiny car (electric or gas)…

With the higher rate of installation it’s possible for crews to work neighborhoods, moving quickly from roof to roof rather than having to drive across town to the next job.

Perhaps, with the higher volume, Germany has been able to establish more efficient supply chains. There could be less wait for parts because shipments would be more frequent and it would be more likely that whatever was needed would be closer at hand.

Also, if you’re spending all your time installing solar rather than part time and doing different construction/electrical jobs the rest of the time you would be more likely to keep a lot of spare parts in your truck. Having to make a parts run really eats up time.

I’d be surprised if inverter/wire costs were major contributors. US companies are very sophisticated about finding lowest price suppliers and efficient shipping.

I don’t think that Americans are less efficient.

My guess is, that it’s two things:
1. I would guess that it’s propably a question of supply and demand. There is a high density of companies selling Inverters, the neccessary wireing, substructure equipment, … AND about half of the electricians know how to do the job.
In my case, I got the offices of two buisnesses that are specialized on solar technology in walking distance from my appartment.
That kind of “supply” is also the reason why it takes so much less time to move from purchasing decision to grid-connection. (a few weeks I think)

2. Due to the (up until recently) very stable market framework, the companies that invest in solar energy, are able to have buisness models that are long term oriented.
They don’t need to consider their financial situation in terms of 6 months or 2 years… they can think in 5-10 year categories.
This allows them to plan return of investment for their initial investments over longer periods => smaller RoI/profit-margins => which translates smaller buisness costs for individual projects.

That would be my guess

That difference cannot be due to rack/wire costs. It must be labor/permit/price gouging. Or can someone think of another reason?

(Labor, I doubt, unless there is something very inefficient about how we use our labor.)