Re: [PLUG] Ginger

[Michael Leone <turgon@mike-leone.com>]

On Mon, 2001-12-03 at 20:03, Adam Turoff wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 03, 2001 at 07:30:29PM -0500, Michael Leone wrote:
> > On Mon, 2001-12-03 at 18:19, Adam Turoff wrote:
> > > Ergo, the potential for ginger is much larger than improved wheelchairs.
> > > Especially in sub-saharan africa, where a 12mph gadget that uses $0.05 of
> > > power each day is much more important than a $100 ankle-breaking razor scooter.
> > 
> > And how many sub-Saharan Africans can afford the estimate $3K US price?
> 
> And how long do you expect it to stay at US$3K?  

Long enuf to still be out of range of your average sub-Saharan, who
lives in villages in the outback still. Ain't that many cities in
sub-Sahara Africa.

> And how quickly are car prices dropping?  Used car prices?

In a country that probably doesn't have that many factories to make
their own, and so most cars must be imported? A lot, I'd say.

> > Mind you, the web article talked about utilizing it in cities in the NE
> > USA. And do what - run over the people on the sidewalk, or get run over
> > on the roads with the cars? Get soaked in the rain or freeze in the cold
> > - the thing looks like a scooter, after all
> 
> Um, the Post Office seems pretty psyched.  Many letter carriers have routes
> that are less than a 15 mile circuit.  And the roads/sidewalks on those 
> routes aren't exactly congested with people in most of the NE US.  

Never walked thru Center City? Or NY? It's the residential neighbors
(and few of them) that have few people on the sidewalks.

And how many letter carriers can there possibly be? And they have to
stop at every house on the street, so it's only to/fro the route where
they become useful.

It has limited transportation uses _as a scooter_. Can't use it to go
from Norristown to Center City at rush hour, can you? On the Schyukill?
;-)
Maybe within a city or town. 

The technology can/will be adapted to other, more useful uses, in the
future. The scooter config will remain a proof of concept, and high tech
plaything. Except perhaps for the uses listed - within warehouses, etc.
On the streets, no.

> Imagine
> the cost savings if you have to pay for a few pennies of electricity
> per day instead of a few tankfuls of gas per week...
> 
> A really fit athlete can do a 4 minute mile for extended periods
> of time, while the average rentacop can't.  Give that rentacop a
> device that can move him at 15mph to 17mph, and things get interesting
> -- especially where bikes are impractical and rentacops are plentiful,
> like airports and perhaps even universities.

Where there are usually large crowds, where you can't go that fast, else
you run people down.

-- 

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Michael J. Leone                  Registered Linux user #201348 
<mailto:turgon@mike-leone.com>    ICQ: 50453890     AIM: MikeLeone

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