Vertical horizons: parking matrix

Where's your car?

As we all know, cities are more and more becoming the home for increasing numbers of people around the world. We are heading towards an extremely urbanized future. Everything that we humans like to do needs to take place surrounded by growing congestion. It's getting crowded. More cars, more "housing units," more stores, more roads, more pollution, fewer green areas, fewer parking spots, everything more expensive by the square-meter. Here in Sweden, as I've been reporting, one avenue of adaptation is the switch to electric cars, as just one area that could ease some of the pressure.

Big department store chains like Coop Forum and IKEA are beginning to add charging stations for electric vehicles, but the cars themselves are often still missing. IKEA, though, has also developed a partnership with a Göteborg-based renter of electric vehicles, Move About, to provide easy rentals for its own customers. The incredibly popular MAX hamburger chain is also adding charging stations. Since hamburgers will probably be with us for some time, it is heartening to see how much effort MAX is putting into its overall climate change and environment policy. They claim that even their newest restaurants are entirely recyclable! (It's their claim.) When I was reading about their policy, I saw that they have been developing it with help from a foundation called The Natural Step, which is on my list of good causes to promote here. So I'll do it here, now!

One of those involved in starting up The Natural Step was Kaj Embren. Nowadays, he has an informative and provocative blog, dedicated to all aspects of sustainable development. He has also continued his work on sustainability via his company, Respect, which focuses on developing sustainability-conscious businesses. It's worth following, too! See you there! And I'll be writing more about The Natural Step in a later blog. Stay tuned . . .

Futuristic Brussels (Is he kidding?)

It was Brussels, last week, and of course it was raining. I walked around a street corner, and met the future. Against a backdrop of shiny greasy wet cobblestones just off Place du Luxembourg, in front of the Parlamentarium, a vision that challenged me to confront my urban prejudices exploded into view. A tough, cool green-and-white wonder on four wheels stood plugged into a post via an orange cable. It was available. It could be rented. It was drier than a bicycle, faster than a bus, and cheaper than owning my own. What a great idea! I was walking to a meeting nearby, so it didn't fit my plan, but I remained impressed. A dozen photos later, and my surprise well-documented, along with a reassurance of being able to check it all out on a website, it seemed possible to move on. Brussels is getting better. You can investigate for yourself on the ZENCAR homepages, with lots of informative links to follow, and share my amazement at how simple they make it all. There, I learned that the car I saw is a Tazzari Zero two-seater buzzmobile. Bring us more, in more cities!

Mind the steps

On the charging station for electric cars, at the local Coop Forum food store, here in Lund, Sweden, the instructions for using it are helpfully printed on the cover, in the local language:

1. Unlock
2. Plug in the plug
3. Close cover
Charging starts

Green light = circuit-breaker functioning
Blinking green light = charging underway
Red light = circuit-breaker must be reset
Follow instructions inside the box

The cover of the charging station has a logo that says GAPO. I'm checking that one out. My theory is that this is the name of a Norwegian industrial door manufacturer that has diversified. I'm on the trail. The suspense must increase!

Waiting for Go, though

(Apologies to Samuel Beckett). We keep checking the parking lot at the local Coop food store to see if any electric cars show up. I'm going to go in and do a mini-interview of the manager one of these days, to see if anyone has ever used the charging stations. They have locks on them, so I guess if anyone wanted to use them, they'd have to go in and ask for the key. That's one theory.

The atmosphere was electric

I thought about buying an electric car, and had seen that the local Citroen dealer had an attractive little model on sale in its showroom. It's been there for about a year-and-a-half now. The salesman, who seemed reasonably interested in selling the car, pointed out that the (Swedish) price had been reduced by a quarter, from about 60,000 USD, equivalent, to about 45,000, including the Swedish government's special subsidy for environmentally-friendly car purchases (about 6000 USD). Still, in the time it had been in the showroom, there had been only one serious prospective buyer, who in the end just couldn't make the equation of low range (optimally, about 150 km) between charges, expense and lack of charging stations make sense. A number of people, like me, had shown some interest, but little more. I thanked him for his time and went home "to think about it." I also wrote a letter (now about three weeks ago), to the owner of my apartment building, when I realized that even if I bought an electric car, it would be impossible to charge it at home. My letter was simply to ask for information about their plans for electric car hookups. I still haven't received an answer.

Two electric car charging posts await their occasional users.