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Comment by zemvpferreira | Hacker News Reader

Sure, we have a few outdoor charging spots here in Lisbon as well. I can tell you exactly what will happen here:

-politicians made a big deal of building said spots when there were close to zero electric cars on the street. Many tv spots were bought. -people start buying electric cars en masse because hey, insfrastructure! Two free chargers per street! -no more easy PR to milk. Turns out scaling street charging will be expensive and bring no extra popularity. -Five years later, we'll still have two chargers per block but a hundred times more electric cars. Back to step zero.

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Meanwhile, you can charge 12+ e-bikes in the space of one car. That's the real infrastructure we need.

> Meanwhile, you can charge 12+ e-bikes in the space of one car. That's the real infrastructure we need. @zachkatz

Next downpour:

@imchillyb: ::waves to silly biker as I pass them:: Hey guys, pipe down, we're almost home.

@zachkatz: ::Grumbles about rain, snow, sleet, and more recently hail. Looks behind at Timmy, Sally, Sue, and the dog all miserably following them home; drenched and shivering-cold on their e-bikes, and dog's paws on wet-cold-concrete.

Glad you're gonna fight for that e-bike spot, I sure won't!

That might apply more in Chicago than Lisbon, though.

They are not a replacement for every situation, but they work amazingly well when they do. I don't think you are making a good faith argument here.

I've been in towns and cities all up and down the east coast of the US with my bike, and they range from absolutely terrible for any bike traffic (stroads everywhere) to fantastic. The biggest obstacle to bikes being more usable is simply not designing our infrastructure in the least human/bike friendly way possible.

It rains more on average in the Netherlands than it does in the USA and the vast majority don't stop cycling. 30% of children under 12 ride their bikes to school year round in Oulu, Finnland, where it gets as cold as -30C. Cycling is faster, cheaper, healthier and even if you never want to ride a bike cycling infrastructure means less congestion for cars.

I've been biking in -20oC, and it wasn't a big deal. You need the right clothing, but otherwise it's fine. Part of the issue is that people who drive never buy decent winter clothing.

No the real infrastructure change we need are different urban zoning plans to eliminate single-use neighborhoods. We need to drastically cut down on commuting and switch to diffused co-working and telepresence.

So, wouldn’t building more then reap political benefits in that case?

Not when you have to ask people to pay for them. Which is why we haven't built a hospital or school in 10 years.

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