Chevy Wants You to Vote On Your Favorite Mini-Car Concept

Chevy this week is asking the public to vote for their favorite new mini-car concept from a group of three introduced at the New York Auto Show.

From AutoBlog:

The Beat (green) is by far the most sporty of the trio, with its slicked back styling and comparatively large 1.2L turbo engine. Technically described as a “tuner” car, the Beat is meant to be customized much like a Scion to an owner’s own individual tastes. The Beat is a front-wheel drive, three-door hatch with an automatic tranny to divvy up the tiny motor’s available power.

The Groove concept (black) is much like a mini HHR, a five-door wagon with a tall roof and flat sides. It’s extremely short hood, big wheel arches and nonexistent overhangs mean that every square inch of the platform is utilized. Consider this the most practical concept of the three. Also a front-driver, the Groove is powered by a 1L diesel engine.

Finally there’s the Trax (orange), which we’ve met before. The Trax concept is the mini ute of the bunch, doing its best to feign even the slightest ability to venture off the beaten path. We wouldn’t suggest it however, as those tires lack any meaningful tread and the ride height, while high compared to the other two concepts, could hardly clear a curb (if that). It’s the only one of the three that features round headlights, though its four-door, upright, box-like packaging mimics that of the Groove concept. It’s powered by a 1L gas engine. 

I personally voted for the “Groove” concept — I like the 1L diesel engine and the overall shape.  Cast your vote at www.vote4chevrolet.com.

But this is not a car blog.  My point of posting about this is to get your thoughts on the marketability of micro vehicles such as these or the 2nd generation smart fortwo, which will be on sale during the 1st quarter of 2008.   Will we see the public go for more cars in the sub-$15K range offering fuel mileage in the same territory as hybrids?  For me, I see myself purchasing a very small car with no more than a 1-litre engine.  For the occassional road trip out of town I’d just rent something a bit larger and more powerful.

As gas prices naturally rise we will hopefully see people giving up their 2-ton living rooms on wheels in exchange for something less comfortable.  Yes, less comfortable!  Sky roofs, wood & leather, and other items make our cars so comfortable we can’t imagine giving them up for something more practical such as a basic car, a scooter, a bike or mass transit.  Case in point, I went from having auto-down on all four windows and auto-up on the front windows on my former Audi.  In switching to the Scion it took me a while to get used to having only auto-down on the driver’s window.  I’ve completely forgotten what it is like to have manual windows and locking/unlocking a car with a key.  We are so spoiled, how can other forms of transit or even a more basic car compete?

What will gas prices have to reach before buying & driving habits change?  $4/gallon?  $5/gallon?  More?

Landscape Architects to Give Free Walking Tour of Forest Park

Join the St Louis Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) as it celebrates National Landscape Architecture Month during April. The featured event will be a walking tour of some of the most influential projects happening in Forest Park, St Louis’ pride and joy. Come meet members from many St Louis Landscape Architecture firms and enjoy a Saturday in the park. We’ll be focusing the tour on the recently established masterplan for the park, newly refurbished Grand Basin, Post Dispatch Lake, scenic Art Hill, historic Horman K Plebstein Municipal Golf Course, and Lindell Pavilion/the Visitors Center. National Landscape Architecture Month – “Discover Careers in Landscape Architecture”

Where: Meet at the Visitors Center/Lindell Pavilion in Forest Park (see map)

When: 11:00am on Saturday, April 14 (rain date is Saturday, April 21 – 11:00am)

Cost: FREE!!!!

About ASLA

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is the national professional association for landscape architects, representing more than 16,500 members. ASLA promotes the landscape architecture profession and advances the practice through advocacy, education, communication, and fellowship.

About St. Louis ASLA

The St Louis Chapter of ASLA represents the Eastern half of Missouri and is responsible for the promotion and legislation of our profession in the St Louis Region. Partnering associations include the Missouri Association of Landscape Architects (MALA) and Western Missouri/East Kansas Prairie Gateway Chapter.

Fuels to Keep the Cars Running Still Many Years Off

One of the most recent changes in fueling vehicles is the switch to “Ultra-Low Sulfur” diesel fuel with no more than 15 ppm (parts per million). As the only road worthy diesel now available, this permits auto manufacturers to use the high tech emissions systems used on diesel cars in Europe and Asia. That is, our old 500+ ppm diesel fuel would have damaged the sensitive emissions equipment.

This new diesel fuel seems to be pricier than the old but I have no evidence of such. Lately gasoline prices have shown a steady increase in price making the diesel priced between the mid and high grades of gas.

Of course many people are assuming we’ll simply all shift to one or more of a number of “alternative” fuels being marketed currently or in development. These include ethanol, bio-diesel and hydrogen. Via Green Car Congress is a look at a new report from the US Government Accounting Office on alternate fuels. GCC reports:

The technologies examined currently supply the equivalent of only about 1% of US annual consumption of petroleum products;

DOE estimates that even under optimistic scenarios, these technologies could displace only the equivalent of about 4% of projected annual consumption by around 2015.

DOE projects that these technologies could displace up to the equivalent of 34% of projected US annual consumption of petroleum products in the 2025 through 2030 time frame, assuming the challenges the technologies face are overcome.

Basically if the effects of peak oil come in the next 10-20 years we will have some serious issues to deal with. The report suggests, depending upon timing, we could face a world-wide recession.

One of the things we do know is that we simply cannot grow ourselves out of this fuel crisis. If we grew enough corn to supply all of our petroleum needs we’d not have any corn left to eat or any crop land to grow much else.

The answer is very clear, at the same time we develop new fuels we need to be reducing our dependence on the car through mass transit, cycling, walking or simply reduced trips/distance in the car. As fuel prices increase, it will get easier and easier to justify capital improvements for mass transit. As regular readers know, I’m more of an advocate for lower-cost streetcar/tram systems serving compact local areas than long distances of light rail serving the broader region. The costs to get transit out to the low-density suburbs can be just as bad as running a highway out there. Building compact in the core will support the transit I seek as well as supporting those that choose to bike or walk.

Who knows, maybe in 2030 I’ll get that new hydrogen car but in the meantime we need more realistic solutions to our transportation needs.

It is called Nature, Not Undeveloped

In driving to Palm Springs Wednesday we took the long and scenic route though the desert mountains rather than the highway. Although a few houses existed among the native plants it was about as rural as you can get.

A narrow two lane winds its way through the very rocky terrain and we stopped at the one lookout that actually had any sort of man-made platform.  The view was spectacular — not a strip mall or tacky subdivision in sight.  To many such an area would be termed “undeveloped” but I prefer to think of it as natural.

Miles and miles of land which, thankfully, would be difficult to develop.  I know that I can come back in 20 years and be assured this will likely look much as it does now. 

Reaching the end of the mountains you can see the Coachella Valley below, thousands of feet below.   Palm Springs is one of nine or so municipalities in this valley.  The mountains act as a natural barrier against sprawling too far — although everything I saw was very low density.

Today we drive back to San Diego via the highways (uh, freeways in California) and I am sure the experience will be quite different.  More developed, less nature.

Bike Parking a Good City-Wide Issue for Lewis Reed

The city faces many big issues all needing attention, including things like our outdated zoning and city charter. Michael Allen has a nice commentary on the big issues still facing us today, the day after a big election. He’s right, our political system needs a major re-think. But that is not what has kept me awake (it is 3am). No, I’m looking for some real & simple areas where Board President-elect Lewis Reed can use his new city-wide status and majority of the board support. Bike facilities came to mind.

Reed, during the campaign, rightfully bragged about being a founding alderman with Bike St. Louis, a series of on-street urban bike routes throughout a limited area in the city. Basically, those aldermen willing to part with some of their funds helped shape the routes through their wards. Interestingly, it is all south of Delmar. But I am not looking for more bike lanes or share the road signs, I want bike parking. Urban cyclists use their bikes for errands but need places where they can secure their bikes at they make their trips.

Here is where Reed, working with Mayor Slay’s office, can make a difference:

• Make it easier for private property owners to place an approved bike rack in the public right of way.
• For projects with public funding & public parking, require bike parking.
• For projects requiring a public parking lot, such as a shopping center, require bike parking regardless of any public funding.
• And finally set up a program such as Chicago’s whereby the city provides and installs bike racks along major commercial streets based upon a request from local cyclists or business owners.

Let’s examine these areas in more detail.

Currently for a building owner to place a bike rack in the public right of way (say on the outer edge of the sidewalk in line with street trees and lamp posts) they must jump through many hoops. You see, the city considers such a bike rack placed by a private entity to be an enchroachment into the public space. In reality, it would be an amenity such as a bench or trash can. Our current view of bike racks pretty much eliminates the possibility a building owner will opt to place a bike rack in front of their business. Policy changes within the city can reverse this without costing the city.

Similarly, for projects that require public parking we should look at mandating bike parking. This is especially important for those projects receiving subsidies from the public. In these cases, we should look at some ratio of reducing full sized auto spaces in exchange for providing bike parking. Throughout the country numerous cities have similar requirements, including Springfield MO. Issues such as rack type, dispersement and placement would need to be written into an amended parking ordinance.

Ideally we as a city would fund bike parking along public rights of way, perhaps through parking fees at meters and city owned parking garages. The more cyclists we have, the less demand we have to provide on-street spaces, vast surface lots and costly parking garages. Commercial streets such as Euclid, Martin Luther King, South Grand, Cherokee should all have bike racks among the city-provided amenities, just as is the case along Washington Ave downtown. This, unlike the others, requires funding. So this may need to be a stated goal while the others are implimented in short order.

Bike parking will not be a watershed moment that turns the city around. However, it will add to the quality of life for those who use the bike racks and set us apart from the balance of the region which simply cannot match the urbanity of our commercial districts.

As subtle as they may be, bike parking is something of importance to the “creative class” which seek out other cities while overlooking St. Louis. We need them as residents as well as the jobs that always seem to follow them around.