A start-up tech company and electric car maker have teamed up to develop a radical car-sharing experiment. Observers are excited about the project's potential to attract urban drivers and improve notoriously poor air quality across China.
In the city that's home to the largest bike-share program in the world you'll also find "an ambitious experiment that combines electric vehicles, giant vending machines and a Zipcar-like business model," reports Mark Rogowsky. "Oh, and if it works, private car ownership as we know it is probably going to disappear in the world’s biggest cities."
"A company called Kandi Technologies plans on making 100,000 cars available to the residents of Hangzhou for hourly rental over the next couple of years," he explains. And instead of requiring acres of urban real estate to store their cars, Kandi is using automated garages that "work like giant vending machines" (see the video below).
"If it goes as planned, there will be more EV drivers in Hangzhou than anywhere in the world and other Chinese cities will almost certainly adopt the technology quickly," writes Rogowsky. "It’s unlikely too many people who come to the automobile through this per-hour-usage model will want to become car-owning, parking-space seeking, insurance-buying folks in the future."
FULL STORY: Kandi Crush: An Electric-Car Vending Machine From China Could Upend The Auto Industry
Keep Calm. Carry On. AVs Are Just the End of Parking.
Opinion: As autonomous vehicles continue to appear on roads around the world, planners and engineers must be proactive in devising new and creative uses for soon-to-be-obsolete urban parking.
Arlington County Reduces Parking Requirements for Multi-Family Developments on Metro Corridors
In addition to reducing parking requirements to 0.2 to 0.6 spaces per unit for developments "approved by special exception," the board went a step further by requiring mitigations if developers provide more than 1.65 spaces per unit.
Volvo Makes History in Embrace of Electric Vehicle Technology
In a major announcement that could shake-up the auto industry, Volvo Cars declared it will initiate a gradual divorce from autos solely powered by internal combustion in two years. The Chinese-owned company wants to reduce its environmental impact.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.
Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.
Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.
MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.
Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie