Southern Taiwanese island of Liuqiu going gasoline-car free
Who's going car free? The 2012 Olympics in London, a town in Germany, and some people on one day a year. A tiny island off the coast of Taiwan has decided to join the car-free club, at least to shed the gas guzzling kind.
The tropical island of Liuqiu will spend a lot of money – between $9.3 to $15.5 billion – over the next three years to phase out gas cars and replace them with electric vehicles. The plan covers buses, cars and scooters and is intended to make the tourist destination remain a place where divers and snorkelers want to visit. Perhaps the local government can turn to the quirky electric vehicle developed by the Intelligent Mobility Technology division of the Taiwan Automotive Research Consortium (TARC) for some of those new vehicles. If the plan comes to fruition, it might be expanded to other parts of Taiwan.
[Source: Reuters]
Photo by mckaysavage. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
letstakeawalk 3:03PM (11/23/2009)
I've been car free since 1995. Well, I do sometimes rent a car for road trips...
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paulwesterberg 3:33PM (11/23/2009)
Why do you read about new car tech and invest in new car tech if you mostly don't drive.
Your disregard for BEVs does make sense since you don't do local commuting via car.
letstakeawalk 3:50PM (11/23/2009)
I happen to like cars. I'm surrounded by cars all the time, so I have a vested interest in making sure that they are as clean as they can be. Smog sucks.
I like BEVs, but I understand that they don't work for everyone (me, for example). The only time I need a car is when I'm going somewhere, generally a 6-8 hour road trip. Like Thanksgiving - I'll be driving to TN and making several short visits. A BEV simply wouldn't cut it for that kind of trip when I need to be there and back with very little time to recharge a BEV. Personally, I'd prefer a well-integrated rail system, but...
Although I will be searching out info about what people in Johnson City, Knoxville, and Nashville all think about the Leaf program.
paulwesterberg 4:50PM (11/23/2009)
I agree that high speed electric rail combined with urban electric subways systems like they have in Europe and Japan makes car & emissions free travel much easier.
Joeviocoe 5:47PM (11/23/2009)
Ah... it is all making sense now :)
You aren't a commuter. Your values are different than mine *PERSECUTE*
But this does explain you preference for hydrogen considering "long range" is of higher priority for you. And FCVs do not have that disadvantage like BEVs do.
But please remember that most Americans commute somewhere every day.
Andy 8:48PM (11/23/2009)
Thanks for sharing. The penny has finally dropped.
I live on an island 20miles across and commute by car every day :)
Obviously I am interested in BEV's.
paulwesterberg 3:22PM (11/23/2009)
Mackinac Island has been car free since 1898 and it works well for them - being a small island bicycles and horses work well. But they do run snowmobiles in the winter when the ice freezes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackinac_Island
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nrb 5:05PM (11/23/2009)
Liuqiu is 2.6 square miles. I don't know why they have cars at all. I certainly don't know why it would cost more $10+ billion dollars to go gasoline car free.
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David Martin 6:52PM (11/23/2009)
The Channel Island of Sark has been car free for donkey's years - and it did not cost billions!
hans.teijgeler 7:57AM (11/26/2009)
If you want to find it in Google Earth or Maps: it is "Liouciou" for them.
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