Had an interesting conversation last week with my neighbor Tony while we were both out working on our trucks in the alley behind our houses. Tony's a UPS driver, been doing it for fifteen years, and he was telling me about the new electric delivery trucks they're starting to roll out in his depot. "They're quiet, Larry, I mean really quiet. And the torque is insane – better than the old diesels for stop-and-go deliveries." But then he paused, wiping his hands on a rag. "Thing is, they're still the same size trucks trying to navigate these narrow city streets that weren't designed for them, you know? Still getting stuck behind double-parked cars, still can't find parking."
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That got me thinking about something I've been noticing in my electrical work. More and more customers want me to install electric vehicle charging stations in their garages or driveways. Which is fine – good for business, good for the environment. But I keep seeing the same pattern: people buying these expensive electric cars and then using them exactly the same way they used their gas cars. Same daily commute, same shopping trips, same weekend drives. The only thing that changed was what's under the hood.
Don't get me wrong – electric cars are definitely better than gas cars from an environmental standpoint. I'm not one of those guys who thinks climate change is a hoax. I see it in my work – more extreme weather means more power outages, more storm damage to electrical systems, more customers asking about backup power solutions. But replacing every gas car with an electric car isn't really solving the bigger problems with how we get around.
I started paying attention to this stuff a few years ago when I was doing some electrical work for the city's transit authority. They were upgrading the electrical systems for their bus maintenance facility, and I got to talking with some of the mechanics there. These guys work on buses all day, they know transportation inside and out. One of them, Mike, told me something that stuck with me: "You know what the biggest problem with public transit is in this city? It's not the buses, it's that they don't come often enough. People don't want to wait twenty minutes for a bus when they could just drive."
That made sense to me. I've tried taking the bus to job sites before, but when you're carrying tools and materials and you need to be somewhere at a specific time, waiting around for unreliable transit isn't practical. But what if buses came every five minutes instead of every twenty? What if there were dedicated lanes so they didn't get stuck in the same traffic as cars? Might actually be faster than driving, especially during rush hour.
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Started noticing other things too. There's this whole bike revolution happening that I was completely oblivious to until my younger son got interested in it. He's seventeen, doesn't have his license yet, and he's been getting around the city on an electric bike he bought with money from his summer job at a landscaping company. Kid can carry surprisingly heavy loads on that thing – groceries, school stuff, even helped me transport some light electrical supplies a few times when my truck was in the shop.
The bike has this cargo attachment on the front, looks like a small pickup bed. He can haul way more than you'd think. And in city traffic, especially during rush hour, he's often faster than cars because he can use bike lanes and doesn't have to deal with parking. I was skeptical at first – worried about safety, weather, all the usual parent concerns. But he's been doing it for over a year now, no major problems, saves money on gas and car insurance.
Got me curious about what else was out there. Started looking into it when I had some downtime between jobs. Turns out there's all kinds of transportation options that are more efficient than cars for specific purposes. Electric scooters that can get you a few miles quickly. Cargo bikes designed for delivery work. Even these shared electric cars that you can rent by the hour when you actually need a car but don't want to own one.
Some of this stuff is already being used by working folks who've figured out it makes financial sense. There's a plumber I know, Jimmy, who uses an electric cargo bike for service calls in the dense parts of the city. Carries most of his tools, gets to customers faster than driving, doesn't have to worry about parking, saves a fortune on gas and vehicle maintenance. Says his customers love it too – shows up quietly instead of with a rumbling truck, can actually get to buildings with limited vehicle access.
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Obviously, this doesn't work for every job. I need my truck – can't exactly carry electrical panels and conduit on a bike. But Jimmy's got the right idea for his type of work. Choose the right tool for each job instead of trying to use the same tool for everything.
That's what I think is missing from most discussions about transportation. Everyone focuses on cars – gas cars bad, electric cars good – but cars are just one option. For a lot of trips, especially in cities, there are <a href="https://zeroemissionjourney.com/the-future-of-green-transportation-beyond-electric-cars/">better options that people don't even consider b</a>ecause we've built everything around the assumption that everyone drives everywhere.
Been thinking about this differently since I started working on some commercial projects related to transportation. Did the electrical work for a bus rapid transit station last year – these are buses that run on dedicated lanes with their own traffic signals, basically like above-ground subway trains. The engineering was impressive. These buses can carry way more people than cars using the same amount of road space, and when they have dedicated infrastructure, they're faster and more reliable than regular buses that get stuck in traffic.
Also worked on charging infrastructure for a delivery company that's switching their urban fleet to electric cargo bikes and small electric vans. The owner, Maria, explained their economics to me. For deliveries under fifty pounds within a five-mile radius, the cargo bikes are cheaper to operate than vans, even accounting for weather delays and the physical limitations. They're faster in dense urban areas, don't need expensive parking, have almost no maintenance costs.
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What really opened my eyes was a job I did at the Amtrak maintenance facility. These trains move hundreds of people at once using way less energy per person than cars or planes. The electric trains especially – smooth, quiet, fast. I took Amtrak to New York for a family wedding last year instead of driving, figured I'd try it out. Two and a half hours from Philadelphia to Penn Station, no traffic stress, no parking hassles, could read and relax instead of focusing on driving. Cost about the same as gas and tolls would have, way less stressful.
Made me realize how much we've let our passenger rail system deteriorate compared to other countries. I've got a cousin who works construction in Germany, says their trains run everywhere, frequently, on time. People use them for daily commuting, weekend trips, business travel. Here, we've basically given up on trains except for a few corridors like the Northeast.
Freight rail is different – we actually do that pretty well in America. I've worked on electrical systems for rail yards, seen how efficiently trains can move cargo compared to trucks. One freight train can carry as much as dozens of trucks while using way less fuel. But for people, we've convinced ourselves that everyone needs their own personal vehicle for every trip.
The infrastructure side is what really interests me as an electrician. All these transportation alternatives need electrical infrastructure, and most of it isn't that complicated. Charging stations for e-bikes are basically heavy-duty outlets. Bus rapid transit needs traffic signal integration. Electric trains need overhead power lines or third rail systems. This is all stuff that electrical workers know how to build and maintain.
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What's missing isn't the technical knowledge – it's the political will to actually build this stuff. We spend billions on highway maintenance and expansion but barely fund public transit. We require huge parking minimums for new buildings but don't require bike parking or transit access. We've structured everything around cars and then act surprised that everyone drives everywhere.
Some cities are starting to figure this out. I did some work in Portland a couple years ago, stayed in a neighborhood where most people seemed to get around by bike, bus, or walking. Not because they couldn't afford cars, but because the other options were actually better for most trips. Frequent buses, protected bike lanes, everything close enough to walk to. Seemed like a more relaxed way to live, honestly.
But changing this stuff requires coordinated investment, not just individual choices. You can't bike to work if there aren't safe bike lanes. You can't take public transit if it doesn't go where you need to go or takes twice as long as driving. You can't walk to the store if everything is built around strip malls surrounded by parking lots.
That's why I think <a href="https://zeroemissionjourney.com/the-future-of-green-transportation-beyond-electric-cars/"><a href="https://zeroemissionjourney.com/the-future-of-green-transportation-beyond-electric-cars/">the focus on electric cars</a></a>, while good, misses the bigger picture. We're trying to solve transportation problems by making better cars instead of questioning whether we need so many cars in the first place. It's like upgrading to LED light bulbs but leaving all the lights on all the time – better, but not addressing the underlying issue.
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My wife and I have started using different transportation for different purposes instead of defaulting to the car for everything. Bike to the grocery store for small trips. Walk to nearby restaurants and bars. Take the train when we visit her sister in New York. Still drive plenty, especially for work and when we need to haul stuff, but probably thirty percent less than we used to.
Saves money, gets us more exercise, often less stressful than dealing with traffic and parking. And yeah, better for the environment, though that's more of a side benefit than the main motivation. The main motivation is that it's often easier and cheaper than driving.
Got Tony interested in trying some alternatives too. He bought an electric bike for getting around the neighborhood on weekends, says it's great for quick trips to the hardware store or visiting friends without having to warm up the truck. His teenage daughter uses it to get to her job at a local restaurant, saves the family from having to coordinate car pickups and dropoffs.
The future of transportation isn't just about what powers our vehicles – it's about having <a href="https://zeroemissionjourney.com/the-future-of-green-transportation-beyond-electric-cars/">the right vehicle for each type of trip</a>. Sometimes that's an electric car, sometimes it's a bus, sometimes it's a bike, sometimes it's walking. The key is building infrastructure and policies that make all these options viable instead of forcing everyone into cars by default.
That's where I think the real environmental and economic benefits will come from – not just cleaner vehicles, but fewer vehicle trips overall, and right-sized vehicles for the trips we do take. Electric cars are just the beginning, not the end goal.
Larry’s a mechanic by trade and a minimalist by accident. After years of chasing stuff, he’s learning to live lighter—fixing what breaks, buying less, and appreciating more. His posts are straight-talking, practical, and proof that sustainable living doesn’t have to mean fancy products or slogans.
