alt-hist: a world without cars

Anthony · 04-26-2016, 07:29 PM

What do you want to replace them? In the end, wheels are more efficient per ton-mile than legs, and combustion engines are more efficient per unit work than muscle power, and if you can produce food you can produce biofuel, so unless you come up with an alternative that is more efficient than either one, you're going to wind up with motorized wheeled transport, and it's generally easier to lay out roads than lay out rails. You could make them used less if fuel was quite expensive, but that's more likely to just result in small and slow vehicles.

04-26-2016, 07:29 PM	#2
Anthony Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Berkeley, CA	Re: alt-hist: a world without cars What do you want to replace them? In the end, wheels are more efficient per ton-mile than legs, and combustion engines are more efficient per unit work than muscle power, and if you can produce food you can produce biofuel, so unless you come up with an alternative that is more efficient than either one, you're going to wind up with motorized wheeled transport, and it's generally easier to lay out roads than lay out rails. You could make them used less if fuel was quite expensive, but that's more likely to just result in small and slow vehicles. __________________ My GURPS site and Blog.