World's cheapest car an 'environmental disaster' for India

You know, the cities with the highest density number 3 till to number 7, are cities of India. Three interesting reports about congestion in India.

I read it accidentally on ABC news and I took it complete in our blog, because I don't know how long will it be readable (we have some links, which doesn't more working because the report was deleted).

Anyway, the link is http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/11/2136595.htm and if it doesn't work the report is below.

By South Asia correspondent Peter Lloyd

Posted Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:45pm AEDT
Updated Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:55pm AEDT

At three metres long, 1.6 metres high and 1.5 metres wide, the Nano lives up to its compact name. (Reuters: Tata)

Something akin to a motoring revolution has been unveiled in India - a compact car that will sell for a little over $2,500 when it hits the market later this year.

The makers of the Nano believe it will revolutionise how India's 1.1 billion people get around, but critics say it will be an environmental disaster in a country already plagued by chronic air and noise pollution.

The theme from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey played as the Nano was unveiled at the annual Delhi car show by Ratan Tata, the head of India's industrial giant Tata Industries.

"We are very pleased to present these cars to you today," he said.

"They are not concept cars, they are not prototypes. They are the production cars that will roll out of the single plant later this year."

At three metres long, 1.6 metres high and 1.5 metres wide, the Nano lives up to its compact name.

It is a four-door, rear-wheel drive with a two-cylinder gasoline engine that claims to offer 20 kilometres per litre.

But the biggest attraction is not performance, it is price - 100,000 rupees - a little over $2,500 before on-road costs.

The target market is the many million of Indians who currently use a motorbike for family transport.

Environmental concerns

Still, many months before the car becomes available, potential buyers on the streets of New Delhi seem easily sold on the idea.

"Those people who are riding motorcycles these days can drive a car and they will find it easier to drive a car in the streets," one Indian man said.

"Everyone can afford this car."

The prospect of the Nano's popularity scares environmental campaigners in India, Centre for Science and Environment spokeswoman Anumita Roychowdhury said.

"There is just no room left for more cars in Delhi. If you really look at the city, the roads are already congested," she said.

"Data shows that we have even gone beyond the designed capacity of the roads.

"The traffic speed has come down drastically from 35 to 40kph to 12 to five kph [at] the peak traffic volume.

"Now that clearly brings out the fact that it is a crisis that we need to deal with, because [of] both the congestion and pollution impact.

"This cheap motorisation that is now going to explode in Indian cities, we are not prepared for it at all."

The Nano is the brainchild of Mr Tata, the 70-year-old head of the family company. And the old man bristles at criticism the car may not be eco-friendly.

"We may as well come to grips with the fact that all the things that you ask for may not be in a one-lakh (100,000 rupees) car and all the things that might be there in an eco car, may not be possible for one lakh," he said.

"Take it as it is. It's a car that's affordable, provides transport, meets all safety laws, meets all emission laws present and future.

"[It] will be a reliable form of transport which will provide Indian families an all-weather means of safe transport."

But it is not just the Nano for India. In two or three years' time, Mr Tata wants to roll out export version of the Nano to developing countries around the world.

Delhi residents cough, wheeze as pollution soars

You know, the cities with the highest density number 3 till to number 7, are cities of India. Three interesting reports about congestion in india.

I read it accidentally on ABC news and I took it complete in our blog, because I don't know how long will it be readable (we have some links, which doesn't more working because the report was deleted).

Anyway, the link is http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/17/2140973.htm and if it doesn't work the report is below.

Posted Thu Jan 17, 2008 5:01pm AEDT

The total number of cars in Delhi leap 50 per cent to 1.6 million over the last five years (File photo). (Reuters: Krishnendu Halde)

A stay in India's capital often leads to a case of the notorious "Delhi belly", but as pollution rises, many visitors and residents are suffering from the Delhi itchy eye and hacking cough too.

Authorities blame the rise in pollution squarely on a jump in diesel cars, the fumes of which are routinely cited in medical studies as a major health risk.

About a third of the nearly 1,000 new cars that hit the city's roads every day are diesel models, which are becoming popular because the fuel is cheaper than petrol.

But while there is a financial saving, experts warn that it comes at a serious pollution and health cost.

They say New Delhi is rapidly losing the air quality gains made after switching its diesel bus fleet to compressed natural gas six years ago.

Pollution figures show a steady rise in diesel-linked pollution during the past five years, a period that saw the total number of cars in Delhi leap 50 per cent to 1.6 million.

Anumita Roychoudhury from New Delhi's Centre for Science and Environment notes that carbon monoxide levels are falling despite an increase in the number of petrol cars.

However, "for diesel cars, the increase in vehicle numbers and increase in nitrogen dioxide are strongly correlated," she said.

She points to "horrendously" high levels of lung-irritating soot linked to exhaust-pipe diesel emissions, which environmentalists regard as one of the most toxic forms of air pollution.

Ms Roychoudhury has urged India to adopt ultra-clean car standards cutting diesel sulphur levels.

"You need a technology leapfrog," she said.

Tiny, cheap new car

The planned launch of the world's smallest car, the Nano, by India's Tata Motors has further heightened concerns about increased congestion in the city even though it is only producing a petrol version.

The makers of the car, meant to retail for 100,000 rupees ($2,900), insist its emissions are as low or lower than any two-wheeler on Indian roads and meet European standards.

Sunita Narain, who directs the Centre for Science and Environment, says that's only half the point.

"I am not fighting the small car," she said.

"I am simply asking for many more buses and bus lanes - a complete change in mobility."

Ms Narain was behind the push for the Supreme Court to order the New Delhi bus system to shift to natural gas.

"The solution is not to ban the 100,000 rupee car, [but] tax it like crazy until it [India] has a proper mass transit system," she said.

Asthma

Doctors say they too have seen the worrying effects of the rise in diesel car numbers.

Randeep Guleria, a chest specialist at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, the country's largest public hospital, said the high pollution level triggered asthma in people where the condition previously had been latent.

"We are seeing a lot of such patients, who did not have any problems when they were outside and when they move to Delhi they suddenly develop symptoms," he said.

One of Dr Guleria's patients, 59-year-old Madhu Puri, says her asthma symptoms improve during the six months she spends with a son in New Jersey in the United States. But it is a different story when she comes back to the Indian capital.

"It has been really bad since I came back in November. I cough all night," she said.

"If I go to America or a foreign city I feel better."

A panel of US Environmental Protection Agency has described diesel fuel exhaust as a "likely human carcinogen," linking it with lung cancer and asthma attacks.

Some studies show children are among the worst-affected by the dense haze that often shrouds the city, and doctors frequently tell parents to keep their children indoors when smog levels are particularly high.

Researchers believe particulates, or tiny particles of soot, interfere with the respiratory system because they are so small they can be breathed deeply into the lungs.

In a survey of almost 12,000 city schoolchildren late last year, 17 per cent reported coughing, wheezing or breathlessness, compared to just 8 per cent of children in a rural area.

Twisha Lahiri from India's Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute led the study.

What researchers saw were the effects of "chronic exposure from living in Delhi," she said.

- AFP

Cheap cars for India threaten environment

You know, the cities with the highest density number 3 till to number 7, are cities of India. Three interesting reports about congestion in india.

I read it accidentally on ABC news and I took it complete in our blog, because I don't know how long will it be readable (we have some links, which doesn't more working because the report was deleted).

Anyway, the link is http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/28/1964129.htm and if it doesn't work the report is below.

Posted Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:45am AEST
Updated Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:51am AEST



Roads in India are already congested with traffic. (Reuters: Krishnendu Halde)

It may be an Indian consumer's dream - cheap cars for $A3,000-$A3,600 within reach of millions of people in the swelling middle class. But it could also prove to be a traffic and environmental disaster.

Nissan Motor Co and Renault SA announced last week they were studying a $A3,600 car to compete in India against Tata Motors Ltd's planned low-cost "People's Car" targeted at a similar price to hit the market next year.

For its supporters, cheap cars like these are what the Volkswagen Beetle was to Germany or the Mini to England - the spoils of an economic boom for aspiring middle classes.

To its detractors, India will see an explosion in traffic and pollution on its already clogged roads from its more than 1.1 billion inhabitants.

It will add to India's CO2 output just as many Western nations push the Asian giant to control emissions.

Anumita Roychowdhury, associate director at the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, says India cannot cope with expansion at this pace.

"It's just not sustainable, whether from an environmental point of view or in terms of congestion," she said.

The World Bank this year said air pollution in India was already "of great concern".

Swelling middle class

India has low car ownership rates - there are seven to eight cars per 1,000 people compared with 300-500 cars per 1,000 people in many Western nations - but annual passenger vehicle sales in India are expected to double to two million units by 2010.

In New Delhi alone, more than 200,000 vehicles are added to its streets every year, where they battle with cows, rickshaws and motorbikes for space.

It is all part of a middle class that will expand by 10 times from its current size of 50 million to 583 million by 2025, according to consultancy firm McKinsey.

Well-known Indian auto columnist Murad Ali Baig says it is a colossal market.

"The low-price car market is already robust," he said.

"Imagine what will happen when even cheaper cars are available? The question is - where are all the bloody roads to cope?"

The Government is busy trying to build and widen highways across the country, including a highway system that will link New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

Pollution

But air pollution is already at "critical levels" in more than half of India's main cities, according to the Centre for Science and Environment.

Environmentalists say that while new cars will have emission limits, these are still 10 years behind European levels.

"Cars in India will be on the road for between 10 and 15 years and no one will monitor to see if their emissions worsen over the years," Ms Roychowdhury says.

"India is creating a car culture just when other countries are trying to learn from their mistakes."

But many Indians who weave their motorbikes in between traffic would jump on the chance of the comfort of a car.

Aman is a 39-year-old Indian chauffeur who earns about $A180 per month driving his employers' cars.

"If I can buy a 30,000 rupee scooter, then I can now hope to buy a car for 100,000 rupees when it comes out. Now, people like me can think about owning a car," he said.

"I drive cars for my employers. Maybe I will drive my own car one day."

Officials say they are boosting public transport, pointing to metro plans in major cities. In New Delhi, the Government's switch of buses and taxis to cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) cut carbon monoxide levels by up to 80 per cent.

Companies like Tata say they upgraded all their four to six cylinder engines to meet international emissions standards. The company has manufactured CNG versions of buses.

PK Nanda, director of the government-run Central Road Research Institute, says it is a democracy so the Government cannot stop people buying cars.

"We don't want more personalised vehicles, but if there have to be more cars, small is better than large," he said.

- Reuters

dense urban areas

OMoCo may create ideas for vehicle in dense urban areas. If we think about dense urban areas, we should have a look about our experience with population and area. Because our home town is often quite different to a metropolitan area. Our imagination about density is quite different. To give us a imagination, I tried it with the following charts. If you click on the picture, it should be go larger.

In the first row you see the 20 largest metropolitan areas. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_by_population
The blue circle shows the population, the brown circle the area. The parameters for the circles are always the same, but calculated by my own algorithm to show you the relationship. The numbers in the first row are the ranking in relationship to population. Biggest metropolitan area is Tokio, with more than 32,000,000 people. In comparison, number 4 is New York. Around 20,000,000 people, but with more space than Tokio. Have a look to number 5. It's Mombai in India, same population like New York, but really less space. You can't see a brown circle. There is no space for people. See also Kolkata - India number 14 , Cairo - Egypt number 16 and Karachi - Pakistan as number 20 .

The second row shows the city areas. It's different to the metropolitan areas, because without suburbs. See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_population
The numbers on the lower row shows us the ranking of density. First is Cairo, 16th in population, with a density of 37,000 people each square km. See that also in comparison to New York, 10,578 people each square km, or London 18th in population with a density of 4,697 people.
37,000 people each square km means each person has only 27 square m as space to live. Streets to drive and parks to walk are included. London City are 213 square m each person.

Interesting about density. You see, number 3 till to number 7, are cities of India.

Also the growth rate in these cities are very high. But the highest growth rate has Lagos in Nigeria. 429,870 people each year, equal 4,45 %. The second is also a africa country, Kinshasa with 4,24 %, 336,232 people. The third, Dhaka in Bangladesh is just the second in density.

Now, please think not in population, please think in cars which they want sooner or later!


Let's have a look to our city experience. First have a look to Dunedin.
You see. The area is as large as Delhi in India or Hong Kong in China. But in Dunedin are only 122,000 people. It's a density of 37 each square km. In the equal area of Dunedin live 18,600,000 people in Delhi!!!
Each people in Dunedin has a average area of 27,000 square m. You remember? Cairo has 27 square m each person.

I'm often in Zurich. Because I'm teaching at the university. Isn't it interesting, that Zurich has near the same density of population like Tokio or Seoul. I can't believe it, because Zurich is such a beautiful city. But, it's true, the traffic is sometimes a horror. Perhaps, Zurich could be a test field for vehicles which could be use in Tokio or Seoul. And, let's have a look to other small cities which could be a test field. Which part of Dunedin could be a test field for other dense urban aeras?

 have arrived

thks

bill