Good News & Bad News, page-1780

Hey wgdt, Happy to provide some insight if I can but my observations are quite anecdotal as I haven't paid much attention to the EV adoption. I'll be sure to keep akeen eye on it from now though as these lithium companies have come down a long way from their highs.

I think a big contributor to the improved air quality here has been the shut down of a lot of factories several years ago (2016-2017 I think). This picture might help show the improvement because there are bad pollution days but also good Aussie-like days too which is great.

I think the EV's are definitely a contributing factor. In saying that though, there are restrictions on petrol vehicles being inside the 4th ring road of Beijing (i.e. near the middle) as you need a special licence plate which is very expensive...I believe it's something like AUD$5,000 for a motorbike and multiples of that for a car, if you can get one.

To answer your questions about the noise, it's something I hadn't really thought about but the electric vehicles are definitely quiet on the roads. Not sure what it was like before EV's but if it's anything like Ho Chi Minh, it would've been bloody noisy.

In regards to safety, I've converted my Aussie licence (car/motorcycle) and it appears the only road rules here are
1. Don't hit anyone
2. Don't get hit.

Somehow it works fine and cars just move around the bikes and scooters. Bikes and scooters ride closer to the footpath anyway. Honestly, I find riding amongst the cars on my motorbike more dangerous than next to the cars on a scooter/pushbike.

Hope this answers some of your queries.