Engineering:Short-commute vehicle
A Short Commute Vehicle (SCV) is a powered vehicle designed and used specifically for regular trips (commute) that take less 20 minutes or are less than 10 miles (16 km). The SCV category covers the class of vehicle that is faster than walking (5 km/h or 3.1 mph) and not regulated by other Motor Vehicle Legislation. It would include vehicles regulated under FMVSS500 (USA Low Speed Vehicle Regulation), CMVSS500 (Canadian Low Speed Vehicle Regulation) and certain L-category vehicles (Quadricycle L6 and L7) in the EU. Battery electric vehicles (BEV) are highly suited as Short Commute Vehicles due to their inherent short operating range, however SCVs do not have to be BEVs.
The term Short Commute Vehicle or SCV was coined by David Rush in 2002 in an effort to overcome the negative connotations surrounding terms such as Low-speed vehicle (LSV) or Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) while attempting to raise capital for the production of an electric vehicle called the MOBi under his Paloverde Electric Vehicle Company. The term LSV is generally used in the US and Canada for vehicles covered under the FMVSS500 and CMVSS500 North American Vehicles regulations, while NEV is used by some states and the city of Lincoln, California.
In 1999 during the development of the Think Neighbor Electric Vehicle Rush stated "We need a term for a total vehicle class that does not have the negativity of "Low Speed" or "Electric Vehicle" and will be broadly accepted and adopted to describe the utility that these vehicles serve - they are Short Commute Vehicles".[citation needed]
In the years since Rush made this statement, AARP [1] and IIHS [2] have raised concerns about mixed traffic flows including this class of vehicle. In both cases, the focus of the commentary was on the fact that the vehicles were "Low Speed", rather than being critical of the 85th percentile methodology employed by Transportation Engineers that results in speed limits that are much higher than what was originally intended when the roads were originally designed, overreliance on stop signs and traffic signals to increase traffic safety, and do not acknowledge that bicycles are at least as vulnerable in mixed flows yet do not criticize bicycle driving or narrow bike lanes on roads with high speed limits.
Rush's suggested alternative term for this class of vehicles did not a gain sufficient following to overcome the stigmas associated with "Low Speed". The MOBi never made it past a concept and Paloverde Electric Vehicle Company became defunct in 2004. It was soon joined by the short lived Kurrent, Think Nordic and Zenn, amongst others. Other vehicles with comparable dimensions have survived by increasing top speeds to at least 70 MPH as in the case of the Smart ForTwo and the Toyota iQ. As of 2018, GEM Polaris continues to market and sell their e2 line under the term LSV, but mainly focuses on campuses, planned communities with dedicated paths such as Peachtree City, GA or isolated communities such as Avalon, California.
The book Reinventing the Automobile by Bill Mitchell (MIT) and Larry Burns (GM) describes a Ultra Small Vehicle (USV) in the context of Urban vehicle design which fall under the category of SCVs.
See also
- Low Speed Vehicles
- Neighborhood Electric Vehicles
- Quadricycles
- Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV)
References
- U.S. DOT NHTSA Requirements for FMVSS Low Speed Vehicle
- European Commission Report on L-Category Framework
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