Limits on Car Density !

At the mid point of the twentieth century, the warranty on cars was twelve months, or tweve thousand miles, whichever came sooner.  As we edge our way into the twenty-first century that has widened appreciably.  A five year warranty is now fairly common, and one Korean maker extends that to seven years with unlimited distance covered.

That is even more extended on electric cars.  One Japanese manufacturer is now offering a ten year warranty with ten year service at a fixed price, but there is a distance limitation of 200,000 kilometres travelled.

The standard of engineering has made great strides in recent years.,  All the major manufacrturers now produce a high standard, four cylinder car that sells somewhere about the $20,000 price range.,  Provided it is properly serviced, the owner can expect to travel 300,000 kilometres before that engine shows signs of wear.

High quality and low price have simply inundated the market with cars to the point that we are approaching gridlock.  Billions are being spent to improve the daily commute but the scarcity of parking, both at home and wherever we work is putting a limit on cars as a means of personal transport.

New housing estates tend to shoe horn homes onto ever smaller blocks of land and what used to be called " the backyard " has disappeared.,  This modern home has off street parking for two cars, but the children stay at home longer because of the elevated home prices and their cars need to find a parking place on the streets.

Any district with high employment numbers has become a parking conundrum.  Many require the driver to take a bus trip from where they can legally park to their place of work and this adds to both inconvenience and expense.

We are fast reaching the stage where a long weekend means a tangled mortorway getting to our destination and a similar experience on the trip home.  Even weekend motoring is becoming similar to the mid week commute.

The call to use public transport and leave the car at home falls on deaf ears.,  In the majority of cases, the driver is alone in the vehicle and that is unlikely to change when the car is powered by electricirty and not petrol.  We cling stubbornly to the car as our personal means of transport..

Eventually, the electric car must be cheaper than the internal combustion model because of the limited engineering needed.   We are fast reaching the stage where sharing will be the only viable option to limit cars to the capacity of the road system.

We will probably need a legally sanctioned personal parking space before we can register a car.