Peapod Mobility
Anything that inches us away from hauling ourselves -- solo -- around in two-tonne hunks of plastic, metal, and whatever else goes into a car, is a good thing. So on Earth Day you can order a Peapod, from Chrysler. It's a GEM car, the kind of neighbourhood car used in gated communities, souped-up golf carts. (At the Alternative Fuels and Vehicles Expo in Florida April 19 and 22 you can check out a GEM, booth 611.) It's great how Peapod Mobility's director calls it "an appliance" in the New York Times Wheels Blog. Why? Mmmmm, it assumes a usefulness, that it has a sole function -- like a washer machine -- and should be used accordingly. You got garden waste? Not easy to haul on a bike (although I do so with a bike trailer). Want to stock up during the grocery store's case lot sale? Okay, I get the grocery store to deliver to my house. Um, gotta haul your kid to school with an unwieldy project, haul their gear to a gig, get your very old dog to the vet, sick grandpa to the doctor? Sometimes you need an appliance for that. In Canada, at least three provinces have OK'd the use of mobility appliances on some roads: Quebec, British Columbia, and Ontario. Quebec has its own mobility appliance, the Zenn. But Peter Arnell, Peapod Mobility's director, also called the Peapod an iPod on wheels because this newer GEM model is a design improvement over the older models that looked like golf carts. "We want to evolve the design language to an eco-iconic one. The idea is something that is charming and brings joy," Arnell told the NY Times. While it might not appeal to everyone, the Peapod is joyful in the way Volkswagen Beetles used to be. And good design can change people's habits -- just look at newspaper redesigns in Eastern Europe. And it is what makes Apple so successful (and expensive.)