The all-electric impossible challenging future
Part 1.
Preamble:
In some topics, going fast is not a sign of your remarkable intelligence; it is merely a sign of disregard for your topic.
As going fast proves that your mechanical brain functions of processing information work well, that you have great focus abilities to keep track of the topic at high speed, it also shows that you are missing out on depth.
While you go fast, is your brain able to grasp the sense of each and single word you use? The almost infinite possibilities of meaning created by the combination of different words? The absolute limitations of the words themselves to render the exact picture of the ideas that surged in your mind?
Excuse my digression, I only open the door to the complexity of communication :)
In absolute terms, understanding each other is impossible. In practical terms, we manage. We reach a consensus where we are able to interact. There is one topic above all where consensus is vital, ENVIRONMENT. As we know, there is only one macro environment: Earth.
Planet Earth - PIXNIO
Here, consensus, indeed, is vital. Looking too deep into a topic can lead to a dead end in terms of action. This I experienced personally. Fast thinking is welcome in the fire of action, but when we talk about the life of a tree for example? Is speed appropriate? How shall we approach the question of cutting down living creatures that were born at the same time as Jesus Christ for making a quick profit?
Michael Taylor measuring the Whelan tree in 2014 - Credit: Laney Griffo/The Sierra Sun Jan 22, 2021
Nowadays everybody wants to go fast. We want the fastest processors, we want a fast lunch because we have on our desk 3 tasks to be ready by yesterday. We want to receive the reply before we even send the message. And we are fascinated (I am), to see our AI assistant have read the 1000 words text and already replying the same split second we type enter.
Finally (and I am slowly coming to my topic), the controversial admiration for fast cars, that are not allowed to go fast anywhere but on a track where, not the people you want, go to admire them! Precisely!
Ferrari cars credit: Wikimedia commons 2011
The car is the perfect vehicle for this (sadly far from obvious) contradiction. Indeed, the car encompasses those two paradoxical tendencies that come challenging ecology on its real meaning:
We are racing towards an all-electric world
We have a love and hate relationship with speed
Let’s focus on the race for an all-electric world and let’s concentrate on cars. The European parliament wants to reach zero-emissions for new cars and vans in 2035. The only engine that can offer zero emissions today is the whole-electric one. It means that in 12 years from now, all new cars and vans on the road should be electric.
Funnily, 12 years is exactly the average age of the European private vehicle fleet! Your first thought might be: “Perfect timing then!” But, no, sorry, it means that people keep their old car for 12 years on average, and, no again, it’s not out of a keen collectionner’s love (for most of them). It’s because they can’t afford a new one. The EU plan, if I understand well, is to push for taxation on carbon emitting transportation, and hoping that every car driver would replace their old smoky one with an electric one.
The average price of an electric is about 35% higher than one with combustion. So, people who earn less would spend the next 12 years paying more taxes and would have to buy a more expensive car in the end, errr…
That’s quite a challenge to start with! But I don’t want you to get too excited so let’s do a bit of history to calm you down (oh noo!). OK, I promise it’s not boring.
picture from https://www.quoteinspector.com/free-car-insurance-images/
End of part 1...
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