When will that ‘light bulb moment’ happen with the car buying public? When will they pivot en masse from fossil fuel powered cars to electric vehicles? Australia’s chief scientist, Alan Finkel, owns two electric cars and says, “You just touch the accelerator and the car responds, whereas in a petrol car there is a lag of two tenths of a second… There is something magical about the responsiveness of it.” And it’s not just EV performance that’s so compelling.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said in the past, “If somebody said you’re gonna pour the liquid remains of dinosaurs into your vehicle and burn them in order to move from one place to another, releasing toxic fumes – and by the way, you better not have your car on in a closed room cause you’re gonna die – you’d say, ‘Why are we doing that?’ People drive basically parked in traffic with the air inlet [open] for their cabin right in front of the exhaust pipe of another car. It’s insane. You’re sucking up the toxic gas from the car in front of you.”
Finkel puts this all in historical perspective, he reminds us, “In the 1880s, the idea of electric street lights seemed absurd. If you had to light the streets, you did it with gas. Gas lamps were a fire hazard, smelled terrible and were barely an improvement on total darkness. Apart from that, they were fine… The problems were obvious, the potential was only visible to those with the courage to look.”
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Above: Before electric lights started to illuminate the world, the dominant form of lighting was gas lamps (Image: Eaton)
Finkel admits that early on, “gas-lamp defenders were right: the first generation electric lights were undeniably more expensive. The technology was untested at scale. Above all, it was unfamiliar. How could you picture a street lit up with 50 times the brilliance of the only lamps you had ever known? How could you project ahead to the night-time economy – the world of cinemas and bars, of night-time shopping and safe city transport, made possible by cheap and abundant electric light?”
As EV battery costs plummet, there are similar parallels to be drawn with today’s auto industry. Finkel notes, “I think of the gas lamp when I hear arguments against electric cars… [and] let’s look at lifestyle and convenience. Imagine if you couldn’t charge your smartphone at home – if you had to schedule time in your day to ‘fill up’ at a public charger. You’d be outraged. So what’s so bad about a car you never have to take to a petrol station? It’s convenient!”
Perhaps Finkel is onto something. Once cars like the Tesla Model 3, Chevy Bolt, and Nissan Leaf begin to hit the mainstream, the car buying public might (finally) envision a brighter future. As these cars move beyond the early adopters, electric cars will boast inherent advantages that will (in retrospect) seem obvious to the masses — zero dirty tailpipe emissions, addictive on-demand torque, and a “gas station” (ahem, charger) in your own garage. Soon, the dark days of dinosaur-juice cars could come to a close… it’s time to turn on the lights.
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Note: Article originally published on evannex.com, by Matt Pressman
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0 likes 3 days ago
0 likes 2 days ago
An electric vehicle will probably never provide the experience of a rumbling , vibrating engine… alive… throbbing like a heart.. breathing, respirating… even belching gas..
Not getting that with any BEV so far..
Yeah.. I know it pollutes.. but when we’re addressing the user experience, there are things folks expect from a vehicle… and those that seek that «living, beating ICE throbbing » will never be satisfied losing it for any cold lifeless EV…
0 likes 2 days ago
This coming from someone who’s upgraded from an AMG GLA45 to a Model S 75. The GLA has some of the best snap, crackle, pop in the business and is a driver’s car. I love my sound and ICE (I own a Ducati too), but I’ll never go back after having a Model S. There is a certain romance about ICE and it’ll always have a place in my heart, but for everyday driving, family car etc, Tesla just destroys to notion.
0 likes 2 days ago
Gas lighting is still used in some of the more quaint towns locally for the warm ambiance they provide which could never be provided by an stark electric light. Gas lights replaced whale oil when whales became scarce and methane grew less costly..
An electric vehicle will probably never provide the experience of a rumbling , vibrating engine… alive… throbbing like a heart.. breathing, respirating… even belching gas..
Not getting that with any BEV so far..
Yeah.. I know it pollutes.. but when we’re addressing the user experience, there are things folks expect from a vehicle… and those that seek that «living, beating ICE throbbing » will never be satisfied losing it for any cold lifeless EV…
The majority of cars on the road are not for an experience though. They are to get from a to b or from a to b in style. There is a reason there are so many civics on the road. When my car rumbles I have to take it into the shop…
So yes in however many years from now there will still be a market for ICE like there is a market for a gas light. However, it will be nothing like the market for EV or light bulbs.
0 likes 2 days ago
