After a discussion a few weeks ago with a colleague about cars, I’ve found myself having an internal argument and conflict over his deep love, Tesla. You see, I’ve become a bit of a petrol head. I’ve always had inclinations that way when, in the late 80’s, my father purchased an old 1966 Ford F100 from a neighbor, to help give the neighbor some extra cash to help them moving.
The truck had a wood rack in the back, and the entire vehicle was a rusting white. My data beefed up the suspension on the back end, so he could haul a large amount of weight when hauling equipment.
Our neighbor was a bit of a weekend warrior. The truck was built for racing, and was WAY overpowered. When my older brother got his drivers license, he ended up getting that truck to drive (since it was an extra vehicle). The truck was eventually handed down to me when I got my license.
The vehicle was a complete gas guzzler, and a whole lot of fun. This big, heavy, loud old truck could beat most cars at a green light (I’ve dusted many Corvette’s and Camero’s in this truck).
I also gained a basic knowledge of auto repair, since it would break quite regularly (for the uninitiated, older vehicles tend to break more, and overpowered vehicles tend to break more, due the stress they put on the rest of the vehicle).
Eventually, the end of my Junior year of high school, we had to put the old girl down. Two weeks before the end of the year, between my brother and I, we had stripped to transmission forks smooth (you would put the truck in gear, but the gears no longer had the ability to engage, so you didn’t go anywhere). We ended up selling the truck to a scrapper for $30 (the only one who wouldn’t charge us a towing fee). Oddly enough, the scrapper put another transmission in the truck, and drove it around town. Our family had moved out of state, and a lot of my friends didn’t realize we had left already, due to that truck standing out like a sore thumb in that town.
For most of the years since, I’ve driven vehicles that got me from point A to point B, but rarely anything that excited me. Until last year. I ended up buying a 1997 BMW 328i convertible from my friends daughter. Given it’s age, I realized I would be doing quite a few repairs on it. But, the price was right (especially for just under 100,00 miles), and when things are working, it’s a blast to drive. Even better on a warm evening with the top down (convertible therapy). It’s a car that I get excited to drive (admittedly, it’s a bit of a mid-life crisis toy).
While I’m not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, I have come to enjoy tinkering on my cars, not just the BMW. I’ve come to appreciate the ability to do repairs, and keep my cars going far longer than most of my contemporaries (all while forgoing a car payment).
Now, when I was having the conversation with my colleague, he’s a Tesla devotee. Where we live is a semi-rural area, with an abundance of retirees. We’re 2 hours from the next big city (Las Vegas, over the state line), and 4 hours from the state capitol. We disagreed that Tesla’s were made a lot of sense for most of the populace here. While I agree they make a lot of sense for urban centers, out here not so much. Of course, that also comes from my viewpoint, where I never know when I’m going to jump in a car and drive 2 hours to Las Vegas, or more commonly, 6 hours back to California. And I rarely have the time to sit for 45 minutes along the way, or at the end to wait for my vehicle to recharge.
He did agree that he would never want to take his Tesla to our State Capitol (due to lack of charging stations), but has no inclination of what I see as wasted time. Don’t get me wrong. I do find the technology very interesting, and a step in the right direction for urban blight. I also don’t buy in to the fact that these vehicles are zero emission. Yes, there is no emissions coming out of the vehicles, but the energy is generated someplace, so it’s displaced emissions. While there are several nuclear power stations in the United States, and a handful of solar and wind stations, the bulk of our power is still generated by coal, which does create emissions. It does calculate better than a vehicle due to scale, but emissions are created.
What also is rarely talked about it the toxic wastelands that are being created in places like South Africa, in extracting the rare earth minerals required to create the batteries. No seems to like to talk about this. Technology always has a double edged sword.
This isn’t wasn’t what created my internal conflict. What has been causing my conflict is what’s coming next: Transportation As A Service. This is the next logical step for urban congestion. Even the administration of my smaller city is touting the future of driver less buses. On the one hand, I completely recognize is large populations the pure efficiency of an automated mass transportation system. Aside from the displaced emissions, and the congestion removed from the roads, the lack of accidents will make huge difference to our lives.
The payoff though, is the loss of freedom, to go where I want and when I want. Also, is the loss of the pure thrill of dropping a gear in beefy vehicle, to raise the revolutions of motor, and release the new bounded torque, to feel the explosive velocity, and rocket around the idiot in front of you going 5 miles under the speed limit for no apparent reason.
I hope that when Transportation as a Service becomes reality, those of us who love vehicles will still have the ability to enjoy that technology.