HARUN KRISHNABALA
Technology has been advancing rapidly since the 19th century and the automotive industry has been advancing alongside it. From electric to level 4 autonomous, cars are becoming more and more detached from the driving experience. Most people find this change exciting, seeing driving as a chore to be avoided. However, some enthusiasts aren't happy with the direction of the industry.
Act 1: An electric revolution
Climate change is the biggest problem my generation has to tackle and it makes sense that those who are environmentally minded want to purchase electric cars. Technology has advanced enough to reach a level where the general consumer can buy and live with an electric car easily. Devices such as 225kW rapid chargers and improvements in battery technology have made electric cars genuinely viable, albeit still expensive. Once the technology has trickled down to lower cost products, the uptake of electric cars will soar as their main disadvantage, the cost-quality tradeoff, disappears.
But there are other factors dissuading electric car use. What are the disadvantages of electric cars in terms of their dynamics and, well, how “fun” they are to drive? It should be obvious that batteries are heavy and so are motors, so naturally electric cars feel quite un-interactive to drive. To compensate, batteries are located low in the car which allows for a lower centre of gravity, improving handling, but not to the level of a traditional vehicle. As a car enthusiast I find it disheartening to feel that we are in the last generation of high performance internal combustion engine (ICE) cars and are going to have to live with these large and unwieldy electric alternatives.
However, some companies are fighting to change electric cars' grim fate.
Act 2: A fight for survival
If you are a company that produces econoboxes, electric cars aren't really going to affect your production rates, as once the cost of electric car technology decreases, a simple swap in powertrain suffices to modernise your cars. But what if you are a company with a small range of models, a flagship car with blistering performance and a strong commitment to the old ways? Well, you would be in the same situation as many high performance manufacturers, such as Porsche. The Porsche 911 is the brand’s most iconic car by a country mile. Yet the company has already stated that it has no plans for an electric 911, so what is the most logical option for a business that electric cars will no doubt make suffer?
The solution is simple: create a new sort of sustainable fuel to power the existing 911s, obviously. This synthetic fuel will be made using wind farms to produce hydrogen via electrolysis. The hydrogen will then be filtered to make synthetic methanol, which can power cars. The whole project is aimed at keeping the 911 name alive until the end of the decade. This strategy will smoothen the transition to electric cars by giving infrastructure time to catch up, and battery technology time to improve, inevitably leading to greater range.
But some companies don’t want to invest in green solutions at all. In fact, Italy is pushing Europe to let it bypass the 2035 target for banning all ICEs. Obviously this is because many supercar producers, such as Ferrari, Pagani and Lamborghini, are based in Italy, and are viewed more as art than machine, which I agree with in many respects.
Act 3: "What is the point of learning 'manual' if we'll have to drive electric anyway?"
This question would most likely be asked by someone who finds driving to be a chore and would love just being chauffeured to their destination instead. And I would sympathise with them. What is the point of driving on a motorway in a straight line for potentially hours on end? Modern technology could save us from this boredom. But at the same time, slowly we are taking away the feel of driving to the point where even a curvy stretch of asphalt can feel dreary in modern cars. From rev-limiters to particulate filters, cars are being fitted with more and more tech to make them as leisurely as possible to drive. Rules and regulations have been put in place to make buying a new high performance vehicle sound as awful as possible.
As we continue to approach the inevitable horizon of electric cars becoming mainstream, spare a thought for those who are passionate about the feel of whizzing along a stretch of track, feeling every bend and never ceasing to slow down. We are now reaching the conclusion of a long running petrol dynasty, and the start of something new. A new generation of "electricheads" (?) will be born and I can only hope that they will preserve the will to drive and not be driven.
[Leading image - A Porsche 911. Porsche represents the apex of sports cars in both EV and ICE formats.]
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