A multitude of technological developments that have been going on for years have a chance of converging to drastically affect the way we think of driving, and transportation in general. If this convergence happens the results could be nothing short of incredible, and the impact can go beyond transportation alone.
Here are five technologies that may very well represent the future of driving, and in doing so, drive us towards a very interesting new world of possibilities.
1. Electric Cars
No longer a distant dream these gasless, clean, all electric high tech machines are already hitting the roads. Companies such as Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors are pushing them hard, and standing their ground against the naysayers. Other companies around the world are advancing their own innovations such as the croatian Rimac Automobili.
The promise is clear. No emissions, no smell, no noise (unless you want it), and potentially far lower overall environmental impact in a machine that can provide you with the same driving power as the “traditional” gas guzzlers. What do the naysayers have to complain about?
Well, the mileage for one thing. On long travels your mileage on a single charge between charging stations is still questionable, even when you account for their superb ability to actually charge back the batteries when driving downhill. And when you do get to a charging stations, it may take up to an hour rather than a few minutes to be fully tanked with power and ready to go.
Speaking about the future though, and pretty near future at that, these types of issues will look like mere hiccups. The fact is that the tech is improving, the batteries are getting better, and the network of charging stations is gradually being built up. In Tesla’s case they are known as superchargers and are completely solar powered, free to all Tesla owners, and feeding excess power back to the grid. When you look at gas prices these days even the most enthusiastic gas addicts should take notice. The bottom line wins.
Other complaints include more innocuous issues like “but it’s just not the same without that good old vroom vroom sound”, but besides mentioning that some electric car manufacturers actually have built in speakers to simulate whatever favorite car acceleration and deceleration sounds you like, we’ll leave that discussion for coffee table banter.
Drew
“In Tesla’s case they are known as superchargers and are completely solar powered” = FALSE
None of the superchargers are solar powered … this is a complete myth. There are 2 in the US that have a few solar panels but these are not enough to power the cars. The superchargers are powered by the grid which gets is electricity from coal and natural gas 67% of the time.