Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology - July 2021
Opinion
2021-07-21 05:39:05
Roger Atkins
Acorns and marshmallows. This might sound like an odd statement. But it can be interpreted as a comparison on how our minds work, as explained in The Good Ancestor - how to think long term in a short term world by author Roman Krznaric.
The book has jolted me into reviewing my own sense of what happens next – in and around mobility. For example, are we about to swap one finite set of resources simply for a different set? As the French epigram goes: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – the more things change, the more they stay the same
For sure, our addiction to coal, oil, and gas must come to an end, and without doubt, renewable energy certainly looks a lot nicer – and smells better too. However, the mountain of minerals that we now need to deliver the rEVolution alone, could be about to deliver a few unintended consequences both geo-politically, socially, and operationally.
So, we have a conundrum right here and now. We dare not pump too much more fossil fuel emissions into the atmosphere, as the 409.8 ppm 2019 average level (as per the statistics from the NOAA - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) is the highest it’s been since almost the dawn of time, apparently. But are we about to simply place a hugely expensive sticking plaster on it all for a few decades or so?
Therefore, as Krznaric writes in his book, how can the imaginative leap to long-term thinking be transformed into actions that reshape the contours of history?
In my own interpretation of this sentiment: how do we shift our minds away from progressing marshmallow-like solutions such as exciting new electric cars and plant more imaginative acorns into how we build a lasting legacy for generations beyond our grandchildren and great grandchildren?
"I’m asking people to not just think outside the box but imagine there never was a box"
I’m asking people to not just think outside the box but imagine there never was a box. Let your imagination truly take flight if your world has only ever been about marginal gains in engineering thus far. It’s not an impossible notion. Consider that, as you’re reading these words, engineering for moonbase-like structures are being scoped as a staging post for the first human mission to Mars.
If we are to have a future, we need to get on inventing it fast, but very much with a long term vision in mind.
Roger Atkins has been a leading voice in the auto industry for the past 30 years, with the last 15 spent as specialist on EVs. He is the founder of Electric Vehicle Outlook, as well as an author, consultant and brand ambassador to a number of leading companies in the automotive sector
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Opinion
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