Anyone who’s ever driven along inside a hybrid automobile knows one thing for sure: the little buggers don’t seem very future-y (EDIT: except for that zero-noise problem caused when hybrids enter electric mode – blind pedestrians have often complained of the dangers associated with hybrid cars’ mime acts, and legislation is in the works to add a completely manufactured noise to these silent running green mobiles). Stocked with all the traditional components, optional luxuries and safety standards most modern cars on the road enjoy, what separates a hybrid looms under the hood and in various tightly sealed spots throughout the car’s many joints and crannies. But those parts are hidden, usually out of reach of most drivers, left largely unappreciated. (Imagine, for a second, a hotrod sans big tires, without a massive engine spilling out from ports in the hood – how can we appreciate what we can’t see, what defines the thing for which we assign so many adjectives?) So what really separates hybrids from conventional vehicles? The truth of the current hybrid’s appeal lies in knowing that the driver of a hybrid is part of something special, a movement slow in the making, a social experiment meant to buck the status quo and propel us into a new generation of automotive design and capabilities. It’s less what’s in the car than knowing what it does to the world around us, but also to the highly conceptualized self. To drive a hybrid is to know that you’re leading the pack, history itself, into an age where conscientious citizens created the birthing grounds for the end of conventional cars. Their money, their commitment, their vision, even all the silly selfish whoa-look-at-me reasons are one in the same: to drive a hybrid is to long for a future of flying cars. Well, not just flying cars, but cars built on the hydrogen fuel-cell concept, or big-rigs traveling the countryside by sheer photovoltaics. Hybrid automobiles stand, at present, as a peak into the future, of that we can agree – and, yet, how will this all pan out?
As you read this, Mercedes-Benz is hard at work in Spain – get this! – fully producing lease-option zero-emissions vans. The Vito line of E-Cell vans work off of a 100-percent lithium-ion battery pack that’s at once compact and powerful (one charge nets drivers a full 80-some miles of drivability at 50 miles per hour, with horsepower rated between 80 and 94). The best part? Advances in battery technology mean this van charges back to full power in six hours, or a measly three hours on a higher-output outlet. A full-featured cargo van that handles my daily driving requirements, emits zero greenhouse gases, and it charges about as fast as my cellular phone? I’d call that a bit more future-y! Second-best part? The van’s just one design utilizing the E-Cell concept – sports cars, muscle cars, sedans, they’re being released in limited trial volumes all around the world.
Still on the electric front is a recent Toyota-Tesla partnership worth more than $50 million, an IPO worth nearly $300 million, and an electric car concept that has investors, customers and tech geeks frothing at their mouths for more information on this potentially groundbreaking technology that, notably, wouldn’t stand a chance if hybrids, green-thinking and anti-gas tinkerers weren’t currently all the rage. That's right: hybrid cars are fueling our societal engines in many more ways behind the scenes.
About ten years ago, hydrogen fuel-cell automobiles were the talk of the town. With zero emissions, researchers were sure this option, however hypothetical it once was, would still stand as the gas-killer. Sadly, research into fuel cells stymied, at least in the public eye. Behind the scenes, big motor companies were pouring millions of dollars into test programs like Project Driveway. But what the intervening years produced was a sub-society hell-bent on hybrids and electric-powered vehicles; society as a whole still can't seem to ditch the gas addiction. As common sense dictates, though, if the electricity of a hybrid auto dies out on a road trip, the gasoline is then tapped, the result of which is – duh – emissions. As the technology progresses, we might find ourselves looking at hydrogen fuel-cell and electric hybrids, vehicles where – if the electricity dies – the fuel cells kick in and, snap, the road trip isn’t spoiled by the collective unconscious’ guilty conscience, ‘cause hydrogen fuel cells equal zero emissions! Exclamation point! Again, though, the reality of today is tied undeniably to a future where hybrids, or at least highly evolved electric cars, dominate the scene.
Aside from the highly elusive consumer-level nuclear-powered Jeep Wrangler, solar power stands as our only other immediate prospect, at least in terms of this dialog. However, according to most sources, solar-powered cars are a distant dream. Truth is, most cars lack sufficient retail space to support solar cells to any highly beneficial end given today's current sun harnessing capabilities and physical panel tech. As it stands, only a few outfitters (including Toyota via its 2010 Prius) posit even slight gains with solar panel installations, and those are left primarily to the Prius, which is sad. So, time will only tell to what extent we're able to more efficiently harness the sun's rays, and to what extent automobiles will benefit from those glorious beams.
So what are we talking about here? Did I just bore you with several technologies you already knew too much about? I hope not, and here's my point: the central idea with Green Thinking is that our actions today have consequences tomorrow. Too often, we tout the negative impact of our actions today without admitting that, certainly, our actions have led to a surge in hybrid popularity. The market is extensive, and manufacturers can barely keep up with demand. Taken a bit further, our slowly creeping Green Obsession is leading irrevocably to newer technologies, the money to explore them, and creative ways of implementing previously unthinkable variations of so many themes.
The truth is, the future is now. But the future could disperse into the the Land of Coulda if the present-future paradox fails to inject more money and interest into these sorts of options, these sorts of combinations. Sometimes, it doesn't matter why in the present we do anything -- what matters, oftentimes, are the long-lasting consequences of our actions today. Don't just drive green to impress your friends -- drive green 'cause it'll one day lead to our grand kids flying nuclear-powered Mazaratis, and that's just awesome.
By Jason White
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