One million six hundred thousand kilometers (one million miles). That's the distance a 2014 Tesla Model S traveled, arguably becoming the first electric car to reach this milestone. It seems like an extraordinary record, but it could become the rule. Thanks to their mechanical simplicity and advances in technology and costs of batteries, electric cars promise unprecedented longevity on the road.
Before long, we may be entering an era where the car we buy may be the last one we ever need. Possible? Safe. Provided that car manufacturers embrace a new philosophy, far from the planned obsolescence that has dominated the industry for decades.
The electric car marathon
Think about it: a car that can travel one million six hundred thousand kilometers. It's crazy stuff, as the first Beppe Grillo would have commented. Basically a runner who completes 38 marathons in a row. Tirelessly. Without cramps. And without even sweating too much. It's every motorist's dream (and every runner's dream, but that's another story). And with electric cars, it can really become a reality.
Why? You know that. Few moving parts and none of the complicated mechanisms that make petrol cars so prone to wear and tear. In an electric car, there are no pistons whizzing up and down, no timing belts spinning wildly. Just a quiet, efficient engine, ready to take you on the road wherever you want, for as long as you want.
Batteries that last a lifetime (or two)
The real star of the show is the drums. Just like your trusty smartphone, electric car batteries lose some of their maximum charge every year. Between 1 and 2%, to be precise.
Unlike your phone, which after a couple of years struggles to last until the evening, electric car batteries are designed to grind out kilometers after kilometers, for decades. Of course, they should be made easier to repair. On the contrary not impossible.
Back to the batteries. Researchers provide which could last up to 100 years (with or without a nuclear soul, also because that one lasts 50). Buying an electric car when you are young and passing it on to your children, and perhaps even your grandchildren, would become commonplace.
Because all this idyllic story doesn't find the main road
There is an obstacle on the road to “automotive eternity”: the manufacturers. You see, as tempting as the idea of a car that lasts virtually forever might be, for manufacturers it could be a nightmare. After all, if everyone had a car like that, who would buy new ones?
For this reason, even if technology allowed it, car manufacturers could be tempted to insert some of that famous "planned obsolescence" into electric cars too. Perhaps with software updates that mysteriously slow down older cars, or with new features that are incompatible with previous models. Plausible, right?
And yet it moves (for life)
The idea of a car that lasts a lifetime is as appealing to the user as it is terrible to the car manufacturers. Think of the benefits for the environment: less waste, less extraction of raw materials, less energy spent in production.
And think about convenience: no more worries about maintenance costs, no more stress about looking for a new car every few years. Just you and your faithful road companion, ready to accompany you for kilometres, kilometres, kilometres.
Of course, it will take a change of mentality. On the part of car manufacturers, who will have to embrace longevity as a value. And also on the part of consumers, who will have to learn to become attached to their cars as one becomes attached to a family member. If we succeed, however, the future of mobility will be brighter, more sustainable and more fun than we ever imagined.
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