Running Head: The Past and Future of Green Transport

The Past and Future of Green Transport

Anand Kumar Siththaranjan

University of California, Berkeley

College Writing R1A

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The Past and Future of Green Transport

Introduction

For the average person, choosing a vehicle was once only about moving from one place

to another with minimum cost and time, yet now with growing concerns over the environment

our perspective has started to shift towards looking at alternatives to our current popular modes

of transports: gas-powered cars and aeroplanes. To do so, entrepreneurs in the transport

industry are looking not to the future but rather to the past to find inspiration.

1. Electric Cars

With cars being a dominant mode of transport, the harm they give to the environment

because of greenhouse gases is a major issue. Electric cars have emerged in todays

environmental discussion as a possible alternative form of transport to fossil fuel-based vehicles.

However, this idea of using electricity as a fuel source is nothing new.

It was in the 1830s when the Dutch inventor Stratingh made the first electromagnetic

cart, which evolved later in the mid-1800s to an electric car that was more cost-effective, quieter

and less noxious than vehicles that utilised gas (Romero, 2009). The first successful electric car

in the US was developed by William Morrison in the 1890s, which was effectively an electrified

wagon capable of moving 6 passengers at a speed of 14 miles per hour (Matulka, 2004). The

Detroit Electric was one of the first electric vehicles that became more popular than gas-

powered cars because the it did not backfire and could travel 80 miles on a single charge.

Yet with Henry Fords development of the assembly line, the mass-produced Model T

in 1908 became quite affordable and accessible to a range of consumers (Matulka, 2014),

making gas-powered cars more appealing. As well as this, the discovery of Texas crude oil and

the development of better US inter-city roadworks in the 1920s made it both cheap and easy

for people to move throughout the country. With this demand for long-distance travel, gas-run

vehicles soon dominated the automotive industry. This began to change in the 60s and 70s with
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the growing gas shortage. Rising oil costs and the growing reliance on cars spurred

manufacturers to develop vehicles like the Vanguard-Sebring (Romero, 2009) and incentivised

Congress to pass legislation like the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and

Demonstration Act of 1976, which authorised the Energy Department to support the

development of electric and hybrid vehicles (Matulka, 2014). These vehicles utilised fuel

sources like hydrogen and alcohol instead of batteries. However, this alternative to batteries

failed due to the costly nature of extracting hydrogen and alike, which increased the cost of

using these fuel sources. As well, producing these fuel sources is not environmentally friendly,

which is counter-productive to the goal of advancing green transport.

In the modern electric car market, the main difficulty that the industry has is the high

cost of long-range batteries. An example of this is the Tesla Roadster, which had a sticker price

of $90,000 when first released in 2006. This is not affordable for many and has partially been

the cause of the lack of interest in the industry. People are primarily motivated by the short

term economic gains that a vehicle provides, and with the strong barriers to entry that the

automotive industry faces for electric vehicle manufacturers, it is difficult for more cost-effective

models to appear and thus change the perception of these cars.

However, the view towards electric cars has begun to change with the growing public

understanding of the effect that greenhouse gas emissions has on the environment. With

climate change joining political discourse and the growing support in the public and scientific

community for it, we are starting to see how we may be permanently affecting the world. This

has spurred automobile manufacturers new and old like Tesla and GM to make developments

in the electric vehicle market. As said, what is primarily holding back the industry is the cost of

long-range batteries, though with these large corporations investing in gigafactories, the cost

could be severely cut down. This is explained by the idea of economies of scale, whereby it is

cheaper to manufacture lots of batteries than a few as there are always fixed costs that are
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shared among the batteries. This is similar to the assembly line method used by Henry Ford

for the mass production of the Model T, which helped to kill the electric car. To do this, there

needs to be both consumers to sell said batteries to and an organisation willing to manufacture

them. With a change in public perception towards electric cars, it is now favourable for these

companies to develop these types of vehicles. With the electric cars lack of reliance on fuel

and the benefit that electric cars can have on the environment, our moral and economic

perspectives on this type of transportation have changed to now favour the electric car.

2. Airships

When planning long distance travel, especially between continents, we immediately

think about aeroplanes. The only alternative seems to be ship travel, which is much slower and

sometimes less comfortable. Many believe that airplanes dont have a significant impact on the

environment. However, this is not quite true for example, an intercontinental flight has more

per-passenger emissions of greenhouse gases than the emissions produced from a car driving

for a year. With an increased public understanding of the impact that airplanes have on the

environment, we are trying to find alternative forms of aerial transportation that can satisfy

consumers needs and wants. With this growing concern, airships have begun to emerge as a

possible cleaner option compare to planes, an idea that was seen in the past as the future of

travel.

In the 1930s, Zeppelins, an early brand of airship, were used to halve the travel the time

between Europe and America, as compared to ships that would take 4.5 days by sea (Laniado,

2000). These airships were first introduced by Count Zeppelin in the early 1900s, who

established the first commercial air transport company. They were manufactured by many of

the great powers at the time, such as Russia, Japan and Germany, and had various uses, from

domestic luxury transport to reconnaissance and a bombing campaign, as used in World War I

by Germany.
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Though airships were seen as the pinnacle of transport in the 1920s, their use slowly

petered out due to a combination of economic and safety reasons. The aspect of airships that

makes them function is the lighter than air idea, that the ships contain a large amount of a gas

that weigh less than air, such as hydrogen or helium, which allows them to rise. Hydrogen is

plentiful compared to helium, and as such was widely used in airships. However, as seen with

the infamous Hindenburg incident, the flammable nature of hydrogen makes it quite

dangerous. As such, helium was used by some as an alternative due to it being inert, as though

it was slightly heavier than hydrogen it was still lighter than air. However, helium is scarce and

as such is much more expensive than hydrogen. In the 1920s, it is estimated that the per craft

cost of helium was upwards of $300,000. Though by 1925 the price decreased to a penny a

cubic foot due to massive government support, it was still a thousand times more expensive

than hydrogen (The Great Airships, n.d). Due to this, airships were slowly overtaken by planes

over the coming decades as the main form of aerial transport.

Now that there is growing environmental concern over how we choose to travel, such as

with the large greenhouse gas emissions that airplanes have, airships have the potential to return

into the aviation industry due to the fact that they are zero-emission vehicles. Though helium is

still more expensive than hydrogen, our current economic outlook is being shaped by our

moral and environmental views enough so that the airship industry could re-emerge. This is

primarily seen with organizations, from government contractors like Lockheed Martin to start-

ups, creating modern day airships that can function for a variety of purposes. Technology has

developed such that airships, like the Hybrid Airship by Lockheed Martin, in the current

market can spend up to 3 weeks in the air with an environmental cost of nearly zero. Future

airships could also possibly travel at a speed of 125mph, the speed of a bullet train, as well as

carry 200 tonnes of freight, the equivalent of 15 school buses. With military, commercial and
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cargo applications, contemporary airships combine the best of both aeroplanes and ships

without hurting the environment.

3. Segways

With increased urbanisation and concern over the environment, the Segway is also

experiencing a resurgence in green transport discussions. This product first emerged as a form

of personal transport in 2001, with its creator Dean Kamen claiming that it will be to the car

what the car was to the horse and buggy. Though highly anticipated throughout the tech

community, it failed to live up to expectations.

Segways were designed for consumers in cities, where they could potentially be more

cost-effective than cars. With a $100 million dollars in investment, Segways were predicted by

John Doerr, the venture capitalist behind successes like Netscape and Ginger, to become one

of the fastest businesses in history to reach $1 billion in revenue (Heilemann, 2011). Though

Kamen had ambitious entrepreneurial goals, his visions werent realised when the Segway was

released. With consumers having to purchase a Segway at $5000, this wasnt in the price range

of the average customer that Kamen wanted to target. Rather, it was big companies like General

Electric and the US Postal Service that could afford the industrial model, which was priced at

$8000 (Heilemann, 2011). However, price wasnt the only reason that people disliked the

Segway. They were designed to be easy to use, yet this itself made people dislike the product

(Graham, 2009). Whereas with bikes or skateboards people expend effort, Segway riding

seems to require no talent or exercise. This is a major image problem that the Segway faces,

and together with its unappealing price it had made consumers disinterested in the Segway.

Peoples concern with travelling from one place to another with ease and, in the case of the

Segway, without ridicule has caused the once highly-anticipated product to be shunned.

However, with oil prices rising some are starting to advocate for Segways. When the

Segway PT debuted in 2001, the average price of gas was $1.25 USD per gallon (Sofge, 2008).
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But in the past decade, gas prices have risen, such as in 2008 when the price reached $4.00

USD. Now with aspects like zero emissions and low cost per recharge becoming more

appealing to the average consumers, the Segway may potentially experience a comeback. Pavle

Milic is an example of a consumer that has changed his opinion. When he moved to Arizona

with his family, he was looking for a car to travel from his home to his restaurant, which was 3.5

miles away. Though the Segway PT has a price tag of $5000, it can be financed at $125 per

month. In contrast to the rising price of gas costing consumers approximately $250 per month,

the Segway has become a more economically appealing option for Milic. The new owner of

Segway, Xiaomi, seeks to change the image of the Segway by making it cost-effective, smaller

and even more fashionable and welcoming to use.

These growing economics concern are also followed by environmental issues that

Segways could have a positive impact upon. With fossil fuels being a major contributor to

increased climate change, and the resulting effect that it has on the environment, Segways

dependence only on electricity makes it more of an environmentally conscious vehicle than its

gas-powered rivals. Now that they are financially viable and environmentally-friendly, Segways

are emerging as part of the future of green transport.

Conclusion

With our understanding that humans have a strong impact on the environment, it has

become imperative for the automotive and aerial transport industries to advance technologies

that minimise their greenhouse gas emissions. Issues like increased climate change have caused

people to reshape their economic and moral judgements about how they conduct their lives,

and specifically how they choose to travel. As such, revisiting old ideas like the electric car,

airship and Segway and modernising them can help lead the way to a greener tomorrow.
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References

Graham, P. (2009). The trouble with the Segway. Paulgraham.com. Retrieved from

http://www.paulgraham.com/segway.html

Heilemann, J. (2001). Reinventing the wheel. Time Magazine. Retrieved from

http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,186660,00.html

Laniado, J. (2000). Slow motion: carried away by airships. Frieze Magazine. Retrieved from

https://frieze.com/article/slow-motion?language=en

Matulka, R. (2014). The history of the electric car. Department of Energy. Retrieved from

https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car

Romero, F. (2009). A brief history of the electric car. Time Magazine. Retrieved from

http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1871282,00.html

Sofge, E. (2008). 4 practical reason the Segway isnt actually that lame anymore. Popular

Mechanics. Retrieved from

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/reviews/a3396/4268712/

The great airships. N.d. Century of Flight. Retrieved from http://www.century-of-

flight.net/Aviation%20history/coming%20of%20age/airships.htm