Page 81 - Motoring World (January 2020)

Proudly home-made project, Dr Bhatti’s Reva!

Creature comforts? How about a nice cushion?

long, long time. The Internet is full
of documentaries and reports to
that effect. But industry is built on
profit and there’s more of that in
assembling an engine with hundreds
of parts as opposed to one — the
motor — in an EV. Also, there’s
the question of what to do with
hundreds of thousands of engineers
in the workforce at different stages of
their lives and careers. The younger
ones might adapt, but there’s
definitely going to be collateral
damage with a switch to electric
cars. New technology always affects
society. And that’s where it comes
full circle.
People chose internal combustion
over electric in the early 1900s and
that choice has come around to
chomp on our backsides. I don’t
think petrol and diesel cars are
going anywhere any time soon,
but the future does seem to be
full of sockets and high-voltage
cables. Electric vehicles will
remain a form of transport — we
all need it — but I don’t think
they will become the expressions
of art that living, breathing IC
bikes and cars can be. After more
than a century, the revenge of the
electric car is on the horizon, but
it’s indifferent and impersonal. Or
maybe I’m wrong about all of this
and EVs will actually spawn whole
new generations of poets. The
background noise to these thoughts
was the Kona’s high-pitched whine
under acceleration, and it may well
Meet the guy who hates EVs more than anyone in the world. And it’s not because we boxed him in
have been a triumphant scream. ■

JANUARY 2020 | MOTORING WORLD 81