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6 » LENSES June 2018 | AutoData Personal File WHAT TO SAY, THEN? It is useful, and mainly pleasant, to go back to the past to remember a story, although, like in this case, it present itself as fiction – and what fiction! Wheels as work of Arthur Hailey, from 1971, as my copy, from the 15th edition published by the Nova Fronteira Editora, was bought in 1984. It is reasonable to date its descriptions from 1968 to 1970. The vehicles industry, as proved itself again, not from today it recognizes the virtues of the future, of the effective combat against the air pollution generated by the internal combustion engines powered by fossil-fuel until the sub-issue of the clean engines – but always as a work of the future. For an industry that plans 10 years in advance the automobiles it loves a little procrastination in a way to take the last possible profit’s penny of every investment even if it costs delays and losses to society. WHAT TO SAY, THEN? 2 Follow the dialogue excerpt of two executives with a group of journalists on page 64: “Over time, - intervened Elroy Braithwaite [Adam Trenton’s boss] - we believe there must be progress on the batteries, with enough stored energy in small dimensions. And what’s more, there is great potential for electric vehicles in the downtown traffic. But based on everything we know, it is possible to foresee that this will not happen before the 1980s.” “And for those who think electric cars will stop air pollution - Adam [head manager of product planning] added - there’s a factor that many people forget. Regardless of the type of batteries used, they need to be recharged again. So, like hundreds of thousands of cars connected in electricity sources, there will be a need for a much larger number of power plants, each generating its own air pollution. Since power plants are usually built in the suburbs, what will happen is that we end up taking the mist out of the cities and transferring it there.” WHAT TO SAY, THEN? 3 In 438 pages of text Hailey talks about steam engines, which was the way how the industry at the time referred to the idea of fuel cell, discusses the lower weight and the greater efficiency along with the low cost, signs with hybrid and electric vehicles. It promises new materials, lighter types of steel that would absorb the force of impacts - 47 years ago. And it also describes computers embedded in the dashboards that make braking a regenerative energy action. It is, in synthesis, a very up- to-date conversation, it seems like a today’s conversation with any reasonably well-informed executive in the vehicle industry. WHAT TO SAY, THEN? 4 So what? Nearly fifty years later, hybrids and electric vehicles seem even closer - but how much, after all, for decent access of some of the largest part of the economically active Brazilian population? More: what to say then, about the autonomous vehicles?