I’m still bitterly disappointed we’ve reached 2017 and I still don’t have a jet pack for getting around.
I was promised one by Raymond Baxter on Tomorrow’s World decades ago, yet here I am still trundling about in a rusty Megane.
https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/uk/british-inventor-built-iron-man-like-flight-suit/
However, that could change when the powers-that-be banish new cars with internal combustion engines by 2040.
Given this decree is issued by a Westminster government which couldn’t find its backside with a map, I shall not be holding my breath.
But at least it looks like we are on the verge of going green with electric and hydrogen cars, or hybrids thereof.
To be honest, I have long had my doubts about electric vehicles. I mean, how can they be as fast or as powerful as proper cars.
And how far can you go before you have to put another two bob in the meter?
And will we really all have charging cables trailing out the house to our motors? Oh, but won’t the health and safety czars have a trip hazard field day.
But my cynicism was tempered recently when I had to take a taxi from Heathrow to a hotel on our family hols.
The smart black motor that turned up was swish beyond swish to the point even I commented on it – and my interest in cars is on a par with my passion for football.
But this thing was smart … with a huge screen in the dashboard attracting my attention and prompting: “Do you get Sky on that?”
The proud driver proceeded to tell us all about what we were in – a Tesla.
He showed us how fast it could accelerate … like pushed back into your seat fast.
He told us he could get around 280 miles between charges, how it was a dream to handle, how its safety features included an anti-crash system that wouldn’t allow him to drive into a wall.
Then he told us the price. In excess of £75,000. Ouch.
But still, this was a gadget on wheels and if I can’t have a jetpack I want one of those. Can’t afford one, like, but want one.
I suppose it came a step closer with the new Tesla Model 3 that checks in at a mere £26,500. Yeah, there should be quote marks around that mere.
The point, though, is electric cars are on a road near us, they are coming down in price, becoming more powerful and, one day, it’s what we’ll all be driving.
So, let’s give the city cooncil a bit of a thumbs up for its drive to get our infrastructure ready for the future. Lord Provost Barney Crockett has been giving it big licks about investment in hydrogen vehicles, about getting the city ready for electric motors, which will hopefully include fixing the potholes.
We need to be doing all that, and more, now. The future is electric. Let’s be ready for it.
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