Today I was having a chat with my neighbor. He is 80 or so and we were talking about his like of an SUV, but he now drives a sedan in light of gas prices. He had a lot of reasons to drive the SUV that wouldn’t be what you might think, like he had trouble bending to get things in and out of his trunk. Today I happened to be there so I put his cooler in his trunk for him, but he likes to be self sufficient and he is unlikely to call me over just to help. When he gets to his destination, he will have to remove it himself. We discussed alternative fuels (actually you can already get an electric hybrid like a Prius) and whether the big automakers already have technology like this at hand that they are sitting on (a theory I have heard for years).

His take:
1. They don’t have such a technology available and affordable yet or they would be seeking to capitalize on it.
2. They will come up with such a technology, but probably not in his lifetime.
3. Current means of saving (like a Prius) involve very small vehicles which are not desirable to many because of perceived safety issues and small container size that can be uncomfortable or unsuitable if you have cargo or passengers.

I pushed him on his lifetime assessment and pointed out revolutionary things like the Segway (ibot wheelchair and Segway personal transport). He discussed the advance of the cordless (now often cellular) phone in his son’s lifetime and said perhaps progress could come still in his lifetime (perhaps 20 or so years I expect given his health and energy). It will be fun to watch.

This article was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 12:09 am