My grandmother and I spent lots of time together in cars.
In my formative years, she drove me around in her little turquoise Fiat Uno, from school to home to piano lessons, dancing eisteddfods, doctors’ appointments, etc. In her latter years, after the gear box in the Uno could grind no more, we swapped roles, and I sat in the driver’s seat of my 1998 Toyota Corolla and chauffeured the weekly grocery shopping, more doctors’ appointments, and occasional café excursion. Much of our relationship was defined by the transition between A and B. In cars, we fought traffic, while discussing life’s absurdity, joys, injustices, and follies.
Appreciating Soft Travel
We had a lot in common – chief of which were our high sensitivities. Loud revving of engines would incite a stern look and smells would receive loud comments.
What I wouldn’t give to experience driving her around in a car that didn’t use petrol. The amount of gossiping we could get through without the roar of an engine getting in the way of her hearing aids would be unprecedented.
I can’t help but imagine the improved quality of life brought about by an absence of petrol fumes. Studies have since shown that air pollution from tailpipe emissions can affect everything from heart health to cognitive function, especially for the elderly. The absence of that low, constant exposure would have made a quiet difference in her day-to-day wellbeing.
Regenerative Breaking To Steady The Heart-rate
Despite countless admissions of “I’m sorry but I am a backseat driver”, my grandmother never held back on her comments on how I handled a vehicle. She would grip, white knuckled, to the assist handle above the passenger door any time I reached a speed greater than 40 km/h, and no sharp break or turn would go unaccompanied by a “Oooh! Be careful my darling!”
I was always extra cautious with her in the passenger seat, but it would take more than that not to trigger her fight or flight response. Smooth, quiet acceleration, soft regenerative braking, and the low, consistent hum of an electric motor would have us both driving with muscles untensed, less cortisol secretion, and fewer gasps of horror on the freeway.
Maybe I could have flipped on the massaging seats for a bit of lumber support. The VW ID.4 Pro of my dreams could have provided soothing back care to accompany us through the lane changes.
Long-Distance Travel in Style
She wasn’t one for long distances, my grandmother. A trip from Cape Town to Somerset West for an Embroiderers’ Guild Convention would take weeks of planning and steeling her nerves for the treacherous 40 minute odyssey.
As transport evolves to electric, travelling is becoming more like sitting in your favourite armchair while watching the world pass by. A journey that is smooth, calm, and safe could have had her doing her finest embroidery in the passenger seat, rather than popping Rescue Remedies and taking deep breaths to quieten the distress.
And with today’s EVs offering generous screens and entertainment systems, she might’ve even passed the time watching an episode of Doc Martin or a soothing David Attenborough nature documentary.
Who knows, with the emergence of the wholesome farmstall-charging station collaborations we’re starting to see pop up, we could have gone even farther afield than Somerset West!
Driving Off Into The Sunset
New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) are becoming more like little portable homes than the rattling, fume-dense, roaring-engined motorcars of yore. The period of transition between two points is becoming a calm, restful experience, better-suited to those more gentle-natured amongst us.
Cars are spaces we tend to spend in contemplation, or comfortable conversation, oftentimes with loved ones. Though there was nothing more off-putting to my beloved grandmother than new technology polluting her known world, I like to imagine what it would have been like to drive her around in an NEV. Like her, they make their passengers feel comfortable, heard, and properly cared for – and she would certainly have understood the value in that.
Jennifer Worthington-Smith is the Multimedia Designer, Content Creator and Illustrator for Zero Carbon Charge. She is driven by the South African project and helping humanity to lighten their heavy tread on our land.
