The story of car

One of the greatest invention by mankind, I was told, was the invention of wheel and it is quite easy to discern why. This simple shape has definitely shaped our society towards enormous development by dramatically reducing the travel time. Who would imagine an engine without any wheels fitted to it and it was a steam engine which spurred the industrial revolution. It was not long after the industrial revolution when wheel, apart from being seen as a catalyst for industrial growth, started making a more private appearance.In other words, it became an integral part of a car. This was the point when we started thinking of using it for our own private use. This change in role of the wheel in human society was indicative of the basic human nature of manifesting superiority. People who had more money started buying cars and it soon became a status symbol. Obviously, the early version of this private version of a locomotive was not very efficient but then that was the time when nobody cared about fuel efficiency and air pollution. During the course of time more people started getting wealthier which created more demand for cars. A significant impact of this phenomenon was a sudden increased dependency on oil which also shaped the political and geographical history of our society and it still continues to do so. Car manufacturers realised that cars should be designed better to reduce the consumption of petrol and as the environmental awareness grew, everyone wanted to build a greener car.

If I had left writing this article at this point then a logical conclusion to the story of wheel and car would have ended in cars getting more and more fuel efficient or probably becoming petrol/diesel independent and everyone lived happily ever after but as everyone knows, this linear projection is false. What makes me say that- the car manufacturers themselves. In a recent auto exhibition, almost all the car manufacturers were seen flaunting their new models of SUV. SUV- for me stands for Surely Unsustainable Vehicle. It is a no brainer that Oil is one of the most scarce resource, atleast for India, and these SUVs are nothing but oil guzzling monsters. Human race, having sent numerous missions to moon and other distant planets, has still not been able to provide an affordable version of car which can run on alternative fuel. I think we as consumers are to be blamed for this. We, in this mad race for displaying our wealth have completely digressed from the linear projection of attaining a state where the cars would run on solar power rather than using an antiquated fuel-oil.