Something happened on March 31st, 2016.
Caroline was in Oregon, spending her birthday weekend with her family, making me more prone to irrational behavior. I had written her birthday card to be read aloud over the dinner table.
That letter sets the scene for my buoyant mood, flying high off of love and excited for the world to change.
Evening rolls around. It’s a Friday night and I’m home alone at 214 W 9th St. I bake a pizza, open a bottle of wine, and setup the projector screen. The ingredients are prepped for a romantic evening. Naturally, I log on to Tesla’s website. Tonight the more affordable and mass-produced electric car will start to become a reality.
In the two years since that night, we’ve seen the seeds bloom that were planted then.
Sure, to much hoopla and acrimony, the Model 3 has started to hit the roads and is already America’s top-selling electric car.
The world reacted.
The past two years have brought a litany of announcements - countries around the world will ban the sale of the internal combustion engine. Major automakers are aggressively unveiling one “tesla killer” after another painting the canvas of the government and business transition in action.
Imagination is the primary driver of change. Now, more than ever before, the world is imagining the electrification of the transportation sector. Three years ago greater numbers of people would have dismissed the possibility.
Wooed by promise and expectation that evening, I placed a $1,000 refundable deposit on a Tesla Model 3 and started to imagine our own transition to electric vehicles.
In the interim, thousands of dollars were spent nursing Caroline and my ICE vehicles. ‘Please, just a little more life’, we urged.
Since March of 2016, one of my biggest sources of internal conflict has been the purchase of something I’ve always associated with opulence and a great societal plague - consumerism. All of a sudden, I was flirting with the idea of buying a $35,000 car. In the privileged position to be able to finance such a luxury item - I’ve been forced to cross examine my motivations.
My lifestyle and passions require mobility. As Edward Abbey urged, “Be like I am...a part-time crusader”. Nourishing my soul has brought on long bouts as a road warrior - endless driving sets with minimal stops, arriving to remote trailheads at odd hours.
Given the constraints, I’ve yearned for a vehicle that could deliver on those objectives, more humbly. If there were old, inexpensive electric vehicles like the Toyota Prius we’ve owned with more than 200,000 miles on it, I would have gladly purchased that tool to facilitate electric travel. Unfortunately that has not been an option. And until Tesla forced their hand, most automakers have slow walked their offerings. So I will, intentionally, put my financial support behind the organization that catalyzed action.
Hey, pump the brakes for a second! Why does this matter and why is it a priority?
I have driven over 125,000 miles in my adult life. By my best estimate that corresponds with over 80,000 lbs of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere due to the direct combustion of gasoline. If the efficiency of my driving was upgraded to 126 MPGe - that same amount of driving could cut energy demand 75% solely based on the increased efficiency over those gasoline counterparts. Even if that driving was 100% fueled by dirty coal - there would be an 11% carbon reduction. If that driving was fueled by hydro, solar, and wind that marks a 90% reduction opportunity!
This huge realm of possibility is the reason I celebrated the unveiling of the Tesla Model 3 that evening two years ago. I wanted to shepherd in an era where the promise of significantly cutting carbon became reality. It’s the same reason I came to love the promise of electric vehicles and the opportunity they present as the electric grid becomes cleaner over time.
I concede that there are larger challenges afield. How can we structure society and our personal lives such that I don’t need to drive that much at all? How do we tackle greater environmental and climate change challenges? More has to be done. Certainly.
My intuition is that we need to take opportunities and not squash them because greater challenges exist.
For this reason, Caroline and I will ultimately make the transition and it will not solely be a luxury expense. My hope is that our kids will be embarrassed to be picked up from school by that same vehicle 20 years from now. I hope it will be aged, with 200,000 miles on it. May it be worn, having traversed deserts, ascended mountains and delivered us to the inspiring places we seek to protect in this glorious world we live. After all, it’s our experiences nuzzling in with mother nature that drive us to protect that ability for our kids in the first place.