From Whips to Watts

Growing up, I spent some of my youth elbow-deep in grease, helping my Aunt Wendy wrench on her ‘66 Pontiac Parisienne—an absolute beauty of a machine. Fast forward to today, and I’m driving a BMW with over 300 horsepower, offering that familiar throaty growl we all love, my cars name is “Growly”. And let's not forget my latest toy, a 900cc Yamaha from Shore Cycle that I absolutely adore. Now, I’m not exactly eager to part with my collection of horsepower, but even I can see the future barreling down the road, inevitable as a thirsty horse being led to water.

But this whole electric vehicle (EV) thing? It's not the first-time humanity has resisted change. We’ve been here before—think back to the early 1900s when horse-drawn carriages were king. There was a certain intimacy with your horse back then, wasn’t there? It was more than just transportation; it was a relationship. So, when the first "horseless carriage" sputtered onto the scene, people didn’t just question it—they raged against it.

A 1900 New York Times article called the automobile “clumsy, costly, and dangerous.” Critics warned that gas-powered engines would never replace the horse, citing lack of infrastructure and, of course, the job loss in industries like carriage-making and blacksmithing. Buggy whip makers were shaking in their boots! Meanwhile, newspapers warned of the automobile as a menace to society, predicting doom if people abandoned their beloved horses. What they didn’t realize is that people adapt—and those same naysayers were soon hopping into their own Model Ts.

Now, in 2024, we hear the same old song but with new lyrics. The critics of EVs sound eerily like the ones who protested gas engines more than a century ago. No infrastructure! Too expensive! What about all the jobs? People act like they’ve never seen technological progress before. But if we look at history, we know how this goes. Just like the gas-powered revolution, the EV revolution will create new industries, jobs, and, yes, infrastructure. It just takes time, just like getting those gas stations built all over the country did back in the day.

There’s a certain comfort in that old-school combustion engine—trust me, I get it. That’s why I still enjoy the thrill of my rocket roaring underneath me. But this shift toward electric is inevitable, just like when people traded in their reins for steering wheels. Whether we like it or not, history is driving us forward.

Back in 1917, one man wrote to The Washington Post fuming that the "horseless carriage" would be the downfall of society, claiming we’d lose our connection with the world by abandoning horses. He wasn’t entirely wrong—our relationship with transportation changed forever. But instead of losing something, we gained more than we could have imagined: faster travel, more convenience, and eventually, the ability to cross continents in hours.

Today, it’s not about the loss of the combustion engine; it’s about embracing a new future. Much like those early 20th-century folks who saw their way of life changing, we’re at a turning point. The gas engine isn’t dying—it’s evolving. And if history is any guide, those who resist this evolution are, once again, on the wrong side of progress.

So while I may not be ready to part with my toys just yet, I know where this road leads. The critics may cry foul, just like they did when Henry Ford started rolling out the Model T, but the rest of us? We’re already looking ahead. Because, as they say, you can lead a horse to water—but eventually, even that horse will be replaced by something with a little more horsepower