Embrace the new engine of change

IT seems an entirely appropriate conjunction; a neat fit in the way these things sometimes fall. Just as more than a century of American hegemony is being challenged, the death knell of the internal combustion engine is ringing ever louder.

Whether America built the modern world on the internal combustion engine, or whether the internal combustion engine reshaped America, and, in turn, the rest of us, is a chicken-or-egg question soon to be of relevance only to social historians. Route 66 may fall silent, and the grizzly growl of Harleys shuttling middle-aged fantasists across the 3,940km between Chicago and Santa Monica will be replaced by the testosterone-lite purr of electronic cars, or, dare it be imagined, an electric Electra Glide.

It may be a tad premature to suggest that the last petrol stations have been built, but it’s plausible to argue that the last ones are already in the planning pipeline. Huge change is just over the horizon, driven as much by climate change as it is by advancing technologies. The bank, UBS, suggests that electric vehicles will make up 14% of global car sales by 2025. That would, in less than a decade, represent profound change, as just 1% of today’s cars are powered by electricity.