"I don't think people will drop the idea of personal transportation, but a change away from our culture of oil to alternative technologies seems necessary and coming."
- Editor in Chief John Lehrer, Westways Magazine
My focus began with looking at electric cars and car enthusiasts. After qualitative research of car enthusiasts, I found there is a strong culture and passion for internal combustion cars, especially sports cars, while very little enthusiasm toward hybrid or pure electric cars. Tony Litt of the Guardian notes, "car ownership is roughly 5% about getting from A to B and 95% about gloating." There are many anti-Prius websites and blogs against the perceived smugness of hybrid owners. Many of these sites, like speedhunters.com, are frequented by car enthusiasts who cherish the freedom of owning their CO2 emitting cars and they want to feel guilt free and proud of doing so. There are many car enthusiasts who make the blanket claim "Prius drivers are bad drivers". In addition, the delicious contradiction of human nature suggests emotional attachment to a sports car will mostly trump the need to buy a boring hybrid car, even if the person claims to care for the welfare of the planet. The interview with Ryan Hur, an enthusiast confirms this.
How can a designer with good intentions break down this divide between the hybrid owners and car enthusiasts? It starts by acknowledging that emotions such as passion and even lust exist for people and their machines. I had a chance to interview women who love cars and driving at the Willow Springs Racetrack, so this is not a gender specific phenomenon only among men. Furthermore, hybrid ownership has been about responsibility toward the environment and logical appeal. This has sparked intense debate as well as backlash over how green these cars really are. Even with President Obama's 2016 mandate of 35.6 mpg for cars and trucks, the dispute continues between environmentalists and enthusiasts in car-obsessed America. Realizing that emotional appeal can be a more effective motivator for change than either fear or logic, I set out to design a new culture for sustainable mobility. Design can accelerate cultural growth to reach the tipping point, when electric powered vehicles are the majority, and gasoline powered becomes the novelty.
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©2010 Yee Chan & Art Center College of Design
