From recent press, three progress reports on the shift from gasoline engines of several varieties to battery power.
1) In the New Yorker: Long-time TNY author John Seabrook, with a detailed report on Ford’s investment in the F-150 Lightning —a battery-powered version of the country’s most popular vehicle.
The whole article is worth reading, but here is a sample:
The Lightning, together with the Mach-E, and an electric Ford Transit, its cargo van, collectively represent the hundred-and-eighteen-year-old automaker’s best and perhaps last chance to catch up with Elon Musk and Tesla, the dominant company in E.V. sales. (Tesla delivered close to a million electric vehicles worldwide in 2021; Ford dealers sold only about forty-three thousand E.V.s globally last year.) When Ford’s electric truck goes on sale this spring, the future of mobility will meet America’s favorite ride—a momentous encounter not only for Ford but for all of us, whether we drive, bike, or walk. The future of the planet, and of human life on it, may depend on how rapidly the auto industry can reduce tailpipe emissions.
2) From Forest Hills Connection, in DC, a column by Kathy Sykes called “Take the lawn and garden ‘Hippocratic Oath’ and give leaf blowers the boot.” Sample:
Many types of wildlife, including earthworms and thousands of insect species, depend upon the layer of leaves in your garden or on your lawn. Ninety-four percent of moth species spend the winter embedded in leaves during their egg or pupae stages, as does the freeze-tolerant woolly bear caterpillar. In spring, if it survives the leaf blowers and rakes, the woolly bear will emerge as a tiger moth.
Furthermore, some 96 percent of bird species rely upon moth and butterfly caterpillars to feed their young. Many species of birds, such as wood thrushes, robins, and sparrows, forage in the leaf layer looking for tiny bites of invertebrates and insects. By removing fallen leaves, you will have fewer insects, birds and bird songs in your garden come spring.
3) From ‘Breaking the News’ on Substack, a report by James Fallows on the lessons of DC’s so-far-successful implementation of the law. Sample from the conclusion:
I will take any bet that ten years from now, this will be the standard practice in most American cities. The battery alternatives are just too attractive; the needless damage and nuisance are just too great. And between then and now, I think the often-maligned civic structure of the District of Columbia can be studied for the way it engineered this change.
It is happening.