Mercedes Benz, Patent Motorwagen Nr 1, via wikimedia commons.
In August, Bertha Benz, without telling him, took her husband's car and drove her teenage sons the 65 miles to her mother's house in Pforzheim, Germany. No, not a story of marital strife, but of pioneering action by a woman - for the year was 1888 and this was the first ever long-distance drive in a car with an internal combustion engine. But movement is on the move. What kind of novel ways of getting around would Bertha and her peers use today?
As we turn away from fossil fuels, and towards movement powered by renewable sources, there's been an explosion of innovation. If she wanted to visit her mother, or send a care package to those lads when they're at Uni, Bertha has some new and some retro choices open to her.
From Mannheim to Pforzheim
The google map at my fingertips tells me that public transport (trains) will be faster than driving. 90% of Germany's trains are electric, and the network sources 61% of its electricity from renewables. The google map also shows me pedestrian and cycle routes, including off-road options. And I can ask the map to show me EV charging points - there are four along the route, plus more at either end.
By cycle
If Bertha did want to cycle more, she has a lot of choice. And she won't be alone: demand for bikes soared during lockdown, and the number of people cycling in the UK has gone up 200%. It's not just traditional pedal cycles. E-bikes make hills and heavy loads easier, and are gentler on the knees. Cargo bikes, like the ones used in this pilot hire scheme in north London, are increasingly used to carry kids, dogs, shopping, deliveries and tools. There are also bikes for all kinds of people and all kinds of abilities - trikes, recumbent bikes, handcycles... (Not to mention the strange bike-with-diesel-engine-attached which someone was riding up and down my local high street the other day. Highly illegal and not green, but innovative.) People planning transport systems and bike infrastructure need to remember that these other kinds of cycles can be wider, heavier and more precious/expensive than a trusty pushbike.
It’s electrifying!
As well as electric or hybrid cars, there are electric scooters (the moped type). This short video, shared on twitter by Vala Afshar, shows how quick and easy it is to swap full batteries for drained ones using this system in Taiwan. Road transport innovations include electric buses (which might have batteries on board or be powered by overhead cables, aka trolley buses), and guided buses (which operate like normal buses when on ordinary roads, but can go at very high speeds when on their dedicated guided busway, like this example in Cambridgeshire). Trams, of course, have used electricity for years. Overhead wires are also being considered for moving freight in electric lorries on motorways. A pilot scheme is being created in the UK, expected to have its first trucks on the road in 2024. And if there's a problem, maybe they'll be helped out by emergency services arriving in an electric fire truck made in Scotland.
Trains
Traveling by train is already pretty green, but innovation hasn't stopped. The world's first directly solar-powered railway line opened in the UK in 2019, a collaboration between Network Rail and social enterprise Riding Sunbeams.
Shanks’ pony
Although it would take Bertha and her sons over 16 hours of solid walking, which may not be an attractive prospect, there are people working to make walking as a form of transport easier. Currently recruiting volunteers to (literally) road test their routes, Slow Ways aims to create a national network of walking routes connecting all of Great Britain's towns and cities, and thousands of villages. If you're a walker, you can help by checking out and providing feedback on a route near you.
Long haul
What if Bertha wanted to come to the UK to check out our transport, or go further afield? One possibility which may form a routine part of air travel in the future is the airship. Filled with helium and powered by hydrogen batteries, an airship is slower than an aeroplane but with considerably lower carbon emissions. There are problems to be overcome, though, including how to produce the helium gas which makes the vehicles lighter-than-air, without high carbon emissions. They seem a pretty popular feature in optimistic 'solar punk' sci fi which I've been reading lately. There are also planes powered by hydrogen and battery-powered electric planes, although there are questions about whether these are viable environmentally or commercially. While those questions are being worked out, maybe Bertha would prefer to sign a pledge to be 'flight free'.
Good goods
For care packages rather than flying visits, Bertha's sons might see their goodies arrive by drone. Royal Mail is trying out drones to deliver packages to islands including the Scilly Isles and North Ronaldsay (Orkney). The larger unpiloted machine is petrol-powered (so someone needs to do the maths on carbon emissions per parcel compared with other delivery options) but the smaller drone which gets mail to its final destination is battery powered. The drone company involved, Skyports, is also developing electric air taxis. Royal Mail is also experimenting with small electric buggies.
On the ocean wave
Ships are also getting fuel-efficiency makeovers. And new sail-powered cargo boats are being built. Some of them look very familiar, improved versions of the sailing ships of old. There's a great round-up of some of these here. Others, like the Oceanbird, look more like early 20 century liners but the things that look like funnels are actually 'wing sails'. Not to be confused with 'seawing', like a giant kitesurfing sail which is attached to existing ships to give them a boost and cut fuel use. Find out about more projects via the International Windship Association.
On land, on the sea or in the air, the Berthas of today can all do better than the 130+ year old internal combustion engine.
MAKING THE PATH BY WALKING
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