Gas stations are as antiquated as CD players. Traffic jams are in the skies. Tourists flock to other planets.
That’s the world people described to Ford Motor Co. for its 10th-annual Looking Further With Ford trends report. But experts say many of these promising innovations will be pushed to avoid a not-so-promising future.
“Imagine a world where demands for food, water, and energy are outpacing supply, fueling widespread scarcity, and suffering across the globe,” reads the Ford report. “That’s the likely scenario as we know it. Experts project the global population will grow to 10 billion by 2050, and climate change has become so severe that the question now is no longer simply how to sustain this planet, but how to exit it.”
Moving people in the U.S. is the country’s largest source (29 percent) of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Two Memphis-connected transportation companies, Ford and Southern Airways Express, hope to help flatten this figure, betting on an electric future.
Ford picked West Tennessee last year to build its electric F-series trucks. South Korea-based SK Innovation will build a battery factory for the trucks there, too. When Ford unveiled its electric F-150 Lightning in May, it called it “the truck of the future.” Marketers used legacy language to rev up customers — like “iconic” and “passion” and “exhilaration” — but also added “clean.”
“For both Ford and the American auto industry, F-150 Lightning represents a defining moment as we progress toward a zero-emissions, digitally connected future,” said Bill Ford, Ford’s executive chairman, in May.
Demand for the new, clean truck is evident. The company closed reservations for the Lightning last month, with nearly 200,000 pre-ordered. So, consumers likely won’t find one on a lot for a year or more.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said electric vehicles (EVs) now comprise .7 percent of all of the 1.3 billion light-duty vehicles on the road now. That increases to 31 percent (672 million) of the 2.2 billion cars on the road by 2050. EIA’s projections show a tipping point: Sales of gas-and-diesel-powered cars will peak in 2038.
Southern Airways is also betting on an electric future, in the skies. The commuter airline company began in Olive Branch, Mississippi, in 2013 and has now relocated to Palm Beach, Florida. Last month, it announced a $250-million order of new planes, including 20 seagliders, from the Regional Electric Ground Effect Nautical Transport (REGENT) aerospace company.
The seaglider is an all-electric, zero-emission flying vessel, the company says. It docks in city harbors, where passengers are loaded. It floats on a hull and then a hydrofoil until it reaches open water. Then, it takes flight, cruising at 180 miles per hour, staying within 100 feet of the water’s surface. Stan Little, chairman and CEO of Southern Airways, called the seaglider a “groundbreaking innovation.”
“REGENT’s zero-emission electric vehicle unlocks an incredible amount of operating efficiency for our company while lowering costs, trip times, and our environmental footprint,” Little said.
Southern Airways’ seaglider service will begin in Boston, Nantucket, Palm Beach, and Miami.
Futurist is an occasional series focused on what comes next.