While the ‘electrification of everything’ is already busily underway, there remains concern about the pace of change in Australia where the transition from internal combustion (ICE) vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs) has been hampered by political push-back and lack of investment. Critical also to a successful transformation is a cultural shift, and the lack of understanding of Australian culture and lifestyle by many who would glibly prescribe EVs as a panacea for everything may be setting up reactionary forces with all the ammunition they need for a particularly bitter and poisonous ‘culture war’. Time, perhaps, for an end to ‘truck-shaming’.
Some years ago, I was invited to a conference on future transportation where speaker after speaker urged much greater investment in public transport, radical re-design of our cities to encourage walking and cycling, and a rapid transition away from fossil-fuel powered vehicles. As a life-long long-distance commuter myself, who has always used public transport as my primary means to get to work, I was completely in agreement with all these recommendations; indeed, they seemed like simple common sense. However, I did have an issue with one other topic that many of the speakers had highlighted: their loathing of SUVs and 4WD vehicles. Many of the speakers were from overseas, so I could forgive them perhaps a certain ignorance about the role of these type of vehicles in Australia; but other speakers were from right here in Sydney, and I thought that surely these people should have at least an inkling about Australian culture, and the aspirations of many working-class Australians. Had they never gone bush? Had they never heard of living the dream?
As a experienced human-centred designer, working on major digital transformation projects for both large organizations and government, I was acutely aware of the importance of understanding cultural factors in overcoming resistance to change. Why was such little importance given to such factors in this hugely important and emotive area? Why was a complex and problematic issue being reduced to a simplistic ‘evil gas guzzlers’ versus ‘virtuous EVs’? After attempting to ask this question in the Q&A session and being roundly ignored, I realized that my question was, perhaps, a bit off-target, as the entire focus of the conference was on urban future transportation. Fair enough, there’s little justification for using a 4WD vehicle in a built-up area; and EVs are simply better in every way in such environments; but what about if you want to get out of those urban environments? What if you want to take your partner and your family and explore the great outdoors? What if you want to explore the vastness of Australia? What if you want to live and work on the road?
This is not an appeal to slow down or diminish the importance of electrification. It is however, a call for some consideration to be given to those who live outside the major urban areas of Australia and for those who have a yearning to explore the vast beauty of the Australian landscape. On a recent three-month voyage around remote outback areas we encountered exactly ZERO electric trucks or cars. It was only when we got near the crowded Eastern seaboard that we saw our first Tesla. Neither the infrastructure or suitable electric vehicles are available. So what about all those remote communities with their battered Toyotas? Is there going to be a just and fair transition for them?
