1973 Eco Car

In 1973, an engine was developed that did 376 miles per gallon as demonstrated at the Wood River competition in USA. They took an existing production car, an Opel made in 1959, and tweaked it.

Source (includes lots more info, photos, videos, etc).

In 2013, 40 years later, Volkswagen unveil an eco car that does a massive 313 miles per gallon.

Source (includes lots more info, photos, press releases, etc)

Oh, wait, that's less than what we could do 40 years ago (yes, even factoring in the "US vs. Imperial gallon" conversion)...

Has capitalism come between us and production eco cars these last four decades? Capitalism seems to thrive on financial efficiency while requiring bloat and bling everywhere else. We call this bloat consumerism, which in part means consuming as much oil as possible. Without this redundant repetition of products and attendant consumption mania, there would not be enough jobs for an ever-growing population. In recent years, this frantic need for consumption and jobs has been cranked up to 11 in order to compensate for "technological unemployment" (machines & computers taking over jobs that humans once did), in order to maintain financial growth.

I'm not saying capitalism was a bad system when it first emerged. It urged societal progress in a particular direction, painful as it was for many. Now it's well past its "use by" date, and starting to go mouldy. It's become so mouldy that it's fouling up the place. You can smell the cynicism and hopelessness everywhere you go. Infinite growth on a finite planet cannot be sustained, we all know that. This simple fact is so startlingly obvious it's mind boggling that people still devote their lives to maintaining and expanding the reach of capitalism, the old engine of eternal growth. Or is it?

In a capitalist society, people need a regular income of money to survive, and for the vast majority of us that means getting a job. But what happens when the world population grows? In 1960, a year after that 1959 Opel car was made, there were 3 billion people on the planet. By 2010, around the time Volkswagen started designing their XL1 eco car, the world's population had grown to almost 7 billion, so an extra 4 billion jobs were needed if everyone was to survive. But during that time we also had a technological revolution. Computers were used in the design process, robots were used in the production process, big wagons were used to deliver cars to showrooms where people could buy them – an increase in technological unemployment.

Consumerism is how capitalism attempts to create more jobs. You don't just buy a car, you invest in it. You have to keep buying fuel, then there's the regular services and repairs. You need road tax, insurance and maybe some furry dice hanging from the rear view mirror. After a few years, just before the car becomes worthless because of something called "planned obsolescence", you sell it (or scrap it) and buy another one. As long as people need jobs to survive, consumption will have to keep growing.

Based on current projections, by 2050 the world population will grow to around 9 or 10 billion people – another 2-3 billion jobs will be needed. The frantic need for consumption will need cranking up to 12 to make that happen. Factor in advances in technology, leading to more technical unemployment, and... how far can we crank up consumption before the old engine of growth explodes?

What if we lived in a world where having a job was optional? Would we need to delay innovations for 40 years or more in order to create more demand for consumption? If having a job was optional, would it not make sense to find every way possible to reduce the amount of work you need to do? If we could double the miles per gallon of a car, we'd halve the amount of work needed to make fuel. In fact, why bother with fuel at all?

In 1960, a car was developed that ran on solar power. They took an existing electric car, a 1912 Baker Electric Mode, and tweaked it.

Source (includes more info, video, etc)

Maybe it's time to trade in capitalism's old engine of eternal growth for something that's more economical to run?