The Impact of Technology on the Automobile Industry

Amatucci, Marcos. “The world that chose the machine: an evolutionary view of the technological race in the history of the automobile.” International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 15.1 (2015): 43-62.

This journal gives an insight into how technological advancement led to the replacement of the steam and electric cars with gasoline driven cars. It illustrates how the need for technological advancement led to the dominance of gasoline driven cars which were faster and that filled the gap that society was looking for (faster cars) and the discovery of oil made gasoline driven cars the preferred mode of transport.

It shows how technology changed the transport system and did not put into regarding the environmental impact and the society which had a better mode of transport did not seem to mind the environmental impact up to now. Technology does have favorable characteristics and drawbacks, but in the end, it prevails because of its performance attributes which have always prevailed over time when one compares petrol cars, steam cars, and electric cars. One sees why there was a shift.

Enderle, Rob. “Will Dell Make Cars?”. Forbes.Com, 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/robenderle/2012/04/27/will-dell-make-cars/#3ebf191d105a.

When one analyses the history of automobiles, it is not hard to see that engineers were fascinated with using technology to make steam, electric and finally gasoline-driven vehicles. Initial cars were just engines with wheels, but nowadays a lot goes into making cars as efficient as possible unlike the late 1800s and early 1900s. Electric cars had little support leading to their demise. However, technological advancement is making electric cars a comeback. Gasoline driven cars are proving to have a bad environmental impact. Many countries, for example, Brazil are leaning toward energy efficient vehicles.

Governments are advocating for vehicles that are environmentally friendly because of the adverse environmental impact of electric driven cars. Civil society groups are advocating for the manufacture of cars that. It was a complete shift when steam electric driven cars were being replaced by gasoline cars. Again society is making an impact on the direction of what will be used to drive future vehicles. Steps are being taken towards the conservation of the environment even though technology is advancing, and environmental friendly technologies are preferrable.

Kirsch, David A. The Electric Vehicle And The Burden Of History. Rutgers Univ. Press, 2000.

Kirsch in his book describes how technological advancement took over and led to the replacement of electric and steam cars with gasoline. In the late 1890s, electric and steam cars were dominant, and by the late 1900s, petroleum-driven cars had already won.  He examines the relationship of technology, choice environment, policy, and society and the outcome of American transportation. Kirsch describes how electric vehicles were an alternative to the automotive system where electric and gasoline vehicles would have been used to supply various transport services. He shows how little support the electrical industry had leading to its demise. Kirsch goes further by showing how different forms of transport technology may be used at the same time if they all were used in a particular sector.

The main argument of Kirsch’s book is the society greatly determines technological advancement. In this case of the automobile industry, technological progress was driven by consumers, drivers, and engineers’ it was not driven by the availability of petroleum. Lastly, the debate on electric cars and petroleum cars and the impact of the environment and society that came with technological advancement and how the American transport system is still evolving continues.

Koerth-Baker, Maggie. “Why Your Car Isn’T Electric”. Nytimes.Com, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/magazine/why-your-car-isnt-electric.html.

Powerful entities and society, in general, suppress one form of technology and favor the other. Nowadays, less than one percent of the vehicles on the road are electric unlike in the 1900s whereby 34% of the cars in Boston, Chicago, and New York were electric and nearly half of them had steam engines. One can easily assume that it is a group of powerful entities that subdues a particular form of technology while encouraging another making progress slowly but this is not the case. The culture we live in and advancement of technology continually shape the growth of the automobile industry.

Society shapes how technology develops and how it will be used. For example, cars did not become universal until the time they were cheap and easy to operate. Steam and electric cars were used because they fit that particular point in time. However, technology also outlines our society, the emergence of vehicles led to the rise of suburbs. The gasoline-powered cars that we use today meet our social needs at this particular point in time and are embedded in our culture even though they destroy the environment.

Matulka, Rebecca. “The History Of The Electric Car”. Energy.Gov, 2018, https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car.

To understand the popularity of the electric car, it is also important to understand the other options that came in replacement of electric cars. It was until the 1870s, that steam cars were the preferred mode of transport. It was because they were not practical for personal use, and they took long to start (sometimes up to 40minutes if the weather was cold).electric cars were a replacement of the steam cars, and they were easy to drive, quiet, and were in high demand especially among women. The high demand for electric cars saw a new type of vehicle come into the market which was the gasoline powered cars. They had a lot of benefits, but they came with their faults too. For one they needed a lot of manual effort to drive, were quite noisy, and their exhaust fumes were very unpleasant.

However, Henry Ford’s introduction of the Model T made the electric car diminish in popularity. The 1908 T model made the demand for electric cars decline. Gasoline driven cars became very affordable and widely available. Other developments made the electric car disappear such as the discovery of crude oil in Texas making the electric cars disappear by the year 1935.

Melosi, Martin. “Automobile And The Environment In American History: Energy Use And The Internal Combustion Engine”. Autolife.Umd.Umich.Edu, 2018, http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Environment/E_Overview/E_Overview3.htm.

Technological advancement made it possible for an internal combustion engine powered the vehicle to penetrate the American market. The nation had expanded, roads were decent, and the urban transport system had improved making it possible for gasoline driven vehicles. The mass production of gasoline was easy to maintain, powerful, fast, could travel long distances, and abundantly swept the American market.

However before the T model came along, electric and steam driven cars gave competition to gasoline-fueled vehicles. Evidence shows that of the 42000 cars that were produced in the 1900s in the United States, only a quarter used internal combustion engines. Most of the 8,000 vehicles on the road were driven by steam. Stem powered vehicles were used as early as 1769. However as the years progressed, changes in weight, size, power, and design led to the use of gasoline in automobiles. The economic benefits in the petroleum industry and automotive industry soon replaced soon overshadowed the factors of production safety in the use of gasoline in general. It can be seen as to how technological advancement did not care about the impact on the environment, and the primary motivation is economic development and keeping up with technology.

Works Cited

Amatucci, Marcos. “The world that chose the machine: an evolutionary view of the technological race in the history of the automobile.” International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 15.1 (2015): 43-62

Enderle, Rob. “Will Dell Make Cars?”. Forbes.Com, 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/robenderle/2012/04/27/will-dell-make-cars/#3ebf191d105a.

Kirsch, David A. The Electric Vehicle And The Burden Of History. Rutgers Univ. Press, 2000.

Koerth-Baker, Maggie. “Why Your Car Isn’T Electric”. Nytimes.Com, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/magazine/why-your-car-isnt-electric.html. Accessed 2 Dec 2018.

Matulka, Rebecca. “The History Of The Electric Car”. Energy.Gov, 2018, https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car.

Melosi, Martin. “Automobile And The Environment In American History: Energy Use And The Internal Combustion Engine”. Autolife.Umd.Umich.Edu, 2018, http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Environment/E_Overview/E_Overview3.htm. Accessed 2 Dec 2018.