Sustainable Mobility: The Challenges of Tomorrow
Published on 08.24.2021
10 min read
Middle School
As with all projects, it is important to set clear objectives before defining how to achieve them.
© Getty - The market for electric vehicles is booming
Why Sustainable Mobility?
- Less traffic congestion in urban areas.
- Faster and especially safer travel.
- Less air pollution and less noise.
Other goals:
- Lower CO2 emissions to protect the planet from .
- Affordable prices, if possible...
How Do We Make Sustainable Mobility a Reality? Through Technology and Innovation
- Although gasoline cars are not about to disappear, they will become lighter – therefore consuming less – and will feature high-efficiency engines with motor oils offering superior performance.
- There will be more two-wheelers, especially electric bicycles and scooters.
Sustainable Mobility Starts With More
- Hybrid and all-electric cars are already on the road.
- Light aircraft equipped with batteries that are recharged on the ground between trips have also hit the market. But the bigger the plane, the heavier the battery...
- As for solar aircraft, they run on electricity generated by solar panels on their huge wings. The technology is even more complex than battery-based systems. But as Bertrand Piccard, one of Solar Impulse’s designers, explains: "When you do something that's never been done before, everything is hard. But it's also exciting because you're inventing new ways of thinking."
, the Cornerstone of Tomorrow's Mobility
- Hydrogen cars are a type of electric car. To put it simply, the difference with standard electric vehicles is that the electricity is not stored in a battery but is produced by a powered by hydrogen gas contained in a pressurized tank.
- Hydrogen cars are already on the market. Hydrogen trains are also being tested.
New Urban Planning Trends, Better Designed Cities
- We all know what GPSs do. By installing electronic sensors along streets and motorways, driving will be even easier, and eventually automatic. This solution will also smooth traffic flows and reduce fuel consumption.
- And how do things look off the roads? More and more cities are opting for cable cars similar to those found at ski resorts. And the “vaporetto” water buses you may have seen in Venice could get a facelift to become electric, silent, non-polluting taxi-boats, such as the eye-catching « seabubbles ».