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All of America drives cars and much of America lives near significant bodies of water. Those straddle most of our cities, most of which suffer traffic congestion.
Even where conditions are not yet horrendous, ferocious gridlock and air-pollution are on route.
More highways, more tunnels, more bridges are urgently needed.
But the price tag on all that steel, concrete and asphalt is trillions of dollars; nevermind the human cost when entire neighborhoods are bulldozed.
An ignored option are the broad, flat surfaces offered by all those ambient rivers, lakes and bays. For an island city like Manhattan, amphibians would automatically mean at least a doubling of available thoroughfares.
Direct water routes would become drivable between New York's boroughs, as well as to New Jersey across the Hudson. This would substantially reduce New Yorker's odometer readings, fuel use, never mind the time wasted idling in traffic.
Most other US cities would be similarly assuaged.
Amphibious autos are the solution, but not just as cars that can also swim. They must be alternatively fueled. The energy qualification is crucial. For these reasons:
A) Our waterways must be spared swarms of polluting gasoline engines.
B) It will be possible to restrict the production of amphibians to alternatively fueled engines from the outset - by federal law.
C) That will created an infrastructure for alternative fuels, and bring intense development and efficiencies of scale to the mass production of non-gasoline vehicles. They will provide a beachhead against our gasoline dependence.
Currently some cities operate public buses fueled by methane. But, certainly in the private sector, unconventionally powered vehicles have no significant exposure. For obvious reasons. Manufactured in tiny numbers the cost of each vehicle is prohibitive. Production runs are low because demand is low.
Who can use a car for which there are almost no service stations! Money for the necessary infrastructure is scarce while relatively cheap gasoline is abundant.
Investment capital for developing cheaper alternative fuel is scarce while vehicles burning such fuel barely exist. It is a vicious cycle
An amphibian would transform the situation. It would prove very sexy. It would be irresistible to tens of thousands off the bat.
The production calculus would turn favorable. Investment in alternative fuels and in their engines will then be warranted. The access ramps into and out of the waterways will prove natural and efficient sites for fuel stations. They will mushroom.
In short, the uniqueness, desirability and prestige of the SPLASHERS will in the first instance create demand from the affluent. That will set the ball rolling toward more modestly priced vehicles and for affordable fuel.
A growing market will come into being for vehicles that have no use for gasoline. That is the key to energy independence.
Who will want amphibians?
- Those avid for the exotic and exciting.
- Motorists desperate for a traffic beating advantage.
- The Alternative Vehicle partisans.
- Environmentalists, their initial reservations will be overcome by evidence of the larger benefits.
- All who want to liberate America from foreign oil.
- Those with an eye on the recreational auto/boat benefits.
- The millions now spending billions on pickups, vans, trucks, sport cars and 4 wheel drives, out of boredom with the sedan.
These new machines will delight America. They will seize her imagination. They will make driving fun again. Detroit will once more become a pioneer and path-breaker. Fuel cells will finally develop into serious competitors to the ICE, and OPEC will have reason to be nice.
The cities will gain breathing space; also new revenue streams and a way around the titanic cost of new bridges, tunnels and roads. Moreover, these new roads will be guaranteed against potholes.
Amphibious cars are not new. They were marketed half century ago. But back then they quickly became rust buckets, dangerous to use, difficult to maintain, impractical. They were not reliable, everyday transportation. Much has changed.
Safe, comfortable and practical amphibians can now be a reality, each with a cell-phone as a safety line. They will not just speak to our dreams. They will overcome the nightmare of America's dependence on foreign oil.
The age of the New Amphibians is dawning.
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