Disney’s Autopia ride has been making headlines recently, after a park spokesperson told the LA Times that the park is “evaluating technology that will enable us to convert from gas engines in the next few years.” But activists want to put the pressure on to be certain that Disney goes all-EV with the ride, and fast.
The news was reported in many retailers suggesting that Disney goes all-electric with Autopia, but unfortunately, Disney’s statement is just a little noncommittal and open on that front. We’ve seen a whole lot of automakers call 100% gas-powered hybrids as “electrified,” and provided that Disney was nonspecific about each its timeline and powertrain source, there’s still room for pressure to be certain that Disney goes with an all-electric selection.
Autopia is a classic ride in Disneyland’s “Tomorrowland” area, but given the EV world we’re living in, its stinky gas-powered cars definitely don’t seem too futuristic.
Until 2016, Autopia vehicles were noisy, polluting two-stroke engines. Two-stroke engines differ from four-stroke in that they’ll create more power in small formats, but are much dirtier since the combustion process is less complete in a two-stroke engine, and thus exhaust comprises ~30x higher levels of particulate emissions (for instance, running a two-stroke gas leafblower for one hour could make as many poisonous emissions as driving a passenger automotive 1,100 miles).
The emissions from these engines cause smog and harm the health of those that breathe them – so putting them directly in front of babies isn’t the very best idea. But the ride was sponsored by Chevron from 1998-2012, and that company is pretty dedicated to poisoning babies anyway, so it was apt.
Thankfully, in 2012, Disney attracted a brand new sponsor, Honda, and in 2016, Honda upgraded the engines to small four-stroke engines, reducing noise and pollution significantly. However, the cars still create exhaust, which remains to be poisonous to the youngsters riding behind these polluting engines. It’s also poisonous to employees, to the purpose where Disney pays hazard pay to employees who’re assigned to staff the ride.
2016 was also notably after EVs had proven themselves within the automotive realm. So upgrading to an old technology seems just a little inappropriate for “Tomorrowland.” But Honda themselves have been behind the ball on the EV transition as well.
Tomorrowland is the section inside Disneyland which was meant to show visions of the longer term. It first opened in 1955, and offers a time capsule of what a Nineteen Fifties vision of the longer term may need looked like.
Needless to say, within the seven many years hence, things have modified somewhat. To the purpose where the unique designer of the Autopia cars, Bob Gurr, who’s now 92 and was interviewed by the LA Times, said “get rid of those God-awful gasoline fumes.”
It’s definitely ironic that in California, where EVs keep setting sales records and where you’ll be able to’t even buy gas-powered “small off-road engines” anymore, a Disneyland parkgoer might drive to the park in a clean EV, only to show their children a vision of the past with a toxic, low-performing gas engine on one among the admittedly more-fun rides within the park. Just imagine how rather more fun the ride may very well be if it were electric.
And Disney could do rather a lot more to update Tomorrowland with actual visions of the longer term, quite than an old-timey time capsule. The original Tomorrowland featured a “Carousel of Progress” show of futuristic efficient home appliances, and the Monorail and PeopleMover which each still exist. Disney could showcase more public transport or other post-car mobility options, ideas for futuristic city planning, induction cooktops and more.
But for now, making Autopia electric looks as if incredibly low-hanging fruit. Electric go-karts are nothing recent, and while Disney’s commitment to move away from gas within the “next few years” is nice to hear, it’s been a protracted time coming, and now isn’t the time to wait.
To this end, local EV advocates and Plug In America are hosting a “Dump the Pump” rally this Sunday, April 21 at 10am at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. Not a foul way to spend Earth Day weekend, perhaps after attending one among the LA-area Drive Electric Earth Month events the day before (and one among the founders of Drive Electric Week, Zan Dubin-Scott, is organizing the Burbank rally).
Given Disney’s 2030 net-zero pledge (which is ambitious compared to many corporations), it’s about time they ditch gas at Autopia – and not only within the “next few years,” but possibly before next Earth Day rolls around. How about it?
Credit : electrek.co
