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Yesterday, today and... Tomorrow?

Just as, surely, the fantastic Fiat 500 C – known as the Topolino (Mickey Mouse) – is a car of the past, just as surely, the electric car (photo alongside it) is not today’s car, while we still don’t know what tomorrow’s car will be.

Staying with the Topolino, there is no question that it really marked – in Italy – a turning point for Fiat in the post-war period. Even though from 1935 Fiat, the first 500 A, the “short leaf spring” model, had set out on the path of innovation both in terms of chassis and in terms of the engine, the Topolino was the first real city car. Its price was certainly high, and the car “for everyone” would arrive with the 600, but already it was possible to see how the automobile would develop.

At the end of the war, while the world tried to heal its wounds, leaving behind it the horrors of the war, the industries began to produce consumer goods to satisfy the tastes of the people first of all, but also to satisfy the growing needs of private mobility that began to use the automobile for pleasure and for work: the Topolino was perfect. The fortunate owners of the little car drove to work, but also over moderately long distances. The fortunate owners of the little car could drive to work, even over moderately long distances, and go on vacations or to visit distant relatives. Certainly there were also more powerful cars on the road, but the Italian middle class came to the economic boom of the Fifties and Sixties in a Topolino.

Will the electric mobility on the doorstep of the post-oil world face the world with this car? We hope not. Not for esthetic reasons, which are purely subjective, but because the electric car still does not satisfy the demands of private mobility. Maximum power of 20 cv (15 kW) for 80 km/h and 100 km of autonomy with 3kW.

What could the Topolino do 60 years ago? 15 cv, speed of 90 km/h, autonomy 250 km, time for “recharging” with gasoline 5 minutes.

Overlooking power and speed - we’d all be better off going slower both in the city and out of it – and observing that, in the city, 100 km a day is a lot, we cannot help noting the recharge time for this electric “car” and the power required: 3 kW. The average power installed in the homes of Italian families is 3 kW. The meter has a tolerance of 10% but beyond 3.3 kW it “cuts out”. Consequently, there would be a rush to apply for more power, changes of contracts, new high and low voltage power lines, etc. All services sold, as we know, by the large electric companies (in Italy that means Enel and Edison, in France EdF). And who is the largest partner of the French automaker Renault? EdF. Who is about to become the owner of Edison in Italy? Again EdF. Who is pressing Enel for an increase in the supplies of French power (produced by its nuclear power plants) to the Italian electrical network? It comes as no surprise if the answer is once again the same: EdF. Finally, who is the main sponsor with a contribution of € 250,000 to the Motor Show in Bologna – now owned by a French company – for a stand devoted to electric cars? Enel. «It’s a sin to think ill of others, but quite often one is right», someone said once.

So, what will be the car of tomorrow? We still don’t know, but now, if we want to be economical and ecological we will simply have to use LPG or CNG for the car of today. The Italian gas sector is not blindly defending its own little nest. Gas for vehicles, with its advanced technology and many excellent capabilities, defends us all against the hidden interest of a few, because ….there is no certainty of tomorrow..

Ugo Nazzarro

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