My next car will be electric, and yours most likely will be too. It’s a big statement. I can hear many of you scoff, ‘just another impractical waste of money.’ Honestly, up until the beginning of October, I was firmly of the belief that it would take five years or more for electric cars to dominate. How did October 2018 change my mind? I’ll give you a name ‘Jamal Khashoggi’, maybe it’s vaguely familiar, or maybe you’re sick of hearing it.
On the 2nd of October, Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen walked into the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Not a revelation, the only issue is that he never walked out again. See Khashoggi, a journalist was a vocal critic of the Saudi government, had moved to Turkey because he felt his life was endangered in Saudi Arabia. The international political realm has now descended into confusion and uncertainty as the details are being ever so slowly revealed.
How does the murder of one journalist in Turkey mean you’re going to buy an electric car? A decade ago, hell, even three years ago, all of it may have just boiled down to a strongly worded press release of a few key allies and everyone would be moving on with their day. Maybe it still will. Even as a first-year politics student, I would have said the Saudis were practically untouchable. Why am I less confident of the outcome now?
Elon Musk. Or more broadly, the mad rush to dominate the burgeoning electric car industry. There are several predicted releases of affordable, electric vehicles from Hyundai, Nissan and of course, Telsa, over the next two years. These cars are the answer to a lot of issues that have arisen, or at least become a focus, over the last few years. There are already hundreds of articles, videos and press releases to convince you of unselfish reasons to choose electric over gas, petroleum or diesel-powered vehicles.
However, one point, in my opinion, the game changer, that is rarely mentioned, but the world leaders and governments are well aware of. Buying an electric car will shift the power dynamic of the entire political system; not just nationally but globally. Another massive statement, I know.
Most people won’t make that choice consciously, won’t think about how their own personal decision could help topple regimes and end wars. You think I'm being dramatic? The conflict in South Sudan, rebel and government forces fought over control of oil fields. Syria, one of the primary objective of US forces and their allies were to cut off ISIS’s source of wealth; the oil fields. The South China Sea conflict boils down to China wanting to seize underwater oil reserves and surrounding nations disputing that claim with their own. Oil is what currently keeps the world turning.
A majority of Australians are well aware of the reality. I remember as young lass, when fuel prices were beginning to climb my mother said ‘they have us over an oil barrel.’ Those words stuck, (it perhaps helps that she repeats them every time fuel prices are brought up in conversation.) It was because they described the hold that OPEC countries such as Saudi Arabic had over the rest of us.
They control the price of the barrel, which informs the cost of fuel that our society is built upon.
For years, the world has been well aware of the conditions and abuses that continue to happen within the borders of the Saudi Kingdom. From practical slavery, suppression dissidents, oppression of women’s rights, this isn’t odd or even unpredictable. Not one western country historically bothering to raise more than a customary raised eyebrow and a little bit of finger-wagging. How could we when they could cripple our way of life?
Enter the ambition of Elon Musk and his competitors. They are making it possible for the average Australian, and many other countries, to buy an electric car. While this comes with a host of other issues such as the availability of recharging stations, (Which are slowly becoming more widely accessible even as we speak!) the lack of taxation for the upkeep of our roads and so on. Minor issues when widespread use of electric cars will, cut household costs (cheaper to run), reduce pollution (yay! cleaner air) and most importantly, reduce our dependence on countries such as Saudi Arabia.
Back to Jamal Khashoggi, why does he matter to you buying an electric car next?
Khashoggi is a lynchpin. The reaction of world leaders, especially Western heads of state, whether they raise enough of a moral outcry to actually move against Saudi interests. Turkey, the scene of the crime, is denying the official story of a ‘fistfight gone wrong’. Already major western media outlets and companies have begun to sever public ties with the Kingdom. Bailing from the upcoming international conference meant to celebrate the Kingdom’s move towards equality and investing in environmentally friendly technologies.
If this trend continues, it might push the oil-dependent economy to drive the prices of fuel up. Already at record highs, if there’s too much upward movement in the prices, it might even convince the staunchest of fuel lovers to make the switch. By the time kids entering high school this summer are looking for their first car, they might be buying second-hand electric vehicles.