Ultrascience II: Cars of the Future

Once upon a time, The Future was envisioned as a time when every house would have its own heliport (as in The Jetsons). Well, it's not really the future that's catching up with the automobile industry, these days, so much as the past. With so many the world's cities suffering from hazardous air pollution levels due to automobile exhaust, many of the experimental vehicles being designed today respect the finitude of fossil fuels, as well as the environmental goal of zero emissions. However, since Detroit has always been joined at the hip with Big Oil, it's no surprise that a) the chairman of Chrysler asserts that all we really need is a super-clean gasoline-fueled internal combustion engine, and b) most alternative-fuel vehicle development is taking place in Japan, France, and among scattered American entrepreneurs. The program looks at standard battery-powered electric cars (described rather derisively here as "not sexy" and compared with golf carts); hybrid cars, which use electric power in city driving, with natural-gas fueled internal combustion generators to power long-distance runs; and hydrogen fueled/electric cars. A good overview of where the industry is now, which will probably be out of date within five years (but aren't most forecasts?). The only technical complaint here is the miniscule size of the subtitles used for the Mazda spokesman; sure wish they'd provided the voice of an interpreter instead. Recommended, otherwise. Other titles in the 13-part Ultrascience II series include: Martian Mission, War 2020, Mosquito Wars and Talk to the Animals. Aud: I, J, H, C, P. (R. Reagan)