Year 60, Early Autumn · Tagus
By Noemi Cardoso, Co-editor
There's usually a car beside our community meeting place. Some days it stays there until evening. On others, three or four households use it before supper. I grew up in the former system, when a car sitting outside a house generally belonged to the people inside. It took me a little while to stop thinking of an available car as somebody else's.
Cars have carried a good many expectations along with their passengers. Their story began long before anyone turned an ignition key.
Before the engine
For centuries, a journey might begin by saddling a horse or harnessing one to a carriage. A coach offered seats for several travelers and room for their belongings. There was still an animal to feed, water, rest, and care for. A damaged wheel or a stretch of deep mud could change the day's plans.
Plenty of people walked. Others hired a place in a coach or traveled by water; later, railways opened up longer journeys. A horse and carriage of your own was beyond the reach of many households.
Early motor vehicles tried several ways of getting along without a horse. Some used steam, some batteries, and others combustion engines. The three-wheeled Benz gasoline car belongs to those early experiments. The new machines needed fuel, repairs, and suitable roads. A traveler had exchanged one set of preparations for another.
When cars became ordinary
Factories learned to make large numbers of similar cars quickly. Assembly-line production helped make the Model T affordable to many more families, and other manufacturers followed. A car could take tools to a job, bring children home, or turn a difficult visit into an afternoon's outing.
I remember that convenience. I also remember how often there was little choice about driving. Homes, work, shops, and friends could be spread too far apart for an easy walk. Cars filled roads and parking grounds, and their noise and exhaust reached people who weren't traveling anywhere.
Old-world records put the United States at about 85 registered road motor vehicles for every 100 residents, and the European Union at about 70. Those counts included motorcycles, buses, and goods vehicles. Here, passenger cars average roughly one for every 100 people. A busy morning looks very different now.
A question from Year 1
Cars were useful almost from the beginning of Paradise. Restoration crews had work to finish before rain arrived. People needed to meet, carry supplies, and prepare places for others. Everlasting life was ahead of us, but a roof still needed covering before a storm.
In Year 1, the Earthwide Service Committee, or ESC, took up a question people were already discussing: how much pollution could we produce while caring properly for the earth Jehovah had given us? Cars were part of it. So were cooking fires, kilns, and the bonfires around which neighbors gathered.
The committee considered what each kind of vehicle would ask of us over its whole working life. There were materials to obtain, workshops to supply, fuel or electricity to produce, and worn-out parts to deal with. The work continued long after a car left its maker.
Why electric and hydrogen weren't chosen
Electric cars had much to offer: quiet motors, efficient use of electricity, and no exhaust beside a waiting passenger. In the former system, they could produce far fewer emissions over a lifetime than gasoline cars, even with battery manufacture counted. Their batteries still came with a substantial amount of work attached.
Minerals had to be mined and refined, cells manufactured, and heavy packs assembled and transported. Charging depended on electricity and equipment that also had to be provided. As packs aged, they needed assessment, repair where possible, and eventually replacement or another use.
Recycling recovered valuable material and reduced the need for fresh mining. It also meant collecting and safely dismantling packs, then separating their materials. Some methods used considerable heat; others used chemical treatments. The work required energy, equipment, and care, and leftover material still needed safe treatment or disposal. A discarded battery could cause a fire if it was damaged or handled badly. Putting it out of sight never finished the job.
Hydrogen fuel-cell cars offered quiet travel too, with water coming from the fuel cell. But hydrogen had to be made. Much old-world production used natural gas and released carbon dioxide. Splitting water with electricity avoided that source of emissions when the electricity was clean, but it took substantial power and equipment of its own.
Then came storage and delivery. Hydrogen occupied a great deal of space unless compressed or made extremely cold. Strong tanks, compressors, specialist fittings, and filling stations all needed manufacture and upkeep. Making the hydrogen, preparing it for storage, and turning it back into electricity each used some of the energy along the way. Fuel cells added their own carefully made membranes and catalysts, with materials to recover when parts wore out.
For our small shared fleet, the ESC chose a route that made good use of what was already here. Many existing cars could be adapted for plant alcohol and maintained through familiar workshops. A widespread change to battery or hydrogen vehicles would have meant far more conversion work, new equipment, and continuing specialist support. The committee chose to put that effort into a modest fleet, local fuel supplies, and effective exhaust protection.
Fuel from a generous earth
Plant alcohol takes work too. Crops must be grown and processed, and distilling fuel takes heat. Fuel systems need suitable parts, and the exhaust equipment needs care. The choice suited our abundant harvests and the cars we could keep usefully in service.
Jehovah had lifted the earlier curse on the ground long before Paradise, after the Flood. Yet even people who remembered excellent farms were astonished by these harvests. Growing enough for food and the small fuel supply became much easier than anyone had expected.
After research, discussion, and prayer, the ESC found that the restored earth could do a remarkable amount to keep its land and atmosphere clean. Its researchers estimated that the greatly increased plant life could help absorb and break down even pollution on the old system's scale.
They still set a firm limit on the fleet: a total equal to about five percent of all road motor vehicles in service when the former system ended. That number stays fixed as communities grow. Meanwhile, the number of people sharing each passenger car changes with local needs.
Cars still produce emissions. Their capture and recovery systems prevent carbon monoxide from escaping during operation, protecting people close by. The wider earth's ability to recover is a blessing; so is being able to stand beside a car without breathing that poison. Psalm 24:1 reminds us whose earth this is. We have good reason to care for it gladly.
Cars that fit the journey
Much of today's fleet still shows its old-world origins. There are small cars, tall cars, and vehicles with seats that have carried several generations of neighbors. Designers are working on practical new ones, especially in North America, where many inherited vehicles are large and difficult to adapt. Easier repairs and a comfortable ride matter more than an impressive size.
Most cars are shared from familiar collection points. Some communities arrange schedules; elsewhere, a small tracker helps a neighbor find an available vehicle. Local electronics workshops build and repair these devices. They pick up frequent, brief radio pulses from the cars' beacons and show the direction and estimated distance to the nearest one they can detect.
There are still visits worth making today, supplies needed before evening, and plans we're eager to begin. A few well-cared-for cars help with a great deal of that.
Tips and Reminders
Before setting out: Check any local sharing schedule and use fuel prepared for the vehicle. Leave a car out of service if its exhaust capture or recovery equipment needs repair.
Using the tracker: Its direction and distance are approximate; buildings and terrain affect reception. Another neighbor may reach the car first. Switch the availability beacon off while using the vehicle, then turn it back on once the car is returned and ready for someone else.
Bringing it back: When possible, return the car to its usual collection point, preferably where you found it. That's where neighbors know to look.
On unpaved routes: Take it slowly around animals and over soft ground. Wheels can damage the paths we share with them.
Packing extra fuel: Use only properly marked red containers intended for fuel. Never identify it by appearance or smell, or put it in a cooking-oil container. Misuse can cause fire or explosion, needless temporary pain, and damaged belongings. A little care saves someone a very unpleasant afternoon.