Sunday was Hectic, hectic almost like Jerry Bruckheimer’s second installment of his 1986 blockbuster “Top Gun”. Between Faith calling , read the Sunday mass ending at 11:am and the confirmed booking at Inox for Tom’s flick “TG-Maverick”, starting 430 pm..I had to zoom to Nandi Hills, finish a meeting, pick up the kids, stuff in a lunch, drop mother home and yet ensure I see the commercials before the movie starts. That was a 150 kms drive on a hot june noon…to and fro.
But what’s spectacular about this..one may ask.
Well the drive was to meet and greet, in person the people or the company behind what I was assuming India’s first RV on display, for view or sale or promo purpose. Yes that’s right India’s first RV. Wait, What? you don’t know what’s an RV? 🙂 No problem ,even I din’t till google came to my rescue few years back.
An RV or “Recreational Vehicle” is anywhere between a customized van to a sophisticated 100k USD master piece that people use for travel. It usually will house a bed, kitchen, toilet to stay, inside your vehicle. you can stop whenever you want and drive whenever you want, Stay & Leisure inside your vehicle or outdoors anywhere you stop and Camp. That’s it!! Life’s simple. A 1BHK in motion.
Now, while I have been doing road trips for more than a decade now, I always fancied just pulling up on the sidelines and relaxing for few hours under the moonlight or beside the stream. Sometimes nature does make emergency calls and there was always a wish to find a clean and respectable toilet during the travels. Swatch Bharat still has a long way to go, specially in the highways, Sachh Bhai,Sachh. And therefore the concept of an RV which wont bust the bank or put me into a 20 year EMI whirlpool was always a wish. So when I did get the call to see this concept live here in namma Bengaluru, I was thrilled and took the challenge of doing that long drive to Nandi hills, where it was housed for display and getting a first hand feel about it. Although the time was limited with my church and movie commitment before and after this visit. But I decided to go for it…
Well the visit and the display was good, lot of information sharing, (thank you likith,) lot of knowledge about the technology advancement regarding a camper van and not actually a full fledged RV. with the perfect camp site and well spread bed and a decent toilet all inside the camper, the demo was good, the product was good and seemed a good concept and a decent value for money. But hang on, what about sustainability, wont this be a guzzler? what bout pollution , wont this be burning more fossil fuels? and before all that, what about parking, driving, theft, hooliganism, traffic cops etc etc ,so many iff’s to think about regarding an RV or a Camper . Its still not mass culture , Its still nascent as a concept. Such are the thoughts in people’s mind and rightfully so.
Just then someone suggested , what about EV?
🙂 I smiled and let the humour go, EV is not same as RV. But that’s all right, happens. So what’s an EV?
EV I am sure we all know. Ola made it fashionable lately while Tesla made is iconic. An EV (electric vehicle) is the future of mobility. Buses, Cars, Scooters will all run on electricity, In fact, with the rapid adoption of EV , very soon we will see greener pastures, literally. Apparently EVs are 1/ 3 polluting compared to a ICE Vehicle. (ICE – Internal Combustion Engine. basically all our petrol and deisel cars and buses.) They make less noise too ,so noise pollution will also reduce, They are lower maintenance as claimed by EV leaders. So looks like the future of EVs is bright and we will reach our net zero emission 2070 target well in advance. But what about those horror stories of bikes catching fire. Yes it may have been, but like all new tech, adoption will drive more innovation and better quality. What about “Range anxiety” ?
“Range Anxiety” – Fear of a vehicle’s charge getting over and we are stranded in the middle of nowhere. Even that too shall pass…in time. Lets just be bullish about EVs.
Of course an EV on an RV will be the best of both worlds 🙂 and hopefully that will come soon too.
So whether “range anxiety” for EVs or “turning Radius” fear for RVs , the future for mobility is exciting. Watch out for more innovation and more adoption , cos as Tom Cruise says it…”we have the need, the need for speed”.
And if you are wondering if I made it on time for the 4:30 pm show of Topgun – Maveric. Yes, I did and NO I din’t speed. Tom’s Bomber Jacket , Kawasaki Ninja and Aviator shades with Lady Gaga’s “Hold my Hand” Sound track, was enough motivation, enough fuel for the fire. Cheers!!. EV or RV , let them all come, We shall be prepared.
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