We’ve just been to see the latest James Bond movie, which typically contained a high-speed car chase. Love that tricked out Aston Martin DB 5. Remember in Skyfall when they took the dustcover off? The theatre audience gasped in joy and surprise. In fact, you might wonder who is the most popular character – Bond, James Bond, or Martin, Aston Martin.
It led me to thinking, what’s it going to be like when electric cars feature more prominently in movies? Sure, we’ve had the odd e-tron in an Iron Man or Avengers movie (shame on you, Disney, for dubbing in petrol car sounds!), but what will it be like when Vin Diesel is driving a Tesla — Too Fast, Too Furious, and Too Quiet?
Image by David Waterworth/CleanTechnica.
During most car chases, there are multiple camera closeups of clutch work, gear changes, taco needle revs. What will they replace them with? Sure, EVs have instant torque, but how does that compare photogenically? Will there be closeups of the power usage meter going crazy, or will it just be a dwindling pursuit car in the rear vision camera feed?
Will it be a chase at all? If James Bond has the DB 10 and the villain has a Tesla Model 3 Plaid, or in the near future a Tesla Cybertruck Plaid (that should be a popular model for the movies), will one zip away out of sight before the other one gets into second gear? Or, hey, James Bond’s Cybertruck could be rolling over the top of Specter’s Lamborghini followed up by a trailer-worthy humorous remark. Very short chase indeed. Might even beat the record set by Hot Fuzz.
And all those car crashes … will future full-self-driving skills mean that the movie budget will be saved a few million dollars? No more bursting into flames from gas tanks exploding – oh wait, it’s an electric car, they all burst into flames for no reason all the time, night and day. (Sarcasm.) I guess the biggest problem will be making sure they burst into flames at the right time and in the right way. Or Hollywood will just dramatize and people can complain about how the movie was not realistic, focusing on a few points rather than the few hundred other blatant ones.
Then there are the charging issues. Wouldn’t do to get a flat battery in the middle of a high-speed chase. The winner might be the one who can get the fastest charger first. Watching the battery drain or fill up could certainly be used for some dramatic and humorous effect.
A closeup shot of the yellow triangle of death: “You will not reach your destination, slow down to 90 km per hour and turn off the air conditioning. Armaments are disabled due to lack of power!” That would be the opposite of thrilling, but you could see many people laughing about it.
Of course, to liven things up, we can always resort to novelty chases, using tanks, earthmoving equipment, and the like.
I am looking forward to how Hollywood will handle this transition.
Image by David Waterworth/CleanTechnica.
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