In previous articles, we have already talked about the fascinating dance of the bee, explaining its function within the bee community, how information might be processed by the bees themselves, how precise the dance is, and if not, what this entails. But we have not yet epitomised its energy efficiency, and to start with the real talk we propose a seemingly absurd question, namely: what can cars have in common with bees, and what can cars learn from bees?
The meeting point between the two can be found in the tandem charging system of self-driving cars, but let’s start with the basic problem: the only limitation that is difficult to eliminate is that of the scarce presence of charging stations that do not allow drivers to travel “too” long with electric cars. However, as we have just said, bees come to the rescue and, after a more in-depth analysis by Tim Landgraf, show us that a simple, fast and efficient exchange of energy is possible.
Just as bees transfer pollen to each other, so can self-driving cars, passing on energy to each other. Just enter your route and the system will automatically calculate how many and what possibilities there are to recharge the car. The possibilities are other electric cars can act as ‘donor’ cars, giving up the charge – all in just a few minutes!
Now, if for car transport (one of the main causes of pollution, whose emissions are estimated to make up a third of the total), measures can be taken and ways devised, as in this case, to make the switch from traditional to electric cars possible for as many people as possible, then the radical change that needs to be made will be faster. We have, in fact, almost reached a point of no return.
If we carry on as we have been doing, the world will be a vast wasteland in fifty years’ time. Scientists say that we are still in time to make a difference, but now more than ever, drastic measures must be taken: the average increase in global temperature must not exceed 1.5% compared to pre-industrial data, and among the many things we can still do, this, shown in the article, is excellent.