However, the tumultuous growth in the diffusion of electric vehicles has generated a strong negative reaction in Italy (and not only in Italy) where the public was not prepared for the novelty and reacted sometimes with perplexity, if not with open hostility to the new vehicles. Several factors weighed on this lack of enthusiasm, one was the hammering campaign against electric vehicles that pervaded social media in particular. Whatever the reason, today we find ourselves at the tail end, or almost, among European countries in terms of the spread of electric transport. But, whatever happens, certainly, we cannot remain the only one of the so-called “developed” countries anchored to the old and polluting combustion engines. It is simply inevitable despite the efforts of those nostalgic for the roar of the engine to oppose it. It will still take some time and adaptation before we realise that electric vehicles are not a toy for those who can afford to buy them, but a vital tool for public and private transport in the years to come.

This is the subject of this book, which fits into today’s trend that is now shared at all levels that electric vehicles are a fundamental piece of the way we try to get rid of fossil fuels. From now on, we will have to rely on other things that are renewable, sustainable, and non-exhaustible. With the decline of the oil age will also change what is called the “age of the automobile,” the great wave of four-wheeled, roaring, smelly metal monsters that swept the world in the twentieth century. Too expensive, too noisy, too polluting, too bulky, cars have become real dinosaurs, destined for extinction.

After Elon Musk revolutionized the road vehicle market, it no longer seems unthinkable to replace the old roaring motors with the more efficient and quieter electric motors. But it is not just a question of changing the engine, it is precisely a different conception of transport that is taking hold. New car-sharing services are being developed; the traditional difference between public and private transport is fading, replaced by various on-demand transport systems. All these innovations could even make Tesla obsolete. They will certainly make transport leaner, faster, cheaper, more suitable for the future that awaits us. This is the real revolution that awaits us.