Downey's Dream Vehicles: Robert Downey Jr. targets EV skeptics in new collection

Marvel retiree Robert Downey Jr. has a brand new present: Downey’s Dream Vehicles. It follows the millionaire as he seeks to reconcile two of his hobbies, basic automotive accumulating and local weather change mitigation.

The Iron Man actor has led with this type of juxtaposition earlier than; when he kicked off his climate-focused enterprise agency Footprint Coalition in 2019, he reportedly contrasted his intentions with a colourful description of himself as a “one-man carbon footprint nightmare colossus.” 

We see extra of this in episode certainly one of Downey’s Dream Vehicles. The collection facilities on Downey’s plan to work with specialists (similar to Wealthy Benoit of Electrified Storage) to retrofit his numerous basic vehicles to allow them to run on lower-emission tech. But, the primary episode opens with a left-field shot of Downey marching right into a U.S. Military helicopter, introducing a stunt that appears at odds with the present’s emphasis on local weather change. Out of the gate, Downey acknowledges that it is a bit complicated, saying one thing to the impact of, wait isn’t this a automotive present?

It’s, and it’s a present that my TechCrunch colleague Kirsten Korosec labored on as a contributing producer. That’s one of the best half, in my least goal opinion. It’s what initially piqued my curiosity sufficient to sit down in for a screening at LA’s Petersen Automotive Museum final week. Expensive reader, I’m glad I did, as a result of Kirsten (who additionally performs herself within the present) is an excellent individual and now I get to make this as embarrassing as doable for her. Nonetheless, I wasn’t proud of every little thing I took away from the night; it left me with the unsettling, however informative realization that I discover Dax Shepard, the night’s co-host, good-looking.

Picture Credit: Harri Weber for TechCrunch

Life’s sobering moments carry readability, similar to the present itself. The primary episode goes to nice pains to speak how electrical vehicles are highly effective sufficient — actually, robust sufficient — to interchange their combustion-engine counterparts. In my day-to-day protection of electrical automobiles, I don’t personally spend a number of time speaking about what number of Individuals merely aren’t bought on EVs. Their wariness limits the potential of lower-emission automobiles to chop down on air pollution, so I admire the implicit reminder in Downey’s Dream Vehicles that people nonetheless want convincing, even when the supply is a bit clumsy for me. [Episode one and two spoilers ahead.]

The primary automobile that Downey’s specialists overhaul is a 1972 Ok-10 pickup — a monster of a truck that the actor referred to as the Purple Folks Eater. The present walks viewers via the fragile, and truthfully fairly attention-grabbing course of of putting in a Tesla motor and batteries into the traditional beast, which additionally will get a wrap, a touchscreen and a brand new nickname (the Grey Ghost). On the finish of the episode, Benoit of Electrified Storage exhibits off the Ghost’s energy through the use of it to tow a tank at Southern California’s Fort Irwin. The present additionally goes into the Military’s electrification efforts, however it neglects to say the navy’s outsized carbon footprint.

I realized on the screening that episode two focuses on retrofitting a 1969 Mercedes 280 SE to run on biofuels. In line with a press assertion, the collection goes on to discover solar energy, hydrogen gas cells, electrical bikes, sustainable manufacturing and leather-based alternate options. All through, the collection strives to carry Downey’s “beloved outdated vehicles into the long run […] whereas holding their souls intact,” per that very same press assertion. The present additionally explores the businesses that have been already doing work in these areas, together with Rimac Automobilii and Ecovative.

For those who’d like, you possibly can choose the collection and the vehicles for your self when the primary few episodes drop on MAX, née HBO Max, on June 22. I plan to tune in, and that i’ll in all probability achieve this by borrowing a login totally free from my certainly one of my mates.