• Yu Dai

“I don’t need it but I want it, why shouldn’t I have it?” In the documentary No Impact Man, the heroine Michelle questioned her husband Colin who had proposed the environmental protection project. The question, simple while indeed stated with logical precision, involves significant issues. From the economic perspective, this situation is described as hovering between personal motivations and consumer values when making economic decisions. Personal motivations have been considered a driving force of consumption, whereas consumer values express motivational concerns according to the theory of basic human values (Schwartz, S. H., & Bilsky, W.). In the end of the movie, Michelle cycled through Manhattan with her baby girl. She once could not understand why some people did not drive in New York City, but then she became one of them. It is customary to consider that “finding balance regard to values” implies compromise, in which personal desires are usually first sacrificed, as it did in the case of Michelle who gave up her car. Nevertheless, I argue that values can be useful in expediting technological progress and giving us guidance for consuming smarter rather than simply sacrificing motivations.

The formation of consumer values cannot be divorced from the consumption behavior itself. The idea of consumption has a long history, even before the emergence of money, back to the barter system period. Consumerism in the contemporary sense, which was considered as the early immature consumer value, originated in late nineteenth century when the accomplishment of the Second Industrial Revolution further encouraged the economic development. People’s spending habits changed greatly during the past several centuries. Most economic developments in the last century have been achieved at the cost of environment, and after entering the new century, many attempts were made to change the situation. Automobile industry as one of the most representative examples shows the possibility that moral standard, as part of the consumer value, can stimulate the market to develop new technology through its influence on consumer demand and behaviors.

Modern cars were invented based on the working steam-powered vehicle during the Industrial Revolution, and have become prevalent since the mass production of affordable cars by Ford Motor Company in early 1900s. The popularization of cars had made life more convenient, but meanwhile, plenty of problems arose owing to a lack of environmental consciousness in the early period. Along with the improvement of the consumer values, vehicle pollution has been a global concern with the coming of the twenty-first century. Although the inhabitants of the earth were fully aware of the importance of the environmental protection, it was still unrealistic to force them to give up owning cars in order to minimize the gas emissions and the use of petroleum resources. Therefore, there was an urgent demand for new types of cars which can be more ecofriendly.

In the first decade of the new century, the design and manufacture of electric vehicles by Elon Musk is a milestone in the automobile history. Tesla Motors, the company with its incredible fully electric luxury sedan hit the wealthy who pursued fresh excitement and were willing to take responsibility for protecting the environment. The attractions of this fancy motorcar lie not only in its amazing acceleration or safety performance, but also in the use of clean energy to effectively avoid the emission of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. As Tesla Roadster was introduced as a better substitute of traditional cars to the market and consum