Disneylands Autopia Ride Will Switch to Electric Vehicles

In 1955, Walt Disney’s vision of the cutting edge came in the form of 40 candy-colored miniature cars that allowed pint-size drivers to push a real gas pedal and steer around a track at the Anaheim theme park.Autopia, a focal point of the Tomorrowland section of Disneyland, mirrored the real-life love affair that Americans were having with the automobile.Work would soon begin on the interstate highway system, suburbs were expanding, car sales were skyrocketing and the future felt like a shiny coupe, windows down, speeding along an open road.But Mr.

Disney’s midcentury vision of the future has run up against today’s environmental reality.Autopia, the only surviving original attraction at Tomorrowland, is in violation of California’s stringent emissions regulations.So now, after 71 years, Autopia is going electric.The cars currently run on 8.5 horsepower Honda four-stroke engines like those typically used to run generators or industrial pressure washers.

They are loud and belch exhaust for up to 16 hours a day.The result is a microclimate of smog hovering over Tomorrowland, a section of the park that includes rides like Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.Sometime next year, the gasoline powered engines will be phased out and Autopia will join the age of E.V.s....