Empire Rising: Spain

If it weren’t for Germany catching up too early, the British might have delayed for a while. If the British hadn’t followed Germany simultaneously, the French might have delayed even longer.

The widespread adoption of electricity is certainly beneficial to humanity. Only when electricity becomes prevalent in major cities and industrial areas can electricity-related equipment continuously emerge and innovate generation after generation.

This doesn’t only include electric motors but also various other electrical appliances and mechanical equipment that also require electricity to operate.

The proliferation of electricity, like a good start, has created a bright future for developments related to electricity. As one of the leading countries in the advancement of electricity, Spain is more likely to achieve greater accomplishments in science and fields related to electricity.

Benz’s automobile company is the best example.

In fact, several years ago, Benz had already developed a prototype of a car that was barely usable.

However, such a car had significant drawbacks. It’s fine for the government and the royal family to purchase a few, but it was completely impossible for commercial use.

The public couldn’t afford to buy a car that might break down at any moment, especially since these hand-built cars were very costly and simply not affordable for ordinary people.

Benz and others conducted research for several years, and so far, they haven’t solved the instability problem of the internal combustion engine.

But this is also quite normal. If the stability of the internal combustion engine were resolved, it would mean the steam engine would be replaced.

With current technology, significantly improving the stability of the steam engine is utterly impossible without over 20 years of time.

For this reason, Carlo also temporarily didn’t hope for the commercialization of automobiles. Building a few of these cars for the royal family and government is not a bad idea, at least for Carlo’s exclusive cars, which are much more comfortable than carriages. Plus, there would be maintenance personnel accompanying the car at all times to ensure it doesn’t break down midway, or if it does, it will be promptly repaired.

After Spain vigorously promoted the proliferation of electricity, Benz suddenly had a thought to add two large light bulbs in front of his car model for illumination.

The advantage of this is obvious, which is to give the car the ability to travel at night.

When people ride in carriages, it is very difficult to provide lighting at night. Whether it’s kerosene lamps or torches, they cannot fully illuminate the road in front of the carriage.

Moreover, horses and humans have completely different vision; humans being able to see doesn’t mean horses can. Also, animals are naturally afraid of fire, so expecting a torch or kerosene lamp to provide lighting for horses is less reliable than hoping the bright full moon can reflect more light.

But cars are entirely different. If at least two bulbs can be installed in front of the car, it may provide sufficient lighting for the driver.

The car doesn’t need to see; it’s enough if the driver can see. Doing so not only can improve the efficiency and safety of driving at night but also gives the car functions that carriages don’t have.

Expecting to install lighting equipment on carriages is unrealistic. After all, electric bulbs need electricity to illuminate, and carriages are constantly moving.

Installing a small power generator would make the carriage much heavier, and an ordinary carriage couldn’t possibly accommodate such modifications.

Perhaps only the specially supplied carriages for the royal and government could undergo such modifications. After all, the royal family’s carriages were originally plated with steel and much larger than normal carriages.

It might still be possible to install a simple power generator on such carriages. Although the wattage wouldn’t be high, it could still provide lighting for a few bulbs.

Previously, when the generating power was low, the power generation equipment installed on carriages could hardly illuminate bulbs with a larger wattage. But now, with the increase in power generation capacity, it is indeed hopeful to install such simple generators on both carriages and automobiles to provide lighting for bulbs.

This is precisely the function of electricity; as long as it can facilitate people’s lives, such a function is very useful.