The electric car, once touted
as the "car of the future." It runs quietly and has
no negative impact on the environment while you’re driving
down the road. It could be the way for our society to free itself
from its dependency on oil. So where is the electric car? Why
are they not produced by the millions?
One of the most prominent setbacks of the electric car is that
the maximum speed necessary for ordinary highway travel is difficult
to achieve. Many people own an electric car to use only when
driving on errands around town because long-distance trips are
out of the question.
This is not to say that an electric car has never achieved high
speeds. In fact, the REVA is one such electric car that’s
available only as a neighborhood electric car in the US but
has the maximum electric car capabilities in the UK, allowing
even some highway travel. Still, top electric car speeds don’t
match that of gas-powered cars.
Another drawback of the electric car is its size. The bigger
the car, the more energy is needed to power the car. The electric
car’s current capabilities are only enough to power relatively
small cars. A modern family with a few groceries or packages
would not find a small electric car convenient.
And what of the environmentally-friendly
aspect of electric cars? Most people who are willing to spend
the extra money and to live with the aforementioned inconveniences
of having an electric car do so because they are tried of ever-climbing
gas prices and of the world’s dependency on polluting
oil. Electric cars are entirely clean and have no negative impact
on the environment—while they’re running, at least.
Unless you’re one of the very few who live in a city with
an alternate energy power plant or you’ve converted your
residence to be powered by alternative energy such as solar
power, hydroelectric power, or wind power and you only charge
your electric car battery at those outlets, your electric car
pollutes.
If you get your electrical energy from a coal-burning plant,
the electric car’s battery is contributing to burning
coal as it charges—at a rate which is not much less than
burning gas in a car. If your city is powered by nuclear power,
at least it’s a cleaner burning form of energy, but there
is still the problem of the disposal of toxic waste. Plus, you’re
spending just about if not more money on the extra charge on
your utility bill as you would at the gas pump.
So the electric car has been put back on the drawing board,
every so often resurfacing with a new innovation to counteract
some of these problems. The most popular and successful twist
on the electric car has been the hybrid car, which runs partially
on gas and partially on the electric car battery.
The hybrid car cuts back on gas and electric battery charging
pollution and the amount you spend on gas and utilities, but
combined, they’re still not far from the pollution and
cost of maintaining a gas-powered car. Still, hybrid cars allow
for a bigger size vehicle and for top speeds on highways.
If you’re thinking about buying an electric car, make
sure that all of these inconveniences are worth it and that
the reason you’re buying an electric car—you want
to cut back on pollution, for example—is actually worthwhile.
If you want to send a message about oil and cut back on gas
consumption, you might want to look into a hybrid car instead.
Frank j Vanderlugt owns and operates http://www.electric-car-2007.comElectric
Car
