Who Killed the Electric Car?

[Joe_Black]

the EV pollutes just like every fossil-fuel burning machine. "What?! He's MAD I tell you!!! Completely MAD!!!" Actually, it's true - the only difference is that the pollution comes out of the smoke stack at the electric plant, not out of the tailpipe of the vehicle. The fact is that the electricity that charged the EV's batteries came from a fossil-fuel-burning power plant nearby, and that's where the pollution is. Converting the energy produced by the fuel into electricity before turning it into motion also reduces the overall efficiency of the process, meaning that you need to burn comparatively more fuel at electrical plant to produce XX miles traveled in the electric car than you would if the fuel were burnt on-board the car without converting to electricity first. I'll grant that there is an advantage to managing pollution from one exhaust pipe over managing the polution from a 100,000 exhaust pipes, but nevertheless, there is fossil fuel pollution in the system (unless you prefer to go nuke, of course!).

Okay, first off this is one of the most common points of ignorance regarding Renewable Energy today. Yes, thirty years ago this would've been true but today most folk using RE are completely off-grid or at the very least grid-tied. They're producing energy from sources that use very little one-time fossil outlay such as photovoltaics, wind power or micro-hydro. Some are generating their power from bio-fuels or other natural heat cycle sources which have no fossil fuel impact. We've come a long way in the past few decades and with a lot of experience and better technology the use of dependant-energy intensive electricity generation is for those who don't want to change. And it's not about being "green", it's about not lining the pockets of the oil companies who've been robbing us blind for the better part of the past century.

And for my third torpedo in the side of that sad eulogy (there are many, many more), I'll just say that the practicality and performance of the EV sucked butt, which is the main reason why people didn't want them (millionaire Hollywood airheads aside)... In real-world driving in California, it only went 50-70 miles tops on a 12+ hour charge (although you could cut that time down if you installed a 220 V charger in your garage, too bad if you don't have one), and at that point, you'd be hobbled with greatly-diminished performance. Also, it only had room for one passenger, and not much after that for your shopping bags. A $100,000 car that can't go as far or as fast or carry as much as a $2000 Yugo... who could possibly pass one up?!

This is where Americans and EV's hit head on. Most folk just couldn't wrap their head around the simple concept of keeping a conventional car in the garage for those rare long drives (or maybe just renting when needed) and using the electric for the everyday commute and errand running. There's a major grassroots movement right now converting gasoline cars to pure electric for just such a purpose. Sure, the range is around 60 miles but the cars are regular cars otherwise with the same passenger/cargo capacity and in most cases the performance is a blistering improvement over the original fossil fueled power plant.

Most Americans have demonstrated their gluttonous attitude toward fuel consumption this year by actually increasing need right alongside rising prices. And the oil companies are applauding that appetite all the way to the bank.