Something has been on my mind for a while and I thought I'd post about it.
Consider this information for a moment:
- The first electric car was built sometime in the late 1830s. (
link,
link). Mind you, these were very primitive compared to what we see today, but they
did run using only power produced by non-rechargeable batteries.
- Batteries were conceptualized and made for the first time in the decades leading up to the 1830s, but this was very early in their development.
(
link)
- The first gasoline powered combustion engines were not built until the tail end of the 1800s.
(
link)
- The first reliable electronic, programmable computers were made in the early 1940s.
(
link)
- The first televisions that are compatible with today's fully electronic sets were first put together in the mid-1930s.
(
link)
Okay, I realize that I've listed a few things that are like comparing apples to oranges, but bear with me for a sec.
The first electronic car was made nearly 200 hundred years ago. The other stuff I listed was either in it's infancy or not even around at all at that
point! So how the heck have we gone 150 to 200 years and it seems as though electric vehicles have come up short in terms of technological
progression?
Think about how much computers have changed in 60 years. They have gone from behemoths that took up entire rooms in exchange for minimal computing
power, to a device you can hold comfortably in one hand or stuff into your your pocket.
When considering the alternatives to petroleum, it is obvious why that has remained, and will remain, the dominant fuel source: Money. People are
forced to purchase gasoline in order to drive. If cars were powered by solar energy, batteries, water, air, or some other freely accessible fuel,
billions of dollars would no longer exchange hands.
With all of the hubbub about needing to get away from petroleum, reduce CO2 emissions, curb warming, and be greener, wouldn't it make more sense to
stop using automobiles as we see them today? Wouldn't it be more logical to use something that doesn't rely on a powering process that has harmful
byproducts? Al Gore and others have proposed a carbon tax in order to help stem carbon-based emissions. What good is that going to do? It's not going
to keep Gore and other wealthy people from traveling around the world. All it will do is make it even more difficult for the average person to live a
decent lifestyle. Meanwhile a select few people will be the beneficiaries of this tax. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.
I'm convinced that if a person were to hold a press conference today and prove to the world that they'd built a car that ran on garbage (yes, like
the car from Back to the Future), we'd still never see the vehicle made available to the public in any form. The inventor would wind up as a footnote
on wikipedia and perhaps in a news piece regarding his/her untimely death. Until someone in a position of power decides that, for the good of humanity
and our planet, we need to do something regardless of the cost, regardless of the loss involved in terms of money, and regardless of the difficulty,
automobiles will only use the fuel(s) that make require payment.
Well that's my little rant on that subject. I know the money topic has been pointed out on many occasions. But when I started looking at how quickly
some technologies and devices have come along in short periods of time, I found it very surprising that the electric vehicle has made such little
progress.
), thats the only
kind I would buy. If the electric model that makes those kind of speeds goes into mass production, I'd chose that over a hybrid.
