How Do You Murder A Dead Concept?
Posted on June 30th, 2006 in Energy, Fuzzy Thinking, Transportation by kende ||
In love with the idea of electric cars? Think they are a real solution with today’s technology (or just a tiny bit of investment in new technology) and their widespread use is being supressed by a nefarious cabal? Read on…
Electric cars do not have sufficient range to be the practical, versatile, every day car most people want.
They don’t have range because they operate on batteries — those mysterious sealed devices that convert chemicals into stored electrical energy. And batteries can’t store enough energy to keep an EV going more than 50 or 60 miles, or in rare cases (with experienced drivers and the latest and very expensive nickel-metal-hydride battery packs) 150 miles, before they have to be recharged.
Put it this way. I can drive my wife’s big Lexus 55 miles on two gallons (about 16 pounds) of gasoline that cost me six bucks. An electric car like the one featured here could travel the same distance by exhausting its 1000-pound battery pack (lead-acid, costing $2000) which would then have to be recharged. The recharging would take about four hours. I could replace the two gallons of gasoline in about 30 seconds, but I wouldn’t have to because my wife’s car can easily go another 450 highway cruising miles on a tank of gas.
Sure, with billions of dollars in additional investment and another decade or four we could *maybe* see EVs that are finally viable. But if we are going to spend the money and take the time anyway, isn’t hydrogen a much better choice? In the meantime oil is where it’s at. We can diversify with ethanol and other alternatives at the margins, and can get more bang for our 3+ bucks a gallon by using hybrid vehicles, but oil will be around until hydrogen takes over.