This post is about electric cars. Real electric cars, not fake electric cars like the Toyota Prius, and the Honda Insight, which are two among many other Hybrids (half gas and half electric), currently on the market.
I really can't talk about electric cars in the modern age without first talking about the General Motors EV1, which was manufactured between 1996, and 1999, and leased under the now defunct Saturn nameplate. The story of that vehicle was chronicled in great detail, in the film Who Killed The Electric Car. I highly recommend the film, and won't go into great detail about that vehicle, but after producing eight hundred vehicles, and leasing them to happy customers, nearly all of the cars were destroyed at the end of their lease term. A few vehicles survived, were hobbled, and exist in various automotive museums.
After seeing the film, I was left with many questions, not actually about who killed the electric car, but about things like why General Motors even tooled up to manufacture the car, if they were only going to stop manufacturing them, claiming the expenses were too high, and various other excuses. Don't costs go down when you pay for the tooling over time? Something was up. Suffice it to say that none of GM's excuses added up to me.
It has always seemed to me that the automotive industry, and the oil industry were in bed together. Makes sense, right? They have a kind-of symbiotic relationship... or do they? The oil industry needs cars with internal combustion engines to sell lots of gasoline, but does the auto industry really need the oil industry? I don't think so. They get to make and sell cars no matter what powers them. It seems to me that Detroit needs to get out of bed with big oil, since they simply do not need them.
For decades, there have been many small companies doing electric car conversions, to normal automobiles. Simple. Rip out the engine, and gas tank, and replace them with an electric motor, and some batteries. But these companies are very small boutique-style companies, with little to no market penetration, and little to no funding for research and development.
In 2003, a company with real financial backing, called Tesla Motors, incorporated, with the goal of producing an electric sports car, as well as more run-of-the-mill sedans, and as of today, are producing about twenty five vehicles per week. I have seen their offerings, and they are impressive.
But where are the big boys? It's been eleven years since the EV1 project was scrapped; why have none of the other big car companies come forward with an all-electric vehicle? Well, I recently started seeing commercials for a new, all-electric vehicle, called the Nissan Leaf (oh please). After visiting their web site, it is unclear to me when we will actually see these cars for sale at the dealerships, but it does seem clear that Nissan is making a real commitment to production of both the new-technology battery, and the vehicle, itself. I am encouraged by this, and think that this is a huge step. Hopefully it will pressure the other manufacturers to start designing and releasing their own electric cars.
Nissan reports that the Leaf will initially have a range of one hundred miles. To many people that doesn't sound like much, when we are used to our cars being able to travel many hundreds of miles on one tank of gas, but studies show that most people only drive about thirty five miles per day. I think that people just need to re-adjust their thinking. I also know that the technology exists today to give electric cars a three hundred mile range on one charge. Don't worry, that technology will reach these cars in a very short time.
I was having a conversation about electric cars with a friend, just the other day. We both agreed that each of us could live quite nicely with a one hundred mile electric car, and are thrilled that one of the major manufacturers is finally getting on board, and will be offering a mass-production vehicle, in a more affordable price range.
I can't wait to see them on the dealership lots. Make mine silver, please.
I really can't talk about electric cars in the modern age without first talking about the General Motors EV1, which was manufactured between 1996, and 1999, and leased under the now defunct Saturn nameplate. The story of that vehicle was chronicled in great detail, in the film Who Killed The Electric Car. I highly recommend the film, and won't go into great detail about that vehicle, but after producing eight hundred vehicles, and leasing them to happy customers, nearly all of the cars were destroyed at the end of their lease term. A few vehicles survived, were hobbled, and exist in various automotive museums.
After seeing the film, I was left with many questions, not actually about who killed the electric car, but about things like why General Motors even tooled up to manufacture the car, if they were only going to stop manufacturing them, claiming the expenses were too high, and various other excuses. Don't costs go down when you pay for the tooling over time? Something was up. Suffice it to say that none of GM's excuses added up to me.
It has always seemed to me that the automotive industry, and the oil industry were in bed together. Makes sense, right? They have a kind-of symbiotic relationship... or do they? The oil industry needs cars with internal combustion engines to sell lots of gasoline, but does the auto industry really need the oil industry? I don't think so. They get to make and sell cars no matter what powers them. It seems to me that Detroit needs to get out of bed with big oil, since they simply do not need them.
For decades, there have been many small companies doing electric car conversions, to normal automobiles. Simple. Rip out the engine, and gas tank, and replace them with an electric motor, and some batteries. But these companies are very small boutique-style companies, with little to no market penetration, and little to no funding for research and development.
In 2003, a company with real financial backing, called Tesla Motors, incorporated, with the goal of producing an electric sports car, as well as more run-of-the-mill sedans, and as of today, are producing about twenty five vehicles per week. I have seen their offerings, and they are impressive.
But where are the big boys? It's been eleven years since the EV1 project was scrapped; why have none of the other big car companies come forward with an all-electric vehicle? Well, I recently started seeing commercials for a new, all-electric vehicle, called the Nissan Leaf (oh please). After visiting their web site, it is unclear to me when we will actually see these cars for sale at the dealerships, but it does seem clear that Nissan is making a real commitment to production of both the new-technology battery, and the vehicle, itself. I am encouraged by this, and think that this is a huge step. Hopefully it will pressure the other manufacturers to start designing and releasing their own electric cars.
Nissan reports that the Leaf will initially have a range of one hundred miles. To many people that doesn't sound like much, when we are used to our cars being able to travel many hundreds of miles on one tank of gas, but studies show that most people only drive about thirty five miles per day. I think that people just need to re-adjust their thinking. I also know that the technology exists today to give electric cars a three hundred mile range on one charge. Don't worry, that technology will reach these cars in a very short time.
I was having a conversation about electric cars with a friend, just the other day. We both agreed that each of us could live quite nicely with a one hundred mile electric car, and are thrilled that one of the major manufacturers is finally getting on board, and will be offering a mass-production vehicle, in a more affordable price range.
I can't wait to see them on the dealership lots. Make mine silver, please.
