2008 Woodie Awards
The Death of the Electric Car!
Daisy Ratzlaff
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Lifestyle
Have you pulled your car up to the gas pump lately and been shocked by the high price of gasoline? Have you watched in awe as the gas pump went past $30, $40 or even worse $50? Maybe you have thought about trading in your car for something that gets better mileage? Or maybe you just want to help protect the environment?
It is true, a hybrid car might be a good idea to overcome your car troubles, but have you ever heard of an electric car? Yes, an electric car. Not a gasoline-powered car that gets some help from an electric motor, but a full electric vehicle that runs on a rechargeable battery. Plugging it in over night, an electric car can drive 100 miles the next day and go faster than 80 miles per hour on the highway.
So, now you might be wondering why you do not see many or any electric cars on the road anymore, especially after knowing that the electric car does not have any vibration, noise, or dirtiness associated with it and actually outsold both gasoline and steam vehicles in the 1900s. Well, with the discovery of Texas crude oil and the mass production of internal combustion engine vehicles by Henry Ford around 1915, the electric car had to give up its status position and make way for smog, pollution, and health problems.
The release of the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" in 2006 highlighted in great detail how General Motors Corporation introduced EV1, a sporty, aerodynamic electric car in the 1990s and how the California Air Resources Board decided that if a car company could make such a car, it should be mandated to produce these cars to help eliminate the bad air pollution in California. Right away Honda, Toyota, Chrysler, Ford, and GM built 5,000 electric cars, but by 2005 those same companies put all their effort together and fought the mandate and in the end won. 4,000 perfectly good electric cars were crushed and left to be forgotten.
Knowing that electric vehicles actually threatened two of the world's biggest industries - the oil and the automobile industry shows how interested the car companies were in the electric car's success. Realizing that an electric car does not require an oil change or an engine check-up put many companies in jeopardy and drove GM to re-collect all their electric cars, which they had only leased to buyers.
Even though these cars had such a great potential, there is not one car company, which mass-produces the electric car nowadays.
But there is another solution already on its way, which could save consumers thousands of dollars in gasoline money. The plug-in hybrid runs on pure electric power for up to 60 miles and then automatically switches to gas or biofuel hopefully if the driver goes beyond the miles. Knowing that the average American only travels 50 miles or less within a day, would make this car so efficient that would hardly ever use the car's gas.
So, maybe next time when you are thinking about buying a new car, think twice, and invest in something that has power, speed, clean efficiency, pick-up and is also quiet.
It is true, a hybrid car might be a good idea to overcome your car troubles, but have you ever heard of an electric car? Yes, an electric car. Not a gasoline-powered car that gets some help from an electric motor, but a full electric vehicle that runs on a rechargeable battery. Plugging it in over night, an electric car can drive 100 miles the next day and go faster than 80 miles per hour on the highway.
So, now you might be wondering why you do not see many or any electric cars on the road anymore, especially after knowing that the electric car does not have any vibration, noise, or dirtiness associated with it and actually outsold both gasoline and steam vehicles in the 1900s. Well, with the discovery of Texas crude oil and the mass production of internal combustion engine vehicles by Henry Ford around 1915, the electric car had to give up its status position and make way for smog, pollution, and health problems.
The release of the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" in 2006 highlighted in great detail how General Motors Corporation introduced EV1, a sporty, aerodynamic electric car in the 1990s and how the California Air Resources Board decided that if a car company could make such a car, it should be mandated to produce these cars to help eliminate the bad air pollution in California. Right away Honda, Toyota, Chrysler, Ford, and GM built 5,000 electric cars, but by 2005 those same companies put all their effort together and fought the mandate and in the end won. 4,000 perfectly good electric cars were crushed and left to be forgotten.
Knowing that electric vehicles actually threatened two of the world's biggest industries - the oil and the automobile industry shows how interested the car companies were in the electric car's success. Realizing that an electric car does not require an oil change or an engine check-up put many companies in jeopardy and drove GM to re-collect all their electric cars, which they had only leased to buyers.
Even though these cars had such a great potential, there is not one car company, which mass-produces the electric car nowadays.
But there is another solution already on its way, which could save consumers thousands of dollars in gasoline money. The plug-in hybrid runs on pure electric power for up to 60 miles and then automatically switches to gas or biofuel hopefully if the driver goes beyond the miles. Knowing that the average American only travels 50 miles or less within a day, would make this car so efficient that would hardly ever use the car's gas.
So, maybe next time when you are thinking about buying a new car, think twice, and invest in something that has power, speed, clean efficiency, pick-up and is also quiet.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
kent beuchert
posted 4/23/08 @ 11:34 AM CST
I see that this article was written by someone who really believed the ridiculous story in "Who Killed the Electric Car?" a film packed with more lies than a Nazi propaganda film. (Continued…)
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