They keep killing the Electric Car.

Electric Cars Time and time again, it has happened. Why do we resist change so much? Why do we say no to the things which could benefit our society? This rhetoric has been going on since as far back as the 1920’s.

Why did it fail then? Personally, and the quickest response… it was the 1920’s. Do you know the quality and maximum charge of the batteries that were used back then?

The lack of power, distance, and the (what looked like to be) unlimited supply of gasoline forced it to a halt. Since then, electric cars have been halted on numerous occasions. In the 70’s, 90’s, and again in 2003-2005 (with the introduction to hydrogen cars).

Whats your excuse now?

For those who do not know what happened in 2002-2005, GM came out with a pretty nice car. It was the EV1. They marketed it and while there was a demand, they scrapped it. They took all the cars back and they junked them. (that is putting a major summary on the story, as there were a lot of factors including pressure from the oil companies that were involved in the decision, along with government factors and lack of public awareness).

Slowly, we have seen companies trying to give birth to the electric car yet again (and about time, especially with the oil/gas prices ;)). For those that do not know, the batteries used in the EV1’s could have been easily upgraded and give you the opportunity to not only charge your car overnight, at home, but have up to 200 miles+ per charge. (or so they say - but never implemented).

The Future?

Nissan is one of the companies who are developing an electric-only car with its french alliance partner and hope to mass market it by 2011. Mercedes is another who is trying to create an electric-only car.

Personally, Hydrogen cell cars were never really an ideal alternative, as the costs would be worth more than 2x what your house is worth. With an electric car, currently while not mass produced is may be a bit expensive, but as it is mass produced in the next little bit, the price will drop significantly. (hopefully)

Even though things look good, there are companies which try to delay things by any means. Its depressing.

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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7 Responses to “They keep killing the Electric Car.”

Jake(24 March 2008 at 9:20 pm)	1
Hey TB. Just saying that my cousin had one of those EV1 back in 2002-2003 or whatever, I got to try one when I visited him in Cali. Those things rocked! I cannot believe they pulled that car off the streets.

Nathan(24 March 2008 at 11:54 pm)	2
Thats some pretty bad news.. I heard that hydrogen cars were supposed to be like… $1mil+. At least Electric cars right now are less than 200k. (and a lot of that is due to the battery price). Once mass marketed, the price should drop dramatically.

Sarah(25 March 2008 at 8:02 am)	3
Thats funny. I just watched a documentary yesterday on the EV’s. Is this what sparked your interest in posting about this?

D(25 March 2008 at 5:26 pm)	4
I never knew about any of that. I just assumed Hydrogen was better. I better do some research on it.

Andrew(25 March 2008 at 5:42 pm)

@ Jake: Sorry to hear, I never had a chance to try one, but they looked pretty neat. I heard only good things.

@ Nathan: Yeah, they are trying to work on that from what I read. Especially Nissan. Hopefully when they mass market them within the next 2-3 years that the price will go down quite a bit

@ Sarah: Heh.. yeah, “They Killed the Electric Car”, however, it was only the EV1. It was one of the better models in my opinion. Yay for politics.

@D: I started reading up on it maybe sometime in 2005-2006.. and it just kind of stuck with me.

Bill Rowling(27 March 2008 at 11:10 pm)	6
The reason electric cars are not selling is very simple. No one is buying them.

Jack(4 April 2008 at 5:01 pm)	7
Bullshit, Bill. Go do your homework and watch the film “Who killed the electric car?” I and many others would love to get their hands on a Tesla for example.

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