Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Electric Cars

Today, I write about how electric cars are better than gasoline-powered cars.

First, electricity is cheaper than gasoline. Right now, gasoline prices, at least in America, averages about $4 a gallon. Now let's take a car, whatever car you want. Electricity gives a mile of travel for about 3 cents at current electric prices. That means that, for $4, a gas-powered car can travel about 35 miles, but an electric car can travel about 150 miles. Wouldn't you like at least 4 times as much milage per dollar for your car? Not only that, but gas prices will only continue to rise and the price of power, especially solar and wind, are expected to keep going down for a long time yet.

Environmentally? The electric car makes no emissions, which means you can take comfort in the fact that even while you're driving, you're doing something good for the environment.

Another good point about electricity is that it doesn't have to be imported, which means that it takes a huge burden off the local economy. More money stays close to home, which lets people where you live spend more on stuff other than fuel. Also, if cars use locally-produced energy, that can bring more jobs, most of them well-paying.

The slow, weak electric cars that inhabit most people's thoughts are a thing of the past. Battery quality and production cost've been improving for some time now, and will continue to improve. Translation: there's an electric vehicle that can all but beat even the best of its gas-powered counterparts. Examples are the Tesla roadster, which can compete with Lamborghinis and Porches, and the Killawatt racing motorcycle, which was only a hair slower than the best gas-powered motorcycle at the quarter-mile race.

It may take some people time to get used to the fact that the purr of the gas-powered car gets replaced by a low hum in electric cars, but overall, I would say electric cars are better, and that their progress shows no signs of slowing, so I would reccommend getting one when you can.

The Government, however, being as heavily inluenced by oil companies as it is, wants to keep the production of electric cars down, but a unified public can become even more influencial, so if you want to do some good, it only takes a few minutes to write to your government officials and express your desire to see the limits on electric car production lifted.