One Real Alternative to High Gas Prices
This is what Senator Barack Obama was talking about. We don’t need to do squat about high gas prices; What we need to do is push alternatives. The government needs to pour money into these technologies. It will not help us today but it will help over the next three to five years by reducing our dependence on oil. Isn’t that the true goal? (The real goal should be to give these oil producing countries a big, beautiful raspberry– or the Bronx salute, if you will).
This car, the Tesla, clearly isn’t for everyone but it shows us that the technology is already here. The Tesla is an electric sports car. It is priced in the range of a Porsche because it is as fast as a Porsche. Now, take this same technology and put it into a family car that can go 225 miles on a full charge. Now, that should meet 90 percent of American’s daily driving needs. This isn’t the pie-in-the-sky technology that we have been promised for the past 25 years. This car is in production now!!!
This technology is the way to release the strangle hold that the Middle East and Russia have on us. Let’s drop this silly gas tax holiday and pass a bill that will give tax credits to gas stations that put in hydrogen pumps. We also need to give tax credits to anyone opening an electric car dealership and usinesses that place electric plugins in their parking garages. The Small Business Administration should offer low-interest loans to businesses that invest in these alternative technologies. Now, we will see who is really with the Big Oil companies and who is not. This is REAL change!!!
Another thing we need is more federal funding for public transportation.
No truer words have ever been typed. I think that electric buses would be helpful also.
Thanks for your comments.
ECT “clearly isn’t for everyone but it shows us that the technology is already here.”
Not!
From the same article:
“The car goes from 0 to 60 mph in just under four seconds and tops out at 125 mph. It goes 225 miles on one charge and can be fully recharged in 3½ hours, which Tesla officials say should allow most people to drive it to work and back and recharge it at night like a cell phone.
Driving from Los Angeles to San Francisco, however, would require stopping in, say, Fresno and plugging its adapter cord into a motel room wall socket.”
TCB: Who wants to sit in a parking garage for three hours or rent a hotel room to recharge.
The battery recharging is a big practical issue that will prevent electric cars from becoming a primary car (and therefore a replacement for gas) for anyone except for the grandmama who only drive to church on Sunday.
Everyone doesn’t drive 400 miles every day. Most people drive less than 25 miles per day. If you are a big driver then get a hybrid which gets 50 per gallon.
Here’s the problem that folks like you are proposing, if I can’t do everything that I do right now with a gas car, we should look at it. Using that logic, we would still be riding around in horse and buggy.
Let’s invest in this technology. In 4 or 5 years, we might have the answer. The answer may be a combination of electric and hydrogen technology. I don’t know. What I do know is that a family electric car will meet the needs of over 50% of American households right now.
Do you know the way to San Jose? Apparently not. Fresno isn’t even on the way from LA to San Jose. And even so, there are fuel depots between the two cities which you can recharge an electric vehicle at.
But if you need long range, why are you driving a sports car? Most don’t have a very long range at all.
If you need range, you buy a hybrid, or get a bigger battery.
I’d love a Tesla. Maybe I’ll just have to make one myself…
One problem, Tesla Motors is building new manufacturing facility in New Mexico and last time I checked they have broken ground yet. They were suppose to start building this summer.
I will be interested to see what happens with this group.
http://zeropollutionmotors.us/
For the 1-3 times a year you go to LA, you can rent a luxury car with the money you save in gas the rest of the year!
Still need to look at where the energy that makes the electricity comes from…
ECT: “Here’s the problem that folks like you are proposing, if I can’t do everything that I do right now with a gas car, we should look at it. Using that logic, we would still be riding around in horse and buggy.”
Your analogy falls short since cars were much more pratical than a horse and buggy, that’s why cars replaced the horse so quickly. Speed, comfort, no bugs in your teeth. The horse and buggy were doomed. Electric cars aren’t that new but they still lack the practicality of gas.
Big Bear is right. People talk as if electicity is free. It would be interesting for someone to calculate the additional payments on utility bills.
TCB -
I don’t think that you are remembering the old model T and Model A. They really weren’t all that practical. There weren’t any good roads. There were few gas stations. You had to wear goggles to prevent bugs in your eyeballs. The tires were awful. The lack of an independent suspension made the ride terrible. You had a lot of broken axles. Those early cars were about as messy as horses as oil leaked all of the time. (Okay not quite as messy as a horse.)
It took over 30 years for many of the kinks to get worked out in cars. They were neat. They were cool and they were fast. I know that there are some estimates on the money savings that include the amount of money you would have to pay for electricity. I’ll see if I can find them.
Thanks again for your comments.
Big Bear -
I’ll check on the costs. Hydroelectric plants are energy efficient. and cost effective.
Thanks for your comments.