By Bill Gregware
President Obama's long-touted plan to put 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015 is hitting some bumps in road. The "bumps" are American consumers who are not convinced it's a good idea to plunk down an exorbitant amount of money on cars with multiple problems, including short driving ranges. Moreover, some energy experts claim electric cars do not make a net reduction in pollution or decrease overall use of fossil fuels because the electricity they need comes largely from fossil-fuel plants.
Others claim electric cars are even counterproductive because there are several energy-wasting steps required to go from the original energy source to the car. For example, first is transferring the electricity from the power plant through transmission lines to a distant charging station (a home or other location), then transferring the energy to a battery and finally to the car. In contrast, gasoline goes directly into a car.
Historians tell us that various EVs (electric vehicles) — tricycles, bicycles, carts, etc. — first appeared during the 1830s, with practical electric automobiles being developed around 1890. Electric cars were setting speed and distance records by the late 1890s. The 100- km per hour (62 mph) record was set by an electric car in 1899. Despite impressive speed records, the average electric cars were slow, mostly in the 20-mph range. Competitive vehicles on the market in those days included steam-driven cars, e.g., the Stanley Steamer, which took up to 45 minutes to get up a head of steam and then needed frequent water replenishing stops if driven for any distance. Primitive gasoline-driven cars were noisy (as were steam cars), dirty and hard to start, especially on cold mornings. Many drivers experienced broken arms when cars "backfired" while being cranked.
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