Who Killed The Electric Car?
In my previous post I posed the question “imagine going back to 1989 and telling myself that one day I could have access to the whole of human knowledge (wikipedia), chat with my friends, and listen to every song I’ve ever liked while waiting for the bus all on a device smaller than a Walkman“. Now imagine moments later telling that same 9 year old that it would be the same bus. Not just the same model or type of bus but the actual bus itself, still in service.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m very pleased to see the alternative fuel or lower emissions test buses out there but I think it’s fair to ask why hasn’t energy and transportation technology kept up with communication, information, data storage, and computing technology? Granted battery technology has improved significantly but even those only seem to be utilized in these new high-tech devices. Why can’t there be a Moore’s Law for transportation technologies?
Well a large part of the answer to that particular poser can be found in the documentary flick Who Killed The Electric Car? I highly recommend it. As entertaining, if not more so, than any Michael Moore offering and far more balanced. As my friend said, “I’ll watch anything narrated by Martin Sheen“. It runs 90 minutes and trust me not for one moment will you feel like you’re back in school.
You WILL want to buy an electric car after wards but you can’t - the car companies don’t want your money. They seized and destroyed all the electric cars on the off chance some maverick might want to dare turn a profit on new technology.
Much like the electric car Zero Emissions buses are hardly a new or unproven technology. In point of fact the bus I was mentioning at the beginning of this post is a trolley bus so it IS zero emissions and I’m grateful for it but very few of our buses are trolleys. In fact my entire trip to and from work is zero emission. I walk to the train, take the electric train one stop and get on the electric bus. It may sound strange but I feel good about that. Yes I might like the convenience of a car but something Doctor Who said comes to mind “Yes, they’ve got guns but that makes me the better person. They can shoot me dead but the moral high ground will be mine“.
Now were an electric car available, that would be something I could get behind with more enthusiasm. I wouldn’t need to sacrifice my savings or my morals on the alter of road trips. Right now it’s too close to call but were an electric car available for a reasonable amount I’d already have my name on a waiting list.
