Electric Cars – worth it?

Posted by dtpennington in Blog, Fresh, Tech, Uncategorized | 3 comments

It is difficult to not get excited about the prospect of electric cars. Largely: no more paying high prices for gasoline! Yay! Who wouldn’t love that?

However, like most things which are sold to us, we only look at how the device affects us directly. For example, I look at the laptop which I am writing this one. It came to me at a pretty good value, has held up over the years, allows me access to the internet and to word processing software which allows me to make a little bit of cash.

But when I think beyond the tangible idea of this 12×14 inch hunk of plastic and metals there is a picture that I’d rather not think about. The mines which the precious metals were taken from, the toxic processes of refining those metals, the processing of petrochemicals to make the plastics. Not to mention the energy consumed in keeping the battery charged, the internet connected, the servers powered.

And that is just my ONE laptop out of the millions (billions?) around the world.

We we buy a car, how many of us think about everything it took to bring that car to the lot? All of the materials mined, refined, assembled, and transported the world over so we can figure out how to finance a new vehicle. And that’s just ONE car, out of the thousands being produced and sold each day.  And to go electric? Is it truly a sustainable idea?

Most of us look at the purchase of an electric powered vehicle as gaining freedom from the gas pump. But we are still consuming energy. About half of all electricity produced in the U.S. is from the burning of coal (coal – a resource which is becoming more and more dangerous and costly to acquire).

Furthermore, what is everyone going to do with the gasoline burning cars when electric decides to replace them? Is there something set up to collect and refine the materials which are currently sitting in the millions of cars across the country? When we all acquire new electric cars, how long are they going to stay in our possession before we decide that we need something new? How many purchasers of the electric car consider how much lead had to be processed to make their battery? A battery which will probably run down and need to be replaced (I imagine that’s a costly endeavor in itself) several times in it’s life?

I have my pickup truck, it burns gasoline. It’s very low tech. There is no meter on it which will tell me my approximate MPG (because I don’t think I could stand looking at that number). However, since it is devoid of a lot of computers and electronics, I – given I have the right tools – can fix up, repair, and maintain most of it. I wouldn’t even bother with my previous car – a 2007 Mazda 6 – which had so many bells and whistles I couldn’t even find half the components if it ever did break down.

But an electric car? I might as well be working on a spaceship. And so would every mechanic out there who has made their living working on internal combustion and diesel engines.

The truck does burn through it’s share of gas. And while I can figure a million different ways to make each tank of gas, there is only one which is truly effective: I don’t drive it unless necessary. If I’m not hauling or going 30 miles outside town, I don’t bother starting her up. Instead, I ride my bicycle, walk, or use public transit. Or, when available, catch rides in the girlfriend’s Civic.

Does an electric powered vehicle reasonably fit into my future? Probably not

Understandably, not everyone lives like I do. Lots of people need some kind of vehicle to commute every day. People inhabit suburbs where nothing is really close to anything. No one wants to bother riding in the snow. It seems as though some kind of vehicle will always be the mainstay to the existence of our society.

At the same time, we are considering smarter cities with better public transportation. More and more companies are considering having employees work remotely as the office space moves into the cloud. Hopefully, as more people discover what it is that is most important in life they will also feel a relief from the pressure of having a car. Maybe then people will see their cars as machines – as tools, something to be taken care of – rather than the privilege that it is to drive it.