Electric Cars

I am on a tear today so I thought I would muse about the electric car. If you have not seen the movie "Who killed the electric car", it's a good flick complete with a Baywatch babe. I can't help but feel for those folks who had an EV-1 and loved it only to have it taken away and crushed. Do the same thing to a little kid and you can scar them for life. Recently, GM has been advertising all sorts of concept vehicles, so many in fact that one blogger (not me) said: "Yawn, since GM's sales are down so much it looks like they are only making concept cars nowadays." (Note to GM: although that last statement is a bit of an exaggeration you have to admit that it's pretty funny)

I was thinking about the situation and I think it takes a big, powerful corporation like GM to take on the big oil companies, who are sure to be the losers if pure electric cars are actually introduced nationwide. From what I have seen on the wires, it looks like the most viable options for electric cars are coming from China, and if this happens I predict that either Ford or GM will fold within a decade if that happens.

Considering that the lead-acid battery used in the EV-1 is heavier than an equivalent modern battery (lithum ion, et al.), I wonder how the EV-1 would perform with an upgraded battery pack - I bet it would blow the doors off most gasoline engine cars. Theoretically, GM could start selling the EV-1 sooner than later with minimal effort. Too bad they crushed almost all of the EV-1's, so now we may never know.

It's really a shame because the wait list for the Chevy Volt is up to 10,000 names(only?), and it would be the bomb to have an Energizer Bunny as a hood ornament or trunk emblem. I think the biggest issue is that except for an accident, a good electric car could run almost indefinitely and be easily repaired. There is simply less aftermarket for car companies and their minions (for lack of a term better than "non-interlocked allied business partners") and although I don't believe in a conspiracy, there is a hint of mutual self-preservation going on here. In the brave new world of increased profits through reduced lifecycle cost, I think this is a business model worthy of a total overhaul.

Global Warming

In my opinion, there are individuals and groups on both sides of the global warming debate that have already made up their minds about what is happening (or not happening), and attempt from time to time to massage scientific data and findings to support their opinions. If we take Pascal's wager on the existence of global warming as caused by humans, one is lead to conserve energy, reduce waste, and live with the consequences of our actions in mind. If global warming is not caused by humans, have we really lost anything? If in one hundred years we have lived by using less and thinking of new and clever ways to conserve, have we really lost anything? The new focus on energy conservation and waste consumption is a means for reducing the overall life cycle costs of the widget (transportation, buildings, etc.), and if that's not a good conservative and competitive business practice then I don't know what is.