Hey, electric cars don't totally suck: A realistic sort-of rebuttal

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Maggie Koerth-Baker is one of the most responsible energy journalists on the planet, in part because she writes for the blog of all blogs, BoingBoing, which has never felt the need to cloak its writers' opinions in trumped-up objectivity and false balance. So it was refreshing to see her refute the latest ####### lobbed over the wall by the Internet's favorite tabloid, Gawker Media: "You Are Not Alone. America Hates Electric Cars."

Forming interest groups around your own misbegotten prejudices is nothing new, so kudos (I guess) to author Joel Johnson for remembering that the shortest route to pageviews is to tap into America's bottomless well of reactionaries who are fundamentally ill at ease in the face of change. The debate over electric cars -- and everything they imply -- is going to come to a boil again and again, as the 21st-century equivalent of buggy-whip makers either get ahead of larger trends in oil and carbon prices or are swallowed by them.

Which is why it's so fortunate that it was Koerth-Baker who addressed this piece and not me. She's much, much more reasonable, and it's worth reading her response in full. Her basic points are straightforward and worth repeating:

• Most Americans (more than 80 percent, in fact) live in cities, and this trend is only accelerating. Sure, people out on the open prairie won’t get much use from a limited-range car, but the average commute is well within the range of a Nissan Leaf.

• Sure, electric cars won't save the environment. Personal transport is a small fraction of our carbon emissions. Our sprawl-ified cities are going to have to be fixed, too.

• But electric cars are more environmentally sound than gasoline powered cars, even given that half the electricity in the U.S. is produced from coal.

• Electric cars are awesome. This is true. They have better low end torque and no gearbox. A powerful one will take off like a jet engine. They win drag races all the time. The fastest car in the world that you can buy is currently gasoline-powered, but only because it was beaten by an all-electric and the gas-powered team had to retool to make their vehicle even faster.

• Gas cars aren't dead. As I wrote just a couple of days ago, they could be way better than they are, and higher oil prices will drive a shift to more fuel-efficient gasoline vehicles long before electrics are in the majority -- solely because of cost. (Aside: At the intersection of ever increasing oil prices and cheaper and cheaper batteries is a point at which it makes more financial sense to go electric. That day is coming.)

straight to the source

• Hey, electric cars don't totally suck: A realistic sort-of rebuttal, BoingBoing

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

The battery technology isn't here yet.

Steve, check out the shock wave engine Michigan state is working on.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Electric cars don't suck. Really, they don't. Seriously. I am telling you they DON'T suck.

Sounds like a new ad for the Chevy Volt. I think they tried this with the Vega also.

[SMR 368]

Maggie Koerth-Baker is one of the most responsible energy journalists on the planet, in part because she writes for the blog of all blogs, BoingBoing, which has never felt the need to cloak its writers' opinions in trumped-up objectivity and false balance. So it was refreshing to see her refute the latest ####### lobbed over the wall by the Internet's favorite tabloid, Gawker Media: "You Are Not Alone. America Hates Electric Cars."

Forming interest groups around your own misbegotten prejudices is nothing new, so kudos (I guess) to author Joel Johnson for remembering that the shortest route to pageviews is to tap into America's bottomless well of reactionaries who are fundamentally ill at ease in the face of change. The debate over electric cars -- and everything they imply -- is going to come to a boil again and again, as the 21st-century equivalent of buggy-whip makers either get ahead of larger trends in oil and carbon prices or are swallowed by them.

Which is why it's so fortunate that it was Koerth-Baker who addressed this piece and not me. She's much, much more reasonable, and it's worth reading her response in full. Her basic points are straightforward and worth repeating:

• Most Americans (more than 80 percent, in fact) live in cities, and this trend is only accelerating. Sure, people out on the open prairie won’t get much use from a limited-range car, but the average commute is well within the range of a Nissan Leaf.

• Sure, electric cars won't save the environment. Personal transport is a small fraction of our carbon emissions. Our sprawl-ified cities are going to have to be fixed, too.

• But electric cars are more environmentally sound than gasoline powered cars, even given that half the electricity in the U.S. is produced from coal.

• Electric cars are awesome. This is true. They have better low end torque and no gearbox. A powerful one will take off like a jet engine. They win drag races all the time. The fastest car in the world that you can buy is currently gasoline-powered, but only because it was beaten by an all-electric and the gas-powered team had to retool to make their vehicle even faster.

• Gas cars aren't dead. As I wrote just a couple of days ago, they could be way better than they are, and higher oil prices will drive a shift to more fuel-efficient gasoline vehicles long before electrics are in the majority -- solely because of cost. (Aside: At the intersection of ever increasing oil prices and cheaper and cheaper batteries is a point at which it makes more financial sense to go electric. That day is coming.)

straight to the source

• Hey, electric cars don't totally suck: A realistic sort-of rebuttal, BoingBoing

No, they don't suck. But they do cost so much that the fuel savings never make up for the high initial cost. The battery technology may soon be here. But it's also expensive. And not exactly evironmentally friendly.

The author is right that performance, the source of the electricity, and, for the most part, range, are not stopping people from going electric. They are paper issues. This article is mostly an uninsightful puff piece that doesn't really hit on the important issues like cost, safety, and, to a lesser extent, long term reliability, which are the real reasons electric cars aren't taking off right now. The market will eventually take care of these problems because electric cars are a good idea. But it won't be because of subsidies or puff pieces.

[luckytxn 2,265]

If they didn't suck so much then huge subsidies wouldn't be needed.

[MyLittlePony 340]

America hogs enough oil to supply the rest of the world. Greedy when it comes to oil after oil is gone 30 years from now it is back to the stone age and no more hummers and Yukon to drive.

Edited January 9, 2012 by *++*

[SMR 368]

America hogs enough oil to supply the rest of the world. Greedy when it comes to oil after oil is gone 30 years from now it is back to the stone age and no more hummers and Yukon to drive.

Try doing some research next time.

[^_^ 5,021]

Try doing some research next time.

Respect the E.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Electric cars help reducing our independence from foreign oil. I'll give 'em that. They also save the owner a bundle if he or she drives a lot. Also true.

Will they last 50 or 100 years without problems though, I wonder. I have cars that are 101, 94, 70 and 50 years old, and several that are in-between those years, and I enjoy all of them, and I can fix all of them if anything breaks on any of them. I will never be able to fix a Y2K car with more computers than Apollo 14, nor will you.

I also like cars that have zero depreciation. If they appreciate in value, all the better.

So these are my criteria, yours may differ. Once I can buy an electric car that will be worth the same or even more 5 years from now, and it looks cool and is fun to drive, I'm a buyer.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Brother Hesekiel