Published by Green by Design under Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Transportation

The Electric Car—Dead End Street?

In this era of global warming, energy crises, high gas prices, and deadly oil wars, most of us are just waiting for the gas powered car to go extinct. The hybrid car and its offspring, the electric car, are considered to be its successors, the solutions to our detrimental ways.

Many believe electricity is about to do to cars what the Internet did to the encyclopedia.

The view is that although the hybrid still needs oil to boost its small electric motor, that will change once the electric car is here.

As it turns out, a lot of oil-produced energy is still needed to get these bad-boys on the road.

Overall, the manufacturing processes of both the hybrid and the fully electric car require more energy than those of any conventional gas-powered car.

The electricity of an electric car is only as clean as its production method. i.e: only solar/wind/tidal/geothermal production would fill the clean-energy bill.

Tesla Motor's new Electric Roadster

Final answer? Electric cars can certainly become part of the solution, but they have to be manufactured in the right way, just like any other product. That’s not to say they’re worse than gas-powered cars. The technological advancements in this field are remarkable, and are making great strides towards cars with no carbon footprint whatsoever.

Then there are those who want hydrogen to be the solution to the problem. However, it’s really a means of storing power, rather than a power source. Making hydrogen into a power source requires splitting atoms, which again, needs a lot of energy. Plus, one gallon of hydrogen gas has the potential for about a fourth of the energy that can be extracted from one gallon of gasonline.

BMW's H2R Hydrogen Powered Roadster

The move away from an oil-based economy is a very necessary thing. But right now, both the electric and the hydrogen type at present give the consumer only negative options: transportation that’s less convenient and more expensive than the good ol’ gas-powered variety that we know.

Sadly, this was pretty accurate at the time.

Again, I’m not knocking the hybrid or electric car, or any car for that matter. A lot of people absolutely depend on cars. There’s no other means of getting from place to place.

Cars… can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.

Improvements are necessary, we just have to make sure the right improvements are being made.