Why It’s As Hard Now To Sell An Electric Car As It Was 100 Years Ago
The gas motor was coming into existence at practically the same time that Edison perfected the light bulb. Soon after, alternating current (invented by his employee, Nikola Tesla, from which Edison ripped off AC), allowed the existence of electric motors. A big enough one of these found it’s way into the horseless carrage, but the problems were the same as now: you didn’t go very far very fast. The 1909 Fritchie Electric boasted a 100-mile range, probably not bad for 1909; if you wanted to go farther you just took the train. But all the early E-car companies went belly-up, people just weren’t buying. The ad reads “We are now ready to close 1909 Agencies.” Everybody went out and bought Model Ts.
When the idea was resurrected in time for the “Oil Crisis,” and the “Environmental Movement,” things in EV World got off on the wrong foot again with dorky rides that came off like the anti-Rod, the car that would make your date wonder why she let you take her out to dinner. Unless you were one of the people that bought one to show that you care more about the environment than others, and she thinks that’s attractive. It’s the Prius Effect, a type of Snobbery.
To run electric cars in the city and suburbs, there will have to be many more charging stations installed. Drivers would have to invest in a parking garage spot where available chargers are
located. In places like New York and California, where it is a choice, it runs drivers about $400 a month on top of insurance and car payments. Would your boss let you plug your car into his building’s wall socket? I don’t think so. When people say electric cars don’t sell outside of California in any volume, this practical concern is a big reason why. Massive upgrades in charging infrastructure would be necessary to make it possible for working class and lower-middle class people to afford it. The juice isn’t free. It’s coming out of massive Oil and Coal Powered Generators, and the wire leads to the Charging Station which is connected to the Electric Bill.
More troubling, several plug-in electric vehicle fire incidents have taken place since the introduction of mass-production plug-in electric vehicles. Most of them have involved lithium-ion batteries in the Chevrolet Volt, Fisker Karma, Dodge Ram 1500 Plug-in Hybrid, Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Outlander P-HEV Zotye M300 EV. Most hybrid electric vehicles available in the market today use nickel-metal hydride batteries which do not pose the same risk of overheating as do lithium-ion batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries may suffer something called “thermal runaway” and cell rupture if overheated or overcharged, and in extreme cases this can lead to fire. When handled improperly, or if manufactured defectively, some rechargeable batteries can catch on fire.
Sealed cells will sometimes explode violently if safety vents malfunction. Everbody’s heard about exploding cellphones and hoverboards that burn down your house just sitting in the closet.
In 2006, batteries from Apple, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, Dell and other makers of electronic Gizmos were culprits in fires and explosions. Even when working perfectly, a EV’s battery’s power is total loss, has to be replaced often, are expensive, super-nasty for the environment and require a complicated PCB disposal procedeure, almost like nuke rods and coolant. Wouldn’t more widespread use of batteries lead to worse enviromental problems?
And this is just for commuter cars. How many batteries will a loaded tractor trailer need?
As for practical performance of personal vehicles, Elon Musk of Tesla Co. says he wanted to show the world that electric cars were not “ugly and slow and boring like a golf cart.” After designing the 380-horsepower Model S, it’s safe to say he busted up the boring and slow part.
But two incidents occurred with the Tesla Model S in recent years; two caught fire after hitting metal debris on a highway in Washington and the other in Tennessee, rupturing the battery and causing fire and then the “thermal ranaway,” destroying them. It was a PR disaster for Tesla.
The Model S range is much improved over other EVs. It will go at least 208 miles and as many as 270 miles, I guess depending how hard you run it. The BMW i3 or Nissan Leaf, can post 84 miles in ideal conditions. So, 84 miles is enough to get to the beach and back, right? Right now, either you keep your range limited, or buy a $75,000 Tesla.
It would be great to overcome all the obstacles, but it’s still a 100-year-old conundrum. If “They” ever force me into a electric car, I just might have to get used to a 380 h.p. Flux-Capacitor that’s powered by lightning, doesn’t explode or look like a men’s shaver. But I want buttons on the computer dash that simulate the sound of a Hemi, McLaren, or an F1 car.
