electric cars

The other day, I finally had the opportunity to sit down with the DVD of "Who Killed the Electric Car?" I'm glad that it ended on a more optimistic note, as the documentary's exploration of the virtual abandonment of this technology had really been pushing my environmental hot buttons, leaving me frustrated indeed.

I get frustrated with the oil companies -- and the people who run them -- who continue to bank the future of this planet and its inhabitants on dwindling reserves of a natural resource whose consumption is contributing to bad air quality, pollution of our waterways, and a host of other travesties (not the least of which is global warming). I get frustrated when people are so short-sighted as to grab after so much gold now, with the full knowledge of the crisis to be reaped later. I get frustrated when I see how comfortable we've gotten with our heads in the sand, although we are beginning to pull ourselves out of this complacency, by degrees. I get frustrated when I look back on my own contributions to the "environmental problem" and feel not quite so powerful in terms of the choices available today.

We should be -- could be -- much further along than we are.

I've been driving a Toyota RAV-4 since Memorial Day 1998. It had 9 miles on the odometer when I first got behind the wheel. Today it's at 59511 (I just ran out to check), so each year I've been racking up about half the average miles driven by most Americans. Sure, I go on long-haul road trips from time to time -- like the cross-country drive three years ago -- but it helps that my normal daily commute consists only of the twelve feet of carpet between my bedroom and home office. I have a bike. I also have easy access to public transportation. I use the car sparingly, or that's the intention anyway.

When I bought the RAV-4, I'd been instead thinking of downsizing from my little sedan to a Honda Civic -- and then I realized that since I had big dogs, and had to deal with several bad snow and ice storms every year, a small SUV was probably a better choice. I was excited to hear that the RAV-4 EV (electric vehicle) was being developed, and that it would be available for sale to consumers in several years. So I went ahead and bought a gas-powered RAV-4, figuring it would hold its value fairly well for a few years and get decent gas mileage, and then I'd switch to the EV.

Of course, that never happened. When the RAV-4 EVs were made available for purchase in 2002, only a couple hundred had been manufactured. Shortly thereafter, the RAV-4 EV was discontinued altogether. So I still have my gas-powered vehicle, and feel like a turd whenever I turn the ignition.

Sure, I'm not driving some old clunker. I keep my vehicle in good working order -- to optimize fuel efficiency -- and don't drive a whole lot. But sometimes I wonder if I'd be better off in even a Prius -- not exactly a "green" car, since it still runs on processed fossil fuels, but more eco-friendly than most of what's out there on the roads. As near as I can tell, the oft-touted hydrogen fuel cell solution is neither practical nor terribly efficient, and is years off to boot.

I love hearing about people who have converted their diesel vehicles to bio-diesel, and who are making EV conversions as well. Scientists and grease monkeys are working on solar-powered cars and similar technologies. I'm still hoping that at some point very soon, sustainable solutions will become readily available -- and be easily affordable -- to the average consumer, that we might finally begin to detox from our deep addiction to oil.

UPDATE: 9 August 2007
According to CNN.com, GM is set to begin testing their Volt plug-in electric car in the spring of 2008 -- dependent upon next-generation lithium-ion battery packs being ready by October of this year.

Ford and Toyota are said to be working on similar technology, but with no production timeline yet made public.