Electric cars have been in the news a lot lately. I'm pretty excited about that, because after having one for almost a year, I'm certainly sold. A few of the articles have spawned some solid conversations on tech sites, and it's pretty clear that the naysayers (and vested interests in oil) don't quite get the line of thinking that not only makes me lean electric, but see it as the only outcome.
There are two sidebar topics that I don't think matter in the long run. The first is the cost of the cars. The short-range cars like the Leaf are a little pricey, but there really is only one game in town for long-range, and that is the Tesla Model S, which is not cheap. Between Tesla's desire to bring the Model 3 to market, GM going for the Bolt, and Nissan rumored to be pushing the Leaf to a 200-mile range car, I think the cost discussion isn't important for the long term. The other is the question of "green" energy, which is a side show for two reasons. One, our electricity might be mostly generated by fossil fuel today, but it's still more efficient than gasoline. Two, despite the skepticism in our culture around renewables, they're going to happen. We have free energy overhead, and it's unlimited. We'll get there.
The bigger picture thinking around electric tends to be hampered by a century of using combustion engines. We think in terms of gas stations and the ubiquitous infrastructure that they represent. At our house at least, there are two things that we've learned, even with a range-limited Leaf. The first is that 95% or more of our driving is local. Putting 100 miles on a car in one day happens rarely. That means the need to charge the car during the day almost never happens. The second part of that is that every person (outside of apartment dwellers, for now) has a charging station at home. You plug in your ride when you pull into the garage. If you're really thinking future state, imagine when you have solar on your house.
For real, if you're being completely honest and your driving habits are average, a short-range electric car is doable today. It will reduce your energy spend on driving by somewhere between 40 and 90%. (Remember, I'm putting off the cost of the cars for now... this is an economy of scale problem that will solve itself over time.) We have never had range anxiety in these 95% case trips.
Cars are as American as apple pie of course, and a lot of people equate the freedom of movement that they provide with freedom itself. As a matter of economics, the other 5% of driving scenarios has to be figured out in order for electric to catch on. For us, a gas-powered Prius has filled the needs of that 5% easily, but I can say with confidence that the Tesla solution can also bridge the gap. Again, forget for a moment the cost of that car, and assume that will be a solved problem in the next few years.
Tesla fixes the problem by creating a battery system that can charge from zero to 80% in about 20 minutes at their supercharger stations (which are "free" for owners, which is to say they're subsidized by the cost of the car). At first glance, that doesn't seem like a great arrangement, but consider that an 80% charge will get you at least 190 miles, which is almost three hours of driving. Taking a 20 minute break every three hours seems like a normal thing to do. At the very worst, I don't see it as a deal breaker against six hours of continuous driving with gasoline. As charging gets faster and range gets longer, this will only improve, but the situation today doesn't seem awful to me. And remember... your first charge happens at home overnight.
Now, I am somewhat critical of Tesla because they do use proprietary chargers, but between the desire to use tech that the rest of the market hasn't produced and the need to demonstrate it can work, I give them a pass. Well, that, and they're freely giving away their patents as well.
A friend of mine just road tripped thousands of miles around the eastern part of the US in a Tesla, which very much proves how much sense the electric car makes. And if you've driven one with all of its torquey goodness, you know how much fun it is. I don't buy any of the mental blocks from critics that say EV's aren't doable. I continue to maintain that the internal combustion engine is prehistoric by comparison, to say nothing of the fact that it's complex compared to electric motors.
The future is electric, whether you embrace it or not.
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