In a recent program with transportation technology expert Daniel Sperling on US television program The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart suggested the US government take some of the stimulus funds and “start building stations across the country” for electric and other alternative-fuel vehicles. That could be the nation’s “Manhattan project” over the next decade—the idea being that US drivers would buy less-polluting vehicles if only they had somewhere to refuel them.
That almost sounds like a good idea for a few seconds before it falls apart under the weight of any serious thought. For instance, would the government build refueling stations and then operate them in competition with those selling other fuels? Or should the government lease or sell to private owners stations built at public expense—likely with the usual cost overruns?
High pressure can quickly put CNG and LNG into fuel tanks. But how long does it take to recharge an electric car? “It depends on the size and number of batteries and whether they are totally drained of power or only partially run down,” one alternative-power expert told OGJ. But what would be a fair mark-up for electricity at a roadside station, and would prices vary in hours of peak and low demand?
Proponents talk of plugging electric cars into household outlets to recharge overnight. That’s more like having to power one’s digital camera ahead of a holiday instead of today’s practice of pulling into a conventional station for a tank of gas, potty breaks for the kids and the dog, a case of cold drinks, a bag of burgers, and back on the freeway in less than 30 min.
A surge of electric cars on the roads might create a market for “plug-in” motels where motorists pull off the road at sunset, rent a room and outlet, then hit the road again at dawn. If an intrepid driver decided to press on after dark, would his headlights fade as the battery drained, rendering him a road hazard? When an electric car runs out of fuel on the roadside, the driver can’t walk to the next station with the equivalent of a gas can for more fuel.
Cars hit the grid
One also must wonder what will happen when millions of electric cars plug into what some say is an already overloaded electric grid system. It certainly will take more coal and gas-fired power plants to generate more electricity, along with thousands more windmills across the plains and along picturesque coastlines.
Mining and processing plants will ramp up as demand for lithium in batteries outstrips current supplies, especially with the continued boom in handheld electronics. Lithium is flammable and potentially explosive, as indicated by the history of laptops catching fire. Would the bigger batteries of electric cars be safer or would the fires just be bigger?
Nevertheless, Sperling said, “The electric car has a promising future.” The technology is advancing, but the idea of electric cars still must be sold to consumers. Sperling suggested a price floor of $1.75-2/gal for gasoline to encourage development of cheaper alternative fuels, but there’s not a snowball’s chance Congress will endorse that.
Perhaps the hardest selling point is that many if not most electric cars available are small vehicles that can carry only one or two people. They don’t look like something a tall or obese person could squeeze into. Most seem to have a limited range of 100 miles or less and top speeds well under 60 mph. However, in California Telsa makes an electric sports car that does 0-60 mph in less than 4 sec, a top speed of 125 mph and a 221-mile range for $109,000. The Lightening Car Co. in the UK has a sports car that accelerates equally fast with a 250-mile range and a 2008 price of £120,000.
But even the most impressive electric car would likely be a hard sell to anyone who has lived through the aftermath of a Gulf Coast hurricane. When one is sitting in the dark with a freezer-full of rotting meat, nothing to open cans of food in the pantry, no electric stove to cook food if available, no air conditioning, no television, no electric fans, windows open to sweltering heat and mosquitoes, what is one to do with the electric car plugged into the useless outlet of what’s left of the garage?
