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All the hype regarding "electric vehicles" or EV's is baffling, and is a prime example of "putting the cart before the horse."
In my opinion, the electric vehicle rage is nonsense. These vehicles are nothing more than overpriced, pimped-out golf carts. They might be okay for around town driving and could probably cut down on urban air pollution, but in the long haul they would seem to be worthless. An advertised range of 300 miles means a 1200-mile trip would take twice as long and would require two additional days of lodging, thus causing a delay in reaching your destination in a timely manner. Advertised charging times are 10 hours for a full charge, that is, if charging ports were available. At this time there are not ample charging ports available for charging these vehicles, and if there were, each one in use would be tied up charging a vehicle for up to 10 hours, if one was fortunate enough to score a slot at the charger.
A stop at a service station takes around 5 minutes or so to fuel a vehicle and you are quickly back on the road headed to your destination. Even utilizing a "quick charge" station would only give a partial charge, I believe, and could take up to 25 to 30 minutes to give a partial charge before having to stop again for another 25 or 30 minutes (if a charge station is available).
Another glitch in the process is the source of power to run these charging ports. How do you think the power to operate them is produced? A lot by generation stations fed by fuels such as natural gas (most economical), oil or coal. Of course, there are some nuclear-powered generation stations but they are not in the majority. Solar power would require large amounts of solar panels to provide ample power to operate the chargers. Most, if not all, panels come from our dear and beloved friends, the Chinese. I'm sure they would be happy to take our money to provide us with all that we need.
As for me, I will stick to the proven and reliable method of traveling in my gasoline powered vehicle. Those who choose to go electric, I wish you luck. If your plans are to travel a distance farther than 300 miles and/or you run out of power, I will be certain to toot my horn as I pass by you sitting in the waiting line for a battery charge station (hoping that your current lasts long enough to get you there at all).
Lastly, I can only imagine the excitement generated at the Daytona (and other) race tracks when the announcement comes across the public address system; "Gentlemen, charge your batteries." What a thrill that would be.
MEL BENJAMIN
Watsontown
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom