It's Electric!

If you've never seen Who Killed the Electric Car, then I recommend you check it out.

I grew up in a factory town surrounded by musclecar loving rednecks. While most of my friends were busy reading the latest copy of Hot Rod, I was hanging Ferrari and Lamborghini posters on my walls. However, even the car lover in me has to admit that the days of the Internal Combustion Engine are numbered.

The electric car is the future, the only question is where does the juice come from?

• Traditional lead-acid batteries have been used in EVs for decades with mixed results. They are reliable and work well but the trade-off of having to carry around all that weight just destroys effeciency.

• NiMH battery technology has made huge strides in recent years but is significantly more expensive than lead and still weighs a ton, no pun intended.

• Batteries based on Lithium technology have revolutionized the performance of portable electronics. The performance is great, especially relative to weight, but there are serious safety and enviroment concerns to deal with.

• Fuel cells, hydrogen or otherwise, have a long way to go. This would allow you to carry the power generation with you though, extending the range to that of comparable gasoline cars.

Even with inefficient batteries a "plug-in" electric vehicle with a 60-100 mile range would meet the daily commuting requirements of most Americans. I only need something with 40 miles of range to get me to and from work. Why does no one sell something like that?

Well if you've watched Who Killed the Electric Car, you know that GM sold a car called the EV1 that would have met those needs. The EV1 went on sale 10 years ago, think about that. It's sad that GM didn't have the guts to keep selling that car because it would have put them in an amazing position today. I actually got to ride in an EV1 once and I must say it was pretty cool. My home town is home to large Delphi facility that did some of the electronics work for the EV1. They had an EV1 at their annual "Plant Day" and I got a ride around the parking lot. That thing was surprisingly fast. So GM killed the EV1 and essentially gave up any potential lead they had in the area of electric powered cars. All they needed was to throw a small gasoline or diesel motor on board and GM would have invented the Series Hybrid 10 years ahead of the game. It would have made the Toyota Prius look like a fuel thirsty dinosaur.

So fast forward 10 years from the EV1 and GM is giving it another go with the Volt. The funny thing is that the Volt is getting huge amounts of publicity and public interest. Did GM screw up that bad with the marketing of the EV1 or does $3.00 a gallon gas have something to do with the interest? If GM hadn't been so hell bent on destroying anything to do with the EV1 they could have just started remanufacturing EV1s with new Volt bodies and electronics.

Please GM, get this one right.