Welcome to Brighton, England’s seaside getaway and home, on June 5th of this year, to the British eco-car rally. Drivers met in Brighton in order to take all sorts of very expensive eco-cars— like the Ford hydrogen fuel cell SUV, or our host’s electric delivery van— on an approximately 52-mile drive back to London.
The electric van is all white, spacious and efficient. On one charge it can drive about 100 miles, and more than that in the city, since sitting still in traffic or idling at stoplights uses practically nothing— delightfully unlike a conventional vehicle!
Electric cars were among the first automobiles to be produced, and out-sold combustion engine cars in the first part of the 20th century. They are more energy-efficient than typical vehicles, accelerate faster, and make hardly any noise. If they are charged from an appropriate energy source (i.e. electricity produced from renewable sources, rather than coal or other fossil fuels), they are practically pollution-free.
With such a long history and such impressive credentials, why are electric cars no longer popular? Improvements to the internal combustion engine that made it more efficient and less dangerous struck the first blow. Then there was the switch from direct current (DC) electricity, needed to recharge the cars’ batteries, to alternating current (AC), which required an expensive and complicated converter if it was to be used to recharge an electric vehicle.
There are many other reasons given for the loss in popularity of the electric car— expensive and inefficient batteries, oil companies, government regulations (and ties to said oil companies), automobile manufacturers and mechanics (who would have less work if everyone drove electric cars, as they have no engine). The price, these days, is also prohibitive.
But come on guys, they don’t pollute!
