Are Electric Vehicles the Wave of the Future?

  Jim Hollingsworth - American Thinker 

"In recent months it has become abundantly clear that electric vehicles are no more than rich men’s toys. Sometimes I think I must be having a dream, but I do not seem to be able to awaken from this nightmare.

"These vehicles are so expensive that only the very rich can afford them.  In fact, these are often secondary vehicles.

"As a vehicle to drive from home to office and back home again, they are reasonably practical.  However, nothing beats a vehicle with an internal combustion engine.  You do not have to plug it in; just get in and drive it.  Five minutes is enough time to fill the gas tank and check the water and oil.  With an electric vehicle, you may have to spend two hours every 200 miles charging the battery.

"Electric vehicles were tried in the early part of the twentieth century but were abandoned after gasoline-driven cars became available.  Here is the timeline of the development of electric vehicles.  Here is a picture of a woman charging her vehicle about 1912.

"One of the reasons these cars did not catch on at the time is that there were many places in America that still had no residential electricity.  Another is that these vehicles were fairly low-speed, with a maximum speed of only about 14 miles per hour.  Even a horse could beat that (almost).  Some of the cars that were actually built were luxury cars, with ornate  interiors and designs.

"Today, electric cars are being built and sold to fight carbon dioxide.  This basic goal is simply madness.  Carbon dioxide is plant food.

"One has to wonder if electric vehicles are actually reducing carbon dioxide.  In one demonstration, when a reporter asked about the power source, he was informed that they just plugged it into a socket on the side of the building.  At the same time, there was an official there from the utility company, and he pointed out that the local electricity was provided by a coal-fired power plant.  So you can see that absolutely nothing was accomplished, as the coal-fired power plant was still producing carbon dioxide.  (The above cartoon explains the truth of the matter.)" . . .