Tagged: Electric Cars

Quantity Over Quality & Dancing To Keep The Lights On

Twenty one thousand, three hundred and thirty nine words. See how I added more words than necessary? The irony in this writing exercise is to scribe as many words as possible while trying to maintain some semblance of terse writing. Clearly the former has to give to the latter to hit the 50,000 word goal, at least for the first draft.

I read a very interesting story yesterday about a group of people who’ve gotten together to form the Electricfication Coalition. The group recently published a road map to the electrification of the United States, the primary objective of which is to make at least 75% of automobiles run on solely electricity by 2040. Personally, I’d like the target percentage to be higher or the target date to be sooner. Given not everyone will want or be able to convert come the deadline, I would recommend pushing to date up to 2030 or 2035. Let’s do this people.  I’ve downloaded the report and plan to flip through it at least; it’s one hundred and eighty pages (see, I did it again!).

The electricity the automobiles will use to charge batteries will come from somewhere, and part of this task is to make those sources more renewable. No oil, no gas and for mother nature’s sake, no coal. Let’s use the sun and the wind and the waves to power our movement. There’s already technology being tested to make nanotechnology-powered personal battery packs that will recharge just by moving around. Wouldn’t it be great to have our exercise equipment tied to a smart grid such that people could earn money by working out and generating power in surplus of their daily use? There are endless possibilities, the simplest being charging your mobile phone while walking. The mid boggles at the possibilities.

Transportation Technology Awareness

On the same day the Missouri legislature debates funding a gap in St. Louis transit agency Metro’s budget, I had the opportunity to hop on my soapbox for a bit during a business lunch. We were talking about housing, but the conversation meandered – as it does so often these days – to the economy. A less logical jump was somehow made to hybrid vehicles, where it stayed for a bit.

One of the guests at lunch mentioned he’d recently driven a hybrid (Prius) for the first time, and while he found the car novel, he would never purchase one. His stated reason was that it is too small. But elements of his comments, along with those of the other people at lunch, showed the lack of awareness among even people of higher education and higher means about transportation technology.

I carry the burden and relief associated with being motivated by issues green, and specifically those surrounding transit. As a society addicted to personal mobility, we constantly struggle between funding public transit and subsidizing our addiction to combustion engines through the construction and reconstruction of poor quality roads and car-oriented development, not to mention the billions handed out to oil companies. After the man’s comment, I made sure to point out that my wife and I own a Ford Escape Hybrid and that we loved it.

At that point I began to talk about a speech Robert F. Kennedy made recently in St. Louis, which my wife and I attended. While the event covered all sorts of environmental topics, a good amount of time was spent on personal mobility and the efforts of Better Place, a company currently working to convert Israel into an electric car country. I also brought up Tesla Motors and discussed the technology of electric cars. People seemed genuinely interested and asked questions, but they were never truly engaged. This may have something to do with my inability to capture an audience but I’ve tested that skill repeatedly to better results. I’m fairly certain the issue was the subject at hand.

What’s frightening is the lack of enthusiasm among people who have the means to make a difference. The general feeling after the discussion seemed to be one of, “well that was interesting, back to reality”. But people, this is reality. How do we get people to learn about electric cars, which undoubtedly are the future of personal mobility? Similarly, how do we get people to learn about other environmental issues that effect them so dramatically, but often so indirectly?

If you have an answer, please tell me. You can have all the credit, and all the resources I can spare to help spread the word.

Tesla / St. Louis

There is no formal association between St. Louis and Tesla Motors . . . yet. Tesla is the maker of two all-electric vehicles, one already on the streets – the Roadster – and one under production – the Model S. The Roadster will set you back around $100,000 but it is one mean beast. The Model S, set to cost under $60,000, is a more practical sedan. $60,000 is not affordable by any stretch of the imagination but it is in line with the costs of equivalent luxury automobiles.

What’s the point of this discussion? I want Tesla to open a showroom in St. Louis. I know, this sounds like a pipe dream given the company only plans to sell 20,000 to 25,000 units worldwide. To date, Tesla has opened showrooms in Los Angeles and Menlo Park, California. The company plans to open other showrooms in Chicago, Manhattan, Miami and Seattle. Other possibilities include Washington D.C., and Munich, Germany. After they finish opening locations in the top U.S. markets, I want their secondary expansion to start in St. Louis.

I’ve spoke with representatives from the company and they do plan on expanding further as delivery of the Model S approaches. Why? Basic maintenance and servicing for one. Also, most electric cars, including Tesla’s models, will include easily replaceable batteries (though they’ll weigh hundreds of pounds). Most electric cars will be sold with short-range batteries, as higher capacity batteries drastically increase costs and aren’t used for their full potential the majority of the time. The base Model S will come with a 160-mile range battery, but the company will also offer 230 and 300-mile batteries. If someone buys the car to commute to work, why should he pay tens of thousands of dollars extra for a long-range battery? Most likely, he wouldn’t. Proponents of electric cars envision a scenario in which an owner would take his car to service station to have his batter temporarily replaced for a longer car trip. To make this scenario a reality, more sales/service locations will be needed than just those on the coasts and one in Chicago. Got it? Good.

So, stay tuned for more updates as I campaign to get enough Tesla’s sold in St. Louis to get a showroom here as well!