Who killed The Electric Car

The fundamental problem with alternatives to gasoline automobiles is cost. Although most people complain about the relatively high cost at the pump these days, gasoline remains the cheapest way to power a vehicle. Every other alternative is much more expensive and consumers have been reluctant to embrace the higher cost alternatives.

The fundamental laws of physics dictate that that it takes a certain amount of energy to move a given weight some distance at some speed. Fuel is nothing more than a medium to provide this energy–the problem is making energy portable. When we change energy from one form to another, there are losses in the process that add to the cost–another law of physics.

Electricity is probably one of the most costly energy forms we have because it doesn’t exist naturally, it is a converted form made by burning coal or other material. Also, this indirectly adds to the enviornmental concerns.

At the present time, given our current level of technology, gasoline produces more energy at less overall cost. This is why so little progress has been made in the search for alternatives. The public simply isn’t terribly interested in picking up the tab.

The good news is that as prices of gasoline continue to rise, people feel better about paying these higher alternative prices and will happily start choosing these new technologies–which will create new businesses and jobs funded by the higher prices. Its a slow process though, you have to convince people they really need to pay more than they have been for what they’ve been used to getting. That, of course, is the goal of the alternative energy advocates who seek to profit from it. From what I read in the blogs, they seem to be acheiving some success with it. Got it?