Do We Need Electric Cars? Air pollution worldwide has forced air quality regulators to require a percentage of new vehicles sold in the coming years to be "zero-emissions vehicles". However, in recent years economic pressures have set EV production back.   OBJECTION #1 "EV'S DON'T GO FAR ENOUGH" Which came first, the freeway or the shopping mall? Our cities have evolved into large scale webs of pavement connecting shopping centers and work places that are more than 10, 20 or 50 miles from our homes. This places some negative aspects on our daily schedule. Have you ever considered the YEARS YOU SPEND in your lifetime driving your car? THE ANSWERS: The average trip in an automobile covers a distance of less than 5 miles with a single passenger. This represents more than 75% of daily driving in a residential community. You do not need a commute vehicle to go to the store. Most families have more than one vehicle. It makes sense to have a "short range" vehicle for trips to the store and a "commute vehicle" for longer trips. Battery technology improves every year. It is estimated by 2020 that newer batteries will retain enough power to power a 4 passenger electric vehicle 600 to 1200 miles per charge. Communities can be better designed so that it's citizens won't have long distance commutes to do daily shopping trips. Solar charge units can be hooked up to your EV during the day utilizing the power of the sun to recharge your battery while you are at work.   . OBJECTION #2 "EV'S ARE SMALL AND NOT SAFE TO DRIVE" Wrong!. THE ANSWERS: Major auto manufacturers are only producing EV's that are light due to battery-distance-weight considerations. All trends point to FULL SIZE EV'S to be coming out in the coming years. People ride BICYCLES on expressways and crowded city streets... That's INSANE! We know several people who have been killed because a driver of a car "didn't see them"... Communities need to rethink the BIKE LANE approach and need to block auto traffic for large steel cars entirely for smaller lighter "SAFER" vehicles. Have you taken a good look at the GEO METRO or some of the older HONDA ACCORDS. They're the size of the average bath tub! And, people amazingly drive down the freeway at 70 miles per hour in these tin cans! Sure, Some of the NEV'S (Neighborhood vehicles) being produced are small... But, don't drive on expressways and freeways!       . OBJECTION #3 "EV'S DON'T GO FAST ENOUGH" Wrong! If you have driven one of the many Electric Vehicles produced after 1998 you will experience a an impressive amount of thrust created by high torque electric motors. 80 to 90 percent of the power created by gas explosions is lost out the tail pipe in the form of heat. Almost 100% of the power of an electric is transfered directly to the drive shaft. THE ANSWERS: Electric motors have incredible torque and horsepower. They wind up to their peak RPM's much faster than fuel burners that require explosive charges to gear up. In 1999 an electric car set the EV land speed record exceeding 240 miles per hour! In 2000 an electric cars STOMPED a Viper, Corvette, and Ferrari in a quarter mile drag race. There are electric motors that rotate at extreme RPM's, they're just not putting them in EV's yet. The motor in your gas car rotates at 1500 to 3500 RPM (Unless your son is borrowing your car, it could be at 5000 plus as we speak) Electric motors used in daily applications like Dentist drills rotate at 40,000 RPMS and more! Imagine a larger electric motor in your car generating 40,000 RPM... You could fly... (Oh, yea there's already a flying electric car, see our FUTURE CARS section) Most EV's have GOVERNORS which are electronic devices that monitor the speed of the vehicle and limit the top speeds. This is done to prolong battery charge times and to keep the vehicles in "safe speed ranges".     OBJECTION #4 "GAS IS AFFORDABLE" Who are they kidding? THE ANSWERS: Gas prices fluctuate when the oil companies "miscalculate public demand". High gas prices takes cash out of your pocket and forces the consumer to cut back on spending. This reduction in consumer spending results in RECESSIONS, DEPRESSIONS and LESS MONEY FOR THE "GOOD THINGS" IN LIFE (food, clothes, heat). Gas prices create an "uncertain future" for consumers. There is always the luming possibility that you won't be able to afford to drive if/when oil reserves are low. Electricity will always be affordable. If electricity prices get too high SOLAR ENERGY will become an attractive alternative. in effect you will become your own power company. Chances are you will never be able to drill an oil well on your property! Many poor families around the world can not afford to own and operate a gas powered car. This represents MORE THAN 2 BILLION PEOPLE who cannot get a job because the jobs are too far from their homes, cannot get to medical services, expand their lives, etc. The lack of what most people regard as "basic opportunities" is beyond words. We all hear the cliche statement that "Oil reserves will run out within 20-50 years". So who cares? We have enough gas now... Your kids will care.   . OBJECTION #5 "Air Quality is Improving" Yea, thanks to people like us who waste our lives creating websites about the alternatives and more importantly, people like you who care to read our babling jibberish! THE ANSWERS: In 2003 the world economic commitee on worldwide pollution reported that air quality ratings had improved. This is BAD NEWS for the Earth. Governments will plaster this report on the desks of policy makers and loosen the controls on future "non-polluting" projects. The air in our cities may have gotten clearer but the number of cars will increase 150 percent in 20 years... If we let up now the beautiful golden crusty air will be back. We all know someone who has died from Cancer. Isn't this enough of a reason to pursue cleaner alone? We don't know for certain what causes cancer but one thing is for sure, it's not clean air!. . . OBJECTION #6 "EV's Cause Pollution Too" True! Battery cars are not "zero-emission" vehicles... Battery cars do reduce overall pollution and tailpipe fumes but there is a small amount of harmful gases produced from producing and driving electrics. THE ANSWERS: The pollution created by EV's is less than 2% of a gas burning cars! EV's Cut hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions by 98 percent. (Hydrocarbons create ground-level ozone, which causes cardiac and respiratory disease. Carbon monoxide is poisonous.) EV's Reduce emissions of nitrous oxides, another cause of ground-level ozone and acid rain. EV's Decrease emissions of sulfur oxide, a key component of acid rain, and particulates. The health effects of ultra-fine soot particles are under increasing suspicion for causing asthma. EV's reduce output of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that's taking heat for causing global warming. At slow speeds, battery vehicles produce far less carbon dioxide. At higher speeds, the results were mixed. .   OBJECTION #7 "EV's are Way Way Too Expensive" True! But let's do some math. THE ANSWERS: In 1998-2002 GM produced just over 50,000 EV-1 Electric Cars. They sold for $50,000 plus! The batteries were expensive and didn't last long. LAW OF DIMINISHED PRODUCTION COSTS: The MORE cars you produce the LESS each car will cost. If GM produced as many EV-1's as it did Corvettes the EV-1's would be priced at $21,000 or less! Would GM sell all these EV-1's... We'll never know. They shelved the project and started building larger gas guzzling SUV's. Then they saturated the market with advertising that glorified the need for SUV's and the public bought it... Go figure! If GM spent the same amount of money on ads telling us "You can take that money you save on gas and buy a home!" there's a good chance people would have considered buying the EV-1.   .   OBJECTION #8 "Hydrogen Fuel Cars Make More Sense" Yea, so did NUCLEAR POWER in the 1970's before the negatives became APPARENT! THE ANSWERS: The cost of converting GAS STATIONS to HYDRO STATIONS will cost BILLIONS of dollars... guess who's going to pay these billions?... We will!!! Hydrogen is an element used in bombs that can wipe out cities. Yea, we want this in our neighborhoods! The oil companies know electric cars will cost them billions in profits... They love the idea of you coming back every 10 to 20 days for more hydrogen... Want some crappy fast food with your hyrdo? No thanks! The costs of using hydro power are ESTIMATED by the people who will benefit from us all converting to hydro... If you have ever had a general contractor build a home for you, it is a real good chance the estimate he gave you was a joke! Who knows how much hydro will cost, how much hydro prices will increase over the years, and who knows how much it will cost us to protect hydro reserves from terrorists, earthquakes, lightning, etc. ELECTRICITY IS EVERYWHERE NOW!. Go to Home Depot and buy a $5 extension cord and you have your own home power recharge plant for your electric car. As the larger power companies convert to SOLAR the price of electricity will go down, or we'll convert to solar ourselves.   .   OBJECTION #9 "If EV's are So Good Why Don't We All Own One?" What, and put the oil companies out of business??? THE ANSWERS: Face it, most people are sheep. Most people will spend 50 hours a month complaining about gas prices but not a single minute looking for alternatives. Not until "everybody's driving EV's" will "everybody drive EV's". EV's need to go further, faster, safer and cheaper than gas cars. THE BEST PRODUCT DOESN'T ALWAYS WIN: Apple Computer came out with the easiest, most graceful computer way before Microsoft... Bill Gates ripped Apple off, and rammed PC's down our throats spending billions on advertising and legal "mafia tactics". Gates then packaged the basic features of the Apple MacIntosh under his own system "windows" (usually called "plagiarism") . He then gloated as his market monopoly killed the Apple and other great products, and then became a 120 BILLION DOLLAR GEEK, which is truly disgusting... If you think the world is a "free market" you should try to start a large business.     . OBJECTION #10 "I Don't Want to Sell My (Fill in the blank)" Big Brother is not going to tell you to convert to electric power. THE ANSWERS: I love my 1990 Black Trans Am, T-Tops, Leather seats, and females love it too (yea right!)... I'll love it even better when I can put a clean, faster, stronger electric motor in it.