The following is part
one of a two part post on another solution to our energy woes:
During my most recent foray into buying a vehicle, I faced
the same issue that many Americans are dealing with these days — high gas
prices. In dealing with this fuel
dilemma I was surprised to find out just how many individuals have, instead of
buying a new more efficient car, opted to instead convert their cars, trucks
and yes, even SUVs, into electric
vehicles. Unfortunately, this has
largely been more of a pastime for
hobbyists than a serious commercial endeavor.
While converting existing cars to electric engines is not
without its drawbacks, there are some serious benefits to both our nation’s
dual oil/energy crisis and our significant contribution to global warming. Right now we’re struggling nationally with high
gas prices and a fleet of vehicles that contribute to nearly a third of the
country’s global warming pollutants.
With climate scientist indicating that we need to reduce
carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050, a mass conversion of vehicles to
electric engines may start to seem like a reasonable solution.
With somewhere around 150 million cars in the US, and well over 500 million worldwide,
completely replacing that entire fleet at the price of $20-30,000 (US) per
vehicle is a daunting task -with projections going into the next 30 plus
years. However, the current cost of
converting a traditional combustion engine to an electric engine runs anywhere
from $10-12,000. An expensive endeavor
yes, but far less than completely replacing an entire vehicle. Thus electric conversion seems like a
plausible way to deal with some of our current national problems surrounding
vehicle use.
But Congress and the White House have instead focused on
protecting US automakers, which means creating a product that will give them a
significant return on investment – rather than arguably what’s best for
consumers, the environment, or the U.S. economy. Automakers make a larger profit if you buy a
whole new car so there’s less motivation to provide the resources for you to
simply purchase a new engine and convert your existing car.
That’s not to say that electric engines are cure alls, they
do have their drawbacks. Traditionally
they have been unable to travel the distance that gas powered cars go, they’ve
also been challenged by supporting the larger body weight of many of the
vehicles powered by gas.
This being the case, it seems that American’s priorities
would be better served by funding two specific efforts. One would be to improve both the longevity of
batteries to be able to last longer and the capacity of batteries to work in
older vehicles whose body weight far outnumbers that of their electric car
counterparts. Secondly, governmental and
business efforts need to focus on creating a financing plan that would bring
down the cost of electric conversion to somewhere around $2000 to reasonably
accommodate the ability of all Americans to the technology.
An entire industry could develop around creating
standardized electric engines like the Hymotion
L5 Plug-in Conversion modules which are currently being made to convert the
Toyota Prius into a hybrid electric vehicle.
This would create a host of new jobs as well. Ones that could not be easily outsourced
since it would be easier to drive to a local mechanics and have the conversion
done than to send your car off to some other country.
All these ideas might sound visionary, but they’re really
just common-sense solutions to address the problems of global warming and
skyrocketing gas prices. It’s clear that the current Congress and
administration aren’t willing to take the steps necessary to address these
problems. That’s yet another reason we need a new direction for America.
- K.J.
