ALT-2 Are Electric Vehicles the Answer to High Gas Prices – Yes

From 3arf

Well, as gas prices start rapidly approaching $4.00 a gallon people are starting to realize that we need alternatives and we need them NOW! Do you want some good reasons to use electric cars? Okay, I've got a few:

1. Foreign Oil. Contrary to what many doomsayers are spouting, the Earth is not running out of oil any time soon. Many of the major oil producing nations (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United States) haven't even tapped 10% of their available oil deposits, but that doesn't mean that they won't run out some day. A lot of people watch the news and get annoyed how we're fighting in a country that just happens to have the third highest amount of oil lying around (even though, Iraq is ranked 14th in oil production, they still have lots of oil that hasn't even been touched yet). If we didn't have to care about that oil, we probably wouldn't have to care about the country. Plus, it would be nice to give a black eye to all of those OPEC nations that enjoy pushing us around.

2. The Environment. El Nino, La Nina, Global Warming - call it what you want. All of those cars burning millions of gallons of gas every day is releasing tons of gases into the air that are tearing apart the ozone layer. The weather has been going a little crazy over the past decade or so and many experts say that gas-guzzlers are partially to blame. If you take them out of the picture we might see an improvement - and if we don't see an improvement, we can tell those self-righteous fools that they were wrong. Everybody wins.

3. Noise. Ever been lying in your bed and all of a sudden some idiot comes barreling down the street in some muscle car that has an engine that exceeds the threshold of pain in noise - just because they're trying to impress their friends. Personally, I could do without that,.

Unfortunately, with every good thing there has to be some bad things and these are some of the prominent roadblocks that electric cars have been facing since they were first conceptualized:

1. Low mileage. Unfortunately, electric cars can't go that far on a full charge. People don't like the idea of filling up their cars at the pump, so it's safe to assume that they're not going to enjoy the concept having to plug their car in every night. And, the thought of taking a road trip with your electric car might be a few years off.

2. Low power. For some reason people in the US love to drive an incredibly dangerous speeds. The idea of going super-fast is often used to give an adrenaline rush - or used to help make up for certain "inadequacies" that male drivers sometimes encounter. Cars quite often become an extension of the driver and many drivers feel that if their car can't go from 0-60 in under four seconds they are less of a man.

3. Bills still don't go away. Sure, you're not paying at the pump anymore, but you will have to plug your car into an outlet to recharge it. More than likely your light bill will go up by an equivalent amount of your old fuel bills.

4. The US oil industry is too powerful. In recent years, domestic oil companies like Exxon have been showing record profits and I'm pretty sure they don't want that to end any time soon. They have powerful lobbyists that have a great deal of influence in congress and they'll happily go out of their way and poor hundreds of millions of dollars into keeping their complete strangle-hold over the American motorist.

But, we don't have to let them. We can save money, save the environment, and tell those sociopath oil barons that we're not going to let them push us around any more. All we have to do is buy enough electric cars to cause a dent in their profits. This would also help the companies that produce the cars to get enough money to develop more efficient cars that can get better mileage, better speeds, and a better peace of mind.

While you're at it, look up your local elected officials and find out if they've ever received a campaign contribution from an oil company. If they have, give them a call, send them a letter - or just vote for someone else.

For those of us that still remember the long gas lines from the late 70s we know that electric cars are a good thing.

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