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Sustainability Spotlight: Electric Vehicles
Janessa Post
January 25th 2012
My mom owns a Prius and she’s pretty excited about it. She counts the other ones she spots on the road and, let me tell you, there are hundreds. Its a great car but I find it baffling that hybrids are the “greenest” cars on the road. Given the incredible technological advancements over the past hundred plus years, you would think there would be a better option. Well, by many accounts, there is: the electric vehicle (EV).
What’s fascinating is that EVs have been around a lot longer than hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell cars. In fact, electric automobiles entered the marketplace more than a century ago, alongside the predecessors to the combustible engine vehicles we are most familiar with today. Quiet, smooth riding, and clean running, the electric vehicle (EV) was a very popular option in the early days of the auto industry. Eventually, though, the gas powered alternative won over because it had an automatic starter, could be run with cheap oil, and was widely available because it was mass produced.
In light of the oil crisis in the 1970’s and growing concern about air pollution, the long forgotten EV emerged as a possible solution to these problems. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s automakers like GM developed a new generation of electric powered automobiles. This class of automobiles looked so promising that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) passed a Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate in 1990. In 1996 GM’s EV1 was released to the public, and other EVs like Ford Ranger trucks and RAV 4s soon followed.
So why don’t we see electric cars on the roadways? There are two opposing answers to this question. Automakers maintain that, despite having funneled a great deal of money and energy into promoting EVs, there simply wasn’t enough demand for the cars, in part because of their limited driving range (~90 miles/charge). However, another group claims that the automobile and oil industries intentionally destroyed EV projects by lobbying against the installation of vehicle charging stations, publishing editorials questioning the environmental benefits EV offered, and devising advertising campaigns that made the vehicles look unappealing. This group of EV enthusiasts presented companies with the signature of thousands of people that were interested in purchasing the EV1 to illustrate that there was a demand for the cars, but their efforts fell short.
Whatever the reason for the demise of the modern electric car, automakers sued the State of California in 2003, squashing the ZEV Mandate. By the summer of the following year, GM repossessed all EV1s from their lessees and had them clandestinely destroyed (the opposing group even offered the auto giant $1.9 million to buy seventy-eight of the cars that were not yet shredded). After the EV’s fall, the U.S. government turned their focus towards developing hydrogen fuel cell technology and invested $1 billion dollars in the industry.
Nearly a decade later we have yet to see a hydrogen fuel cell car available to the public the EV option is again being investigated as a replacement for combustion engine vehicles. What does the future of EVs look like, you might wonder. Well, San Jose’s Tech Museum offers visitors a peek at some of the most revolutionary EVs, including a pickup truck that can haul over one thousand pounds and a plug in motorcycle at their “Green Garage.” The exhibit also gives you a glimpse into the past with a Baker Electric car from 1898. We recommend you take advantage of this opportunity to learn a little more about the car that might be sitting in your driveway one day--and while you’re at it you can check out the other exciting exhibits at the Tech Museum!.
[historical information was acquired from the feature length film Who Killed The Electric Car? (2006)]
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