Observations by a Citizen: Electric Nation?

By: Hal Rounds

An article in the Scientific American for May 30, 1891, with the title: “Steam to be Superseded by Electricity,” observed that “Since the introduction of electricity into common, matter of fact, every day life . . . Some men have boasted that steam as a motive power is doomed and its days are numbered, that electricity is the coming power.”

Well, that was 130 years ago, wasn’t it? What has changed? I am convinced the dream of putting a practical dose of electrical power into a vehicle still hasn’t reached the effectiveness they dreamed of. It hasn’t caught up with the utility of a typical gasoline or diesel-powered vehicle.

But, for political reasons, we are being forced to make the change – get rid of the vehicles we rely on, and switch to the dictated mode – electric vehicles.

How will the features of electric vehicles affect our “access” to the world we have taken for granted?

If we drive our Tesla (or any of that breed), it may feel the same, but with no engine noise. Highway tire noise will actually be about the same. But if a car comes up behind you in the grocery parking lot, you’ll need to be more alert to its silent danger.

The most noticeable change in your day will be how you “juice up” your car. There is a video on the internet taken by a guy waiting behind a lady at a gas pump, as she tries to find the gas cap access so she can gas up her – Tesla. He giggles pretty loudly, then she sees him, so he hides his phone, and we don’t see how it ends. I’m pretty sure that we can adjust to connecting the power cord with no difficulty. But the other changes become significant. It will take much longer to re-charge your car’s battery than to fill up with gas. So, re-schedule your day. Home power connections will proliferate, helping to solve that problem for your usual, local-driving day. But, if you are driving any distance – hundreds of miles over several days – you’ll need to schedule shorter legs and more power stops.

And motels may replace convenience store/gas stops. A recent video taken at the Madonna Inn, a popular halfway stop between Los Angeles and San Francisco, shows a long line of Teslas waiting their turn at the bank of recharging stations provided by the Inn.

The advantage of electric power is that it can be generated centrally in huge plants (mostly using various forms of carbon fuel) and distributed efficiently by a network of power lines. Gas, on the other hand, comes from a large number of vendors and refining plants using widely flexible networks of trucks and roads, where the competition keeps it as economical as possible, because you can get your choice from many vendors. The electric power comes from a monopoly licensed in each power region. So much for real choice. If you run out of gas, getting a can of gas from a nearby gas station can solve the problem. Electricity doesn’t work that way. But maybe there’ll be a new service – AAA operating diesel-powered emergency vehicles you can call to come and chat with while they run the slow-recharging process for you.

Some claim that a battery is safer than a tank of gas. Have you ever seen what happens when the lithium in the battery touches water? Battery shells are very strong – but accidents happen, and if water is involved, you get an explosion of flames that cannot be doused by the first responders. (I experimented with this myself, using a small battery.)

To get the lithium for the batteries, apparently, huge diesel powered mining vehicles are used, to scrape and carry the thin lithium deposits out of tons of earth.  And, when the batteries are used up, I am not aware of any economical or safe way to recycle them.

So – gas is supposed to go away. Don’t worry about it. Just do as you’re told.

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