The Horror of Electric Cars

The idea that an all-electric car, dependent solely on recharging its batteries and unable to rely on the infrastructure of filling stations to provide power on longer trips, will be more than a sideshow may well be the business folly of this century.

Worldwide, the driving public has come to rely on the auto as a versatile tool of mobility – fulfilling the daily commuting and errand-running tasks while at the same time available for overnight or long-distance trips. While many drivers have the luxury of secured parking adjacent to their own electric supply, many others don’t. Urban drivers who park on the streets, suburban occupants of garden apartment complexes, people who park in attended or unattended garages, students on campuses, etc. all leave their cars overnight at a distance from their own homes. Others, traveling salesmen, routemen, etc. spend nights in different motels, with or without secure parking. Still others, mainly recreational car users, take their cars to locations which are intrinsically lacking in recharging facilities – a mountain stream, the beach, remote desert locations, etc.

Many drivers in the USA car hire for long drives. Choice for a trip from New York to Florida for winter sun is fly and pick up car hire at Orlando airport or drive on for hours and then they only want to stop for the 5 minutes it takes to refuel, their auto, drain their kidneys, and get a fresh coffee (with or without the greaseburger). Whatever car they use for the daily commute is versatile enough to accommodate them on these longer trips – for business, family, recreation, or sheer wanderlust. Many of these trips are not optional from a personal or family standpoint – the weekly trip to help a sick relative, moving-in-or-out kids’ at college dorms, etc. which can only be accomplished with a private auto within the allocated time.

None of these people can expect to be accommodated by an electric-only vehicle; they need the flexibility to make their own schedules, to come and go when necessary, and to “drive through the night” and return to work the next day. To assume that buyers will look to preclude use of a vehicle for any of the above situations (or the myriad of similar ones that haven’t been mentioned) and to assume that they will continue to use the vehicle for its entire service life without need to rely on gas stations leaves a pretty narrow audience.

The magic of the general purpose auto has always been its versatility. The horror of the electric-only car is its complete and total abdication of status as a multipurpose tool for living, and the loss of personal freedom that has been the linchpin of the mass appeal of private autos since the 1927 introduction of the Ford Model A.

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