The Electric Car May Still Have Some Life In It

In the last year, there has been a lot of hype about the loss of the electric car, which many feel is the future of the automobile. People have become so perturbed on the subject that a documentary was produced pointing the finger at the US government and automakers for impeding the progress of the electric car. But, in recent months, it has been proven those fears were unfounded.

Most of us, whether or not we're car nuts, have heard about the incredible new Tesla Roadster. A small company with a small facility has produced one of the biggest deals in the auto industry of late. Its facility in Silicon Valley, California is producing, slowly, the fastest, most powerful, and best looking fully electric car since, well forever. It technically won't be on the road until next summer but the first 100 have already been sold as special edition models for $100,000 each. It is expected that as more of them are produced, the price will creep down but it will still be out of reach for the average person. The primary reason for the high price is the thousands of tiny Lithium-Ion battery cells that power this piece of machinery. While widely used in items such as power tools, the need to cool the cells as well as package them all pose a pricey task to overcome. It is expected though, if electric cars were to ever really gain ground, the technology would drop in price dramatically. But Tesla isn't stopping at a 4sec to 60mph coupe. It is rumored that he is planning a performance sedan codenamed Whitestar, which would be more attractive to a successful businessman for example.

But there's more. There has been a large call from the environmental crowd to take greater advantage of the technology in the Toyota Prius. Ford just recently unveiled a plug-in Hybrid version of the Edge crossover. And it seems that people are warming to the idea of utilizing the batteries in their hybrids more effectively. Toyota, Ford, GM (just to mention a few) have all released statements to the point that they are either in the process of creating or are ready to debut plug-in hybrid models.

To that extent, even the most promising source of power for our future cars looks to be electricity (if not directly). Hydrogen has been hogging much of the media attention as of late but in the end, electricity is what will drive these cars. The hydrogen will act as a source to create electricity to power these "cars of tomorrow" (or at least next decade). Despite what many of the critics of the US auto industry say, it is clear the proponents of an electricity-powered future still have hope.


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