Gas guzzler versus government guzzler?

Electric cars frighten me. Not because I have anything against new technology or the freedom of anyone to travel in whatever way he sees fit, but because I see a lot of money going into the development of something that people are not going to want, and I worry that push may come to shove. A puff piece news release in today’s Detroit Free Press (which I found online here) caught my attention because of its title — “Location, location, location” — and I thought I was going to be treated to a glowing account about charging station locations. Instead, it was about Ford’s decision to put the plug-in port on the driver’s side of the vehicle. Great if you have a charging station but where are they?

Are free market forces going to take care of the problem?

I talk about freedom a lot, and I believe that freedom includes being able to drive an electric car if that is what you want and you can afford to buy it and can afford another two grand to replace the batteries every two years. But — and this is a huge but — that freedom does not include the right to have conveniently placed charging stations for the car. If you want to drive the car from Michigan to California, you can try doing it, but you might not find charging stations in the middle of nowhere, and even if you do you’ll have three or four hour waits. There is a network of charging stations in the United States, and at last count there were 541.

The U.S. Department of Energy offers a list of locations of the available alternative fuel infrastructure. The historic trend summary (1992–2010) shows a total of 541 electric charging locations by 2010 which is still lower than the peak count of 873 charging locations in 2002.^[133

What if you just want to drive from Point A to Point B with no hassle? It’s one thing to run out of gas because you didn’t think to stop at that last station, but what happens when there isn’t a charging station? Or you’re parked by a scenic lake in the middle of nowhere and find you’re just plain out of juice? Little good that gas can will do.

That these cars were developed as a result of massive government assistance, that because they require being plugged into quasi-governmental utility grids, my worry is that they inherently invite busybody regulations — such as mandatory charging stations in parking lots and garages, and apparently serious proposals to mandate that second cars be electric.

These cars are inconvenient, which means many people are not going to want them. I don’t like dependency  and I don’t like limited mobility. I would not want one. That is still my free choice, is it not?

My biggest worry is that what I see as the worst drawback — limited mobility — is precisely what environmentalists, control freaks, and government busybodies would see as the product’s primary advantage.

I am all for free choices and free market solutions,  but electric cars are not an ordinary product, but one which cries out for government involvement.

Alternative choices have a way of becoming mandatory. I’d hate to see the gasoline car go the way of the incandescent light bulb.