MSCC OCTOBER 28 FIVE FOR FRIDAY: FIVE REASONS WHY MYSTARCOLLECTORCAR DOES NOT LOVE ELECTRIC CARS

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Full disclaimer here: We loved electric cars when we were kids and had a slot car racetrack in our rumpus room-mainly because we were kids and slot car racetracks were a very big deal.

We liked them later in life when they were small remote-control cars, but we did not love them in the same way as the slot car era from our childhood.

However, we have no love for full-sized electric cars from the past, present, or future. The past may be a surprise to some of our readers, but we have no kinship or experience with the pioneer electric cars from the 19th century because we were not around and the electric cars from that age quickly lost a fistfight with the early internal combustion cars from that same period.

The present is a huge push/fantasy to make the electric car become the number one choice for personal transportation needs-despite the obvious problems with the idea.

The future is a world where no rocket scientist can defeat the immutable laws of physics and create an efficient electric vehicle for the masses, despite massive government subsidies to keep this pipe dream alive.

MyStarCollectorCar would like to give five basic reasons why we hate electric cars.

The first reason is we like to travel more than a couple of hundred uninterrupted miles to get to our destination when the situation warrants it. Electric cars have a limited battery range that falls well short of many drivers’ goal destinations. The basic reason is nobody has been able to invent a battery that can hold energy long enough to go the distance on a longer car trip.

This important but grim reality undermines our second reason to hate electric cars: recharging time. A home charging system is expensive, complicated and will take hours-not minutes-to fill up the electric car with lightning juice. An expensive quick charge on a long-distance trip will still take you off the road for at least 20-30 minutes if you can find an outlet that provides this service.

The third reason is electricity does not grow on trees. It is a scarce commodity made even scarcer because heavily subsidized and inefficient green energy programs do not provide enough power to handle the current electrical load-let alone a future large herd of electric cars. The same storage issues that dog the car batteries also handcuff the large green energy producers because they rely heavily on sunny or windy days for their contribution to the electrical grid.  

The fourth reason is also weather related because we live in a northern climate, complete with bone-chilling winters. Our experience includes many instances where car batteries cannot handle the cold and will not even turn over an electric engine starter-let alone an electric motor. Cold weather is a mortal enemy of batteries, so expect an electric car to encounter huge distance reductions in -40 weather. Hopefully these electric cars will be able to get their owners at least halfway from Point A to Point B during a severe cold snap.

The fifth and final reason for our electric car hatred is the electric car revolution is pure fantasy destined to be a colossal and expensive failure that will not save a planet. Currently there are no solid measures to recycle the massive batteries required to power an electric car once the batteries outlive their usefulness. Instead, they are simply slipped under the garbage dump carpet in an underdeveloped country with no rules against the improper storage of hazardous materials.

But hey, let’s all get green and halfway home in an electric car on a sub-zero January night. It will be good for our tree-hugging souls. 

BY: Jim Sutherland

Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section. 

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