I hate the polluted cities and huge oil consumption, as do you, I am sure. Even though welfare’s the reason, due to driving citizens out of their old neighborhoods, something must be done to stop the oil consumption and filthy air over our cities. Electricity is the way. Battery powered, electric cars would be noiseless, fumeless, transmission less, exhaust pipe less, etc, and would make pollution virtually non-existent as well as making things a lot quieter. Why did battery research and development seem to stop with the hybrids? Why not have total electric cars which are capable of 150 miles between charges, and have charging stations at each parking meter, or parking spaces everywhere? Long distances and heavy trucks could be hybrids, but the millions and millions of private cars could easily be electric for commuting. Small electrics, which would take up little space. Want your gas buggy for vacations? Fine, but why drive that behemoth to work?
Electricity can be, and is, produced by coal fired power plants, which are becoming more and more efficient and pollution free. We have enough coal to last for hundreds of years, and virtually no oil. Electric cars and trucks roaming the streets and freeways would be silent, and use no gasoline or diesel fuels. Who would pay for the charging electricity when cars or trucks are parked? The cost would be minimal, and coin operated charging would be fine. Put a quarter in a meter, and you’re all set for another 50 or so miles. Park at work and put a quarter in, and you’re set for the trip home or wherever you wish to go. Plug it in at home, and there would be plenty of juice till you got home again. It would all be so simple, clean, and silent. GM and a couple of other manufacturers made electric cars and trucks, but why did they stop their research? There are vastly improved batteries or storage devices for electricity, just in the last few years. Come on America, let’s get rid of that oil from the Muslims. They don’t like us, and I don’t like them. It stinks up the air and who needs it? A few years ago there were flywheels which powered cars and busses as an experiment. What happened to that research? We’re far too dependent on oil, when we have trillions of tons of coal!
I built an electric car back in the 1960’s from a little three wheeled Isetta. I took the gas engine out, and put in a D.C. electric motor and installed 9 – 12 volt batteries. Charged it at home and drove all over the place. It worked really nice, and I had a ball with it. There were no solid state speed controls then, so I used a screen door spring as a resistance for speed control. Life can be fun.
Why not bring back steam locomotives? That would make my heart glad. There’s never been a piece of man made machinery which had more personality and romance than the steam locomotive. When I was a kid, and the mighty trains rolled by, we would wave at the engineer and dream of being in the cab ourselves someday. Now kids play video games and dream of killing people? Not a nice thing for parents to allow, is it?