Going Green in America - Giving Up Driving

In the United states, having concerns about the ecology of the planet is apparently akin to some sort of crime. Over a year ago, in the face of the highest fuel prices in history, I gave up driving. I gave up my vehicle, and since have allowed my drivers license to expire. I haven't had a regret about it.

I am in better physical shape now than I was a year ago, mostly a result of riding a bicycle when I needed to go somewhere. I am also in a better frame of mind, because the bike rides give me ample opportunity to reflect on the world around me - to smell the roses, if you will.

But when it comes to my friends and neighbors, it is a whole different story. Last week, I spent 20 minutes trying to explain to someone that I gave up driving voluntarily, and the blank look on their face told me that they never did comprehend the concept. Apparently, the only reason one gives up the privilege of driving is through DUI or some other legal intervention. There simply isn't an analogy for giving it up voluntarily.

No, I was not arrested for drunk driving, there are not a lot of points on my driving record, and no judge took my license away. I chose to give up the non-right of my own volition. In return, I am healthier, and have reduced my problematic stress level. And I save several hundred dollars every month in car, insurance, fuel, and upkeep. In my mind, it was a decision worth making.

If only I could get my fellow Americans to see that there is no crime in cutting the strings that tie you to the fuel companies and insurance companies. Only in America is it accepted that everyone who is anyone has to drive a car. In other countries, vehicles can be shared among the entire family, or not owned at all, but we Americans have somehow got the car fixed in our head as a symbol of personal freedom.

THERE IS NO FREEDOM IN A VEHICLE. The idea that having a car makes you more free is absurd. If you have a car, you are a prisoner of the car makers and dealers. Your are held helplessly in the grip of auto insurance brokers. You are forced to pay tribute to oil companies in exchange for driving your "little piece of freedom." A vehicle is a liability, it is a luxury that has somehow become confused with a carefree, lifestyle. It is a huge expense, and little more.

People expect me to be embarrassed about not owning a car, as though it were a mark of my poverty or sin. It perplexes them when I am not penitent. They quiz me at length, trying to determine what my hidden crime may be, knowing it must be a hefty one indeed, for me to lie so vehemently about it.

After all, no one gives up driving a vehicle voluntarily. The idea of saving those thousands of dollars every year is completely beyond the average person's comprehension. Nothing short of a court order can stay most people's right foot, and even that won't work for a majority who perceive driving as a symbol of their brave and bankrupt nation.

Yes, there are times when having a vehicle would be nice. But there are others who own vehicles, and when times are tough, most people are willing to drive you around for a few extra bucks in the gas tank. It is an inconvenience when I have to find such a ride, but nothing compared to the financial burden of owning my own car.

Reality Check: Electric Cars

Why are we driving cars with internal combustion engines? I have heard that it is because of the cost electric cars, and that our current battery technology is not feasible, but NONE of the reasons I have found have much, if any, basis in actual fact. Here is a reality check: Electric cars are affordable and available, and the long-term savings is far higher than any basic list price.

A Brief History Of Electric Cars
The very first automobiles were electric cars. For more than 80 years, electric-powered vehicles were considered to be the only feasible solution for self-powered transportation, and there were far more companies investing in electric carriages than any other form of locomotion. Thomas Alva Edison spent a decade working on electric motors and batteries, and achieved a large industrial following. During the first 10 years of the 20th century, electric vehicles were almost as common as internal combustion engines.

The Electric Car Fades Away
And then a man named Henry Ford began to mass-produce the first automobiles, instantly putting companies which still built vehicles by hand at a disadvantage, and Ford was using a gasoline powered engine. Within a decade, 90% of the electric car manufacturers had quietly faded away. Oddly enough, the final blow to the electric automobile came from another electric device, the electric car starter. Freed from cumbersome and dangerous hand cranks, the average person flocked to gasoline powered engines.

Auto And Oil Companies Have Resisted Electric Cars
Something you may not know is that the United States government has known since 1966 that electric cars were the most viable solution to mounting air pollution. Instead, oil and automotive companies, which had become to of the world's leading economic booms, lobbied to resist change. The result was an ever increasing cost of the vehicle, as more and more costly environmental components were added to the original engine. Today's automobile engine costs as much or more for it's environmental control devices than for the engine itself. 

What Does The Electric Car Lack?
The electric car has a zero cost environmental control system. It has no emissions. That means there is no tailpipe, not catalytic converter, no exhaust manifold, and no carburetor. There is no gas tank, and no engine coolant system, and none of the hoses that those systems require. It will not require a starter. The entire brake system is much too complex for an electric car, which stops when power is removed, and braking can be done using magnetic or centrifugal forces. And the electric motor is only about the size of a microwave oven, much smaller then a gas engine.

What Are The Negative Aspects Of Electric Cars?
So what is missing from an electric car? Until recently, they had a maximum range of about 60 miles, and this frightened people away from buying them, never mind that the average person rarely goes more than 50 miles from their home. They have also tended to be slower than gasoline powered engines. And to buy them, you had to purchase cars that were not mass-produced, and which cost a small fortune to make. Until recently.

What About Modern Electric Cars?
Things have changed a lot more than you might realize in the last 10 years. The maximum range for a fully electric car today is nearly 300 miles, which is not substantially different than a gasoline engine. And while there are not going to be any racing cars made that run on electricity in the near future, highway speeds on today's electric vehicles can be as high as 50-70 miles per hour, depending on the vehicle.

What About The Cost Of Electric Cars?
The Tesla Sportster is probably one of the most flamboyant electric cars on the, and has a list price of over $80,000. Economy electric cars can be picked up for under $10,00, and a sedan styled auto will run anywhere from $25,000 to $60,000.  If you are willing to give up the speed and range, take a look at some values for under $30,000. But that still puts a sedan model in the same general price range as a gasoline powered model. And doesn't even take the savings into consideration.

What Savings Can I Get From An Electric Car?
The cost of charging an electric car is around one dollar. You could fairly accurately estimate that you will spend around $3 for EVERY tank of gas you formerly used. The average person can expect to drive maybe 12 thousand miles in a year, and that would cost something close to $1200 or more in fuel, as opposed to around $100 for an electric car. And this doesn't count the 8 oil changes, 2 sets of brakes, antifreeze, transmission fluid, air filter, and other required maintenance of a gasoline motor. There are no emissions inspections. In all, your first year savings could very easily be in the neighborhood of $2,000, or more. And that is the first year.

Who Needs An Electric Car?
Anyone on a budget needs an eletric car. They are more than 10 times cheaper to own and operate than a gasoline or diesel engine, which much more than offsets the intitial purchase cost. Anyone who drives less than 20 miles to their job, or less than 1000 miles per month could drive en electric car without any inconvenience at all. Anyone interested in causing less damage to the environment should drive an electric car. Anyone who drives. Anyone who breathes would be healthier with an electric car.

Driving and Higher Mathematics

(A(x+2)-B(x))/60 = C

Looks like Greek, doesn't it? It is. But you know what? You may not be able to solve this equation on paper, but you can do it without even thinking about it at the same time as you're riding down the road flipping through your favorite channels on the radio.

I've always been amazed that people say they don't understand algebraic math, and yet they don't even hesitate to jump behind a steering wheel.

Go with me, on this. The equation above is nothing more than the formula to tell you how fast you better STOP THE FREAKIN CAR BEFORE YOU HIT THE IDIOT IN FRONT OF YOU.

See, you are car (A)lpha Romeo, and you are booking right along at x+2, but that fool in front of you, in his jacked up (B)uick is only going x (maybe because he's not burning hi-test, but that's beside the point); by golly every second you are getting closer to the point of (C)ollision.

Do you follow? The quiet little back of your brain looks at that guy's tailights getting larger and brighter, and tells your foot that it had better push down on the brake pedal, or you're gonna have an accident. Because that part of your brain DOES know how to do that funky higher math. It also has a severe dislike of pain. Putting those two items together, you are slowing down without even thinking about it, because you naturally see what is happening.

Ditto for that jug in the fridge with only half a glass of milk in it. Nobody is going to drink it. After figuring the volume of the jug, and then the amount of liquid remaining, your brain (and anyone else's who sees the jug) comes to the equation that if you drink that last tiny bit, you'll be held responsible for drinking THE WHOLE THING. Best to leave it there until some new lifeform begins to grow on the surface of the milk, thereby converting this math exercise into a real world science experiment.

Ladies, a lot of you like to pretend that algebra is too much work. But let's be realistic. How many times have you held a pair of jeans against your body, calculated the volume of space available in them, then subtracted your actual lower body mass, and came to the conclusion that they fit fine, you only have to lie down and stretch way out on the bed to get into them? If you have to cut 'em off with scissors later, then so be it. I mean, good googly woogly, your bras are already labled with A, B, C, and D. You just fill in the value. Not to mention the twisted equations you do in your pretty little heads when trying to decide the right amount of skin to display in ratio to the amount of bloatation you are feeling at the moment.

And what about that late-night snack? We've already established that no way are you touching that milk, so now all you have to do is figure out how big the empty spot in your stomach is, to better determine what size bowl you need for the Captain Crunch CrunchBerry, or whether to just eat your fill straight from the box. Errors in this equation result in the comment "Eyes were to big for my belly".

So stop thinking that algebra is hard to do. If your animal brain can do it while you are scratching your butt, the big, smart part of your brain shouldn't have a problem, either. If it does, please let me know what roads you drive on, as I want to stay well away from you when you are driving.