My Electric Car
Thomas Edison and his Electric Car in 1913
Wikipedia “History of
the Electric Car”
I am now the proud owner of a 2025 electric vehicle from
Chevrolet, the EV Equinox. It is an SUV that replaces my former small truck,
the GM Colorado. The new car has taken some getting used to. I had assumed that
the local GM Dealer would explain the Equinox features on my purchase day and I
would drive away fully informed, chortling about my good luck in capturing one
of the early EV’s that will provide a tax deduction, courtesy of the Fed.
But first, here is a little background about electric cars. The
earliest vehicles in America were carriages or wagons powered by a horse (or
horses depending upon the size of the load and the quality of the roads). That
changed in the mid 1800’s when several inventors learned about steam engines
and batteries and how they could be used instead of horses.
An English inventor named Thomas Parker built the first
production electric car in 1884. Parker is famous for electrifying the London
underground tramways, and his EV was produced by the Elwell-Parker Company. Meanwhile,
in the U.S., chemist William Morrison in Des Moines, Iowa, applied for a patent
for an 1890 “electric carriage.” It was featured in a city parade in 1888; a
six-passenger, four-horsepower wagon with a top speed of 14 mph, which needed
to be recharged every 50 miles.
Gasoline powered cars were
having their own issues in the early-1900s. Outside of cities, there were no
paved roads – just horse paths – and gas-powered cars constantly got stuck.
Plus, they had to share those roads with horse-drawn carriages – and horses
hated the noise and stench produced by loud, smelly internal-combustion engines.
Early cars were hand-cranked – starting them was a dangerous process and the
electric starter didn’t come along until 1912. Gas-powered cars vibrated
terribly and the pollution and racket from their tailpipes was intense. By
comparison, early electric cars had no hand crank starters, didn’t smell or
pollute the air, and were extremely quiet.
By 1912, most American homes were wired for electricity,
and that helped early EVs to be accepted and adopted. At that time, 40 percent
of cars were still powered by steam, 38 percent were powered by electricity,
and only 22 per cent were gasoline-powered. That changed as many buyers of new
automobiles were seduced by the power and low cost of gasoline powered vehicles
like Henry Ford’s early cars and trucks.
Now, here we are in the early part of the 20th century,
and gasoline (or diesel) powered engines have become the principal power source
for automobiles for more than 50 years. In those 50 years automotive engineers
developed reliable gasoline powered automobiles that have added to air pollution
and helped provoke the catastrophic problem of climate change. [In
the interest of full disclosure: I was one of those automotive engineers for 37
years].
One answer to the problems provoked by the millions of
internal combustion engines on our roads are electric cars that are now being resurrected
for everyday use. Most people believe that EV’s can save money, help the
environment by eliminating air pollution and finally, offer an excellent
driving experience. I decided to climb on this wagon by purchasing an EV that I
would use while still relying on my diesel-powered truck for heavy loads and
long distant travel.
I have learned a lot in the past week that I have owned the
vehicle, and I no longer laugh about my good luck. Instead, I turn to my life
partner for advice. She and I are jointly studying the Equinox Owner’s Manual that
we downloaded – a 350-page compendium. Sadly, I have begun to learn that our
new car is smarter than me.
Here’s an example: I like using Cruise Control. Even for
short distance driving the Cruise Control helps me control the speed of the car
without my constant attention to the gas pedal. The new Equinox has an added
wrinkle on its many features that involve Cruise Control. There is not a single
version of the conventional Cruise Control, instead there are three Cruise Control
programs: the conventional one, another called adaptive Cruise Control, and a third
that I have yet to discover on the massive touch screen.
I don’t like the adaptive cruise. It is a safety feature as
it tracks the distance between me and the car immediately ahead. If I get too
close to it, my Cruise Control automatically lowers my speed until the car
ahead disappears or increases its speed thus increasing the separation distance
between me and it. On the face of it, it would seem to be a nice safety
feature. Unfortunately, the notion of having my car tell me how close or how
far away I must be from the car ahead isn’t inscribed on my musical score. I
just didn’t like it. I haven’t yet figured out how to override that feature
since it is only one of the myriad controls featured on the, here it comes, The
Infotainment Screen.
In comparison, there are any number of features on the new
car that I am growing to enjoy. The air conditioning system is one of them. Now
that winter has arrived and my garage is getting cool, the Equinox heating
system takes over to keep the occupants warm. Without asking, the car turns on
the heated steering wheel, the heated seats, and, of course, the heater’s
blower motor sends out toasty warm air from each outlet surrounding the driver
and passengers.
This feature comes at a cost. The heating system is powered
by the vehicle’s batteries. Every BTU consumed in heating reduces the number of
miles that can be traveled before recharging the vehicle is necessary. So far,
the requirement for keeping the batteries charged has not been a barrier – I
simply plug in the car each night before bedtime to recharge the batteries. The
car says ‘thank you’ when I plug in by a pleasant chirp and a brief flash of
the exterior lights.
Driving the EV has been a hoot. The smooth ride, lack of
noise, and luxurious interior makes every ride a pleasant driving experience.
The need for re-charging the batteries to obtain a charge that will satisfy my
travel needs has not been an issue for me as the plug-in feature has worked
flawlessly. There are those on the internet who complain about electric cars
based on faulty information. One writer summed up the situation succinctly, he
noted that the only people who don’t like EV’s are those who have never driven
one. So far, mine has been a hoot and I haven’t used a single gallon of gas to
get to town.
