globeandmail.com: Electric car? Zzzt

Toronto -- Avner Mandelman may be right that a company to build an all-electric car is a great investment opportunity, but he hasn't convinced me (My Money's On China To Produce World-Changing Electric Car - Report on Business, April 25). But would I pay $20,000 or so for a vehicle that won't go very far, won't carry very much, won't keep me cool on hot days, won't keep me warm on cool days and will barely go anywhere in really cold weather? The answer is: only as a second car.

But I don't want a second car. I've already got a $500 bicycle for trips where I don't need the comforts of my petroleum-powered car.

Who Killed the Electric Car

The movie ignores some of the electric car's inherent problems. For example, the heater. In a gasoline driven car, waste heat from the cooling system is used for heating, hence there's little loss of efficiency when running the heater. In the electric car, the heater is powered by the battery. Air conditioning is also problematic. Electric cars don't have to idle; they can be completely shut off when caught in traffic jams or at stop lights, that is except for heat or air conditioning. Get caught in a traffic jam and the electric car driver might have to turn off the heater or AC unit to make it home.