Why Electric Cars May Never Ignite Our Passions

The Tesla Model S

Beautiful, powerful, fun to drive, 0-60 mph in 3 seconds. So why aren't they rolling off the showroom floor like the old internal combustion engine models? In April of this year, the L.A. Times wrote an article stating that all electric vehicles comprised only .4 percent of total car sales. When you add in hybrid models (gas & electric), the ratio only increases to 2.9 percent. Energy Post stated that the all electric car will do well to achieve 10% of the global markets by 2050, due in large part to the cost of batteries, the need to install a home charging station and the short driving range. This is even adjusted for anticipated advances in battery technology. 

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The Practical Reasons - They are expensive; they have a limited range (60-120 miles, some up to 300 miles per charge); still very few charging stations nationwide, potentially leaving a driver stranded; a charge can take up to 8 hours; the batteries add significant weight and may need to be replaced once or twice during the car's lifetime, at significant cost.

The Real Reasons - If people loved the experience of driving an electric car, the practical and technological limitations would be irrelevant. The truth is, taming the electron is not nearly as sexy as taming fire! True, the electric car is actually far simpler in it's construction and function than it's internal combustion predecessor, but that is also what makes it, well..... a little boring.

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For those who are unfamiliar with what an incredible innovation the internal combustion engine, (ICE) was and is, and how magically it tames the explosive power of fuel, let's review:

How an Internal Combustion Engine Works (see the video here)

A starter cranks the motor to life, where upon cylinders begin reciprocating up and down, creating a vacuum inside the bore or cylinder chamber. That vacuum sucks in an air fuel mixture that has been created through the simultaneous and finely tuned collaboration of a fuel pump, carburetor or fuel injection system, and an air intake system. Too much air or fuel and the engine will either die or drown from excess fuel.

This fuel mixture enters the bore and is compressed by the rising cylinder. At the exact instant that its maximum compression is reached, a spark from the spark plug (or glow plug in the case of diesel motors) ignites the mixture, causing a explosion. That explosion drives the cylinder back down, where upon, that force turns the crankshaft. The rotating motion of the crankshaft is sent to the wheels via the transmission and differential, thereby moving the car forward. 

All these explosions and the movement of tightly bound metal parts of course create tremendous friction and heat, requiring the use of high viscosity lubricants and a reliable cooling system to keep the entire machine from succumbing to a catastrophic meltdown. 

From an engineering standpoint this is the ultimate Rube Goldberg contraption that carries a very high likelihood of not working. And yet it does. And unlike the almost inaudible whine of an electric motor, the sound and vibration of thousand of explosions rocketing us forward is spellbinding. The experience is also captivating on a gut level, causing us to feel that we and this wild, fire breathing beast are joined in the battle against inertia. 

But there is more going on here than just a nostalgic pang for the sound, smell and feeling of a vintage motor. Mankind has had a fundamental relationship to fire since descending from the trees and taking up shelter on land. Fire has kept us warm, cooked our meats, smelted our metal for tools and weapons, cleared forests for the progression of agriculture, been the force behind projectile arms, such as pistols and rifles. Even today, fireplaces and gas stoves are mainstays of hearth and home. Sales for candles, which give off a soothing, organic light continue to be robust, in spite of the fact that there are many more effective and efficient choices to generate light in the home and office. We even light a ritual candle in remembrance of a loved on who has passed.

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We build bonfires, campfires, we have fire pits in our yards, we celebrate special occasions with fireworks. And I am sure you can think of many more ways that fire brightens and warms our lives. 

Yes, electricity is more efficient. it's probably better for the environment and may indeed be the wave of the future. But for me and maybe many other closet lovers of the internal combustion engine, I will continue to regard hearing and feeling my marvelous, mechanically impossible magical motor roaring under the hood of my car as one of the most enduring and perpetually pleasurable experience of my life. It is a tradition passed onto me through my father, when I assumed ownership of his 1964 Buick, Riviera, which had a ridiculously powerful 465 cubic inch Wildcat Engine. I blew the doors off of Corvettes with that thing.

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Yes, the Tesla Roadster and Model S can outperform even today's most expensive and powerful sports cars in the 1/4 mile. It is indeed impressive to watch. But it would be far less exciting if it weren't competing against the a fire-breathing dragon, with the acrid smell of exhaust and burning rubber and the thought of all those individual parts moving in a kind of mechanical poetry to generate the exhilarating equivalent of 700 horses running at full speed. 

One day, probably not in my lifetime, global warming and fuel shortages will force drivers to accept self driving, electric cars. The unstoppable march of technology makes that an almost undeniable reality. But when that day comes, it will be one more primal human experience that that will have been relegated to the junk heap of progress. 

-Shane Eric Mathias