Electric Cars: A Future Still in the Making

February 02, 2012

The other day I was browsing YouTube, like I frequently do. I usually ignore whatever advertisements are on the homepage, but for once there was one that caught my eye. It was advertising an all-electric vehicle for approximately $21,000. It also had a statistic that said 112 MPGe. I had no idea what this meant, but since I will be graduating from college soon and would like a new vehicle, this ad was music to my eyes. "SOLD!" I proclaimed as I clicked on the ad.

I won’t name the manufacturer to avoid brand bashing, but once I got their website up, I was almost instantly disappointed. The term MPGe stands for "Miles per Gallon Equivalent," or simply put, if the energy contained in a gallon of gas was converted to electric power, this is how far the car could go. 112 seemed like an efficient number, but I looked around more. The catch: the vehicle itself only has a range of 62 miles.

My daily commute is about 55.6 miles round trip. For people in a situation like mine, 62 miles is not enough. Once affordable electric cars can travel similar distances to gas cars, I will jump in what is sure to be a long line of buyers.

Matthew W.
Oak Grove Branch