As his car warmed up that morning, Alan Wilson stared with amazement at his gas
gauge. “I can’t believe it’s on ‘EMPTY’ again,” he ranted. “I just
spent twenty bucks last weekend!” Alan sped away from his home toward the gas
station before he had to be at work that morning only to find out that the gas
prices had been raised again. “Why don’t I just burn my money?” he said
facetiously. Alan grabbed the nozzle and began the weekly task of filling up the
gas tank on his 1970 Ford Maverick with a 302 and dual exhaust. “I need to go
buy one of those new Styrofoam pieces of junk that get thirty miles to the
gallon,” he mumbled to himself. Since the invention of the car, people have
had to go through this ordeal because we have no choice. It has been over eighty
years, and we are still using gasoline as the primary source of power for our
vehicles. With all of the new technology created over these years, shouldn’t
we have thought of something better by now? The truth is that we have.
Electricity is a much cleaner, more efficient form of power that could be put to
use, but it hasn’t (Bradley 444). Is there any particular reason? Of course!
Somebody will lose money. The idea of an electric car has been embedded in the
mind of people for countless years. Whether it be by a writer, an inventor, or a
scientist, it has been thought about for some time. Not only would this idea be
safer for the environment, it would save billions of people money.
Unfortunately, gas companies haven’t preferred these ideas over losing
millions of dollars in sales. Although it may not be true, many
environmentalists believe that car manufacturers have been bought off by the gas
companies in order to keep their millions flowing in (Sullivan 2). How could an
idea perfected years ago not have caught on by now? The first working electric
car was created in the 1800’s before the first gas-powered car. It wasn’t
perfected until the 1970’s so gasoline took its place in the mean time and we
haven’t changed back until now (Ramo 24). In the past month or two, a few car
companies have begun to put half-electric half-gas powered cars on the market (Ramo
25). The work of fiction is slowly becoming a reality. This may be a form of
compromise between the people of the world and the gasoline companies. These
cars are well designed. The gasoline helps the cars get up to speed and with
hills, while the numerous batteries keep the car going when they are up to speed
and not on a hill. They run smoothly and the best part is that a car will get
between eighty and ninety miles to the gallon (Sullivan 3). It is safe to say
that most people would enjoy the idea of filling up their gas tanks once a
month. Plus, Gasoline companies will not be put out of business for two reasons:
they will still make money on the full gas-powered vehicles, and they will still
get money from these new “electri-gas” cars (Ramo 25). What is wrong with a
fully electric car though? For one, they only travel at a top speed of 65 MPH
for 2 hours. After the 2 hours, the batteries need to be recharged. With the
gas-electric cars, a special generator charges up the batteries while the car is
using gas (Bradley 445). So every time the car is getting up to speed or pulling
up a hill, the batteries are being charged by the generator. There is virtually
no way to run out of power on these cars provided the gas tank is kept full, and
with only needing to fill up the tank once a month, this should be no problem
for the average person. To his amazement, Jerry looked down at his gas gauge and
saw the needle almost to the ‘E.’ “Wow, I haven’t seen that in almost 5
months,” he smirked to his wife. The brand new blue electric gas car coasted
into the local Chevron right next to a certain Ford Maverick. Alan could do
nothing but stare with jealous eyes knowing exactly how great Jerry’s gas
mileage had to be with that new car. Both men finished filling their tanks and
left. They never saw each other again for obvious reasons. Imagine owning one of
these gas electric vehicles, and think about how much easier it would be to pull
up to that gas pump knowing that you will not be there again for at lease a
couple months. Eighty miles to the gallon; sounds nice doesn’t it? In ten
years or so, when these new vehicles are more common, almost everyone that goes
to the gas station will no longer have anything to fear.