[youtube width=”260″ height=”210″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbVGp-c83ns[/youtube]I have to confess that a trip to an automotive museum wasn’t the most exciting thing on my agenda, however, persuaded by my husband and curious to see Ford’s latest offering, I schlepped along to have a peek. It was actually pretty interesting, especially if you see cars from their very early inception – and you do. Although I can think of slightly more exciting things to dwell on than the engine of a car, I do drive one and therefore guzzle more than my fair share of fossil fuels (even with my trusty Prius). Try as I do to cycle and walk as much as possible, I still do a considerable amount of driving, and so I’ve always dreamed of a vehicle that would have zero emissions, and that would reduce my dependence on foreign fuel.
Well, it might have come along sooner than I expected! The new 2012 Ford Focus passenger car is a pretty nifty little vehicle. A full re-charge will only take 3-4 hours at home with the available 240-volt charge station. Although the price of electric cars is more than most people can afford, the cost will begin to come down considerably over the next few years.
The question of whether an electric car is really that much greener than a regular gas guzzler has often confused me because it’s still using energy and that energy has to come from somewhere. It basically all depends on how green your state is in terms of clean energy: if they get a considerable amount of their energy from nuclear or renewable energy sources, then yes – your electric car will be green all the way. If on the other hand, your state gets all it’s energy from coal powered plants, it gets a little stickier. That being said, we’re talking ZERO emissions, and when you live in a car grid-locked city like LA – the thought becomes rather attractive – or shall I say urgently attractive – of 50% of drivers gliding along in squeaky clean cars. We can only hope and in the meantime be hopeful that companies like Ford have forged forward and pioneered this incredibly user-friendly ride – I WANT ONE!!!
BTW Jay Leno was at the event, and here’s his take on electric cars.
