American Elephants


A green dream, or an uncomfortable metaphor? by The Elephant's Child
January 18, 2009, 11:03 pm
Filed under: Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Science/Technology | Tags: , ,

In a previous post, I wrote about California’s required new “green sticker” for cars, enumerating the “clean energy” qualities of each new car.  The star, a perfect 10 points, was the Tesla Roadster.  Pretty sexy, isn’t it?  Only $109,000.

Jeremy Clarkson, the car guy for the London Times, recently got a battery-powered Tesla Roadster to test.

The company claimed it could run, even if driven briskly, for 200 miles, but after just a morning the battery power was down to 20% and we realized that it would not have enough juice for all the shots we needed.

Happily, the company had brought a second car along, so we switched to that.  But after a while its motor began to overheat.  And so, even though the first was not fully charged, we unplugged it — only to find that its brakes weren’t working properly.

The Democrat Congress is pretty excited about electric cars.  The Chevy Volt is purely Utopian — it will go 40 miles when charged — and only costs $4o,ooo.  Congress is prepared to demand that Detroit “go green.” But the American people want a car that is dependable, doesn’t cost too much, and will keep their families safe. Not one that will get a meaningless green sticker.

Hmn.  Do you think this could be a metaphor?


1 Comment so far
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By a metaphor are you referring to the overheating part or the lack of enduring energy?
Excellent point;
Mervi

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Comment by Mervi




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