my golfcart is gas powered

The automobile industry is in an interesting time right now. We are at the very beginning of the electric car era. I'm most fascinated by the people who don't want to give up the old paradigm that an electric car is not feasible. Way back before the EV-1, I used to make the argument that we put an electric car on the moon! So we ought to be able to make one that we can drive on the highway. So I've been waiting for a long time for the old paradigm to die. Don't get me wrong. I love cars and the ICE. Internal Combustion Engine. That acronym has become more popular lately. I have a little airplane with a "flat head" air cooled ICE. And wife and I just bought a new used car. A pretty Nissan which she loves. With an ICE. Now with the "Volt" and the "Leaf" and the going public of "Tesla" I was of the mind that as of say, the first of the year, the paradigm has shifted and the EV, Electric Vehicle, is here to stay. Mainstream use may be 10 to 20 years away, but the concept argument is over. But I just read a comment from someone who can't let the argument go. So maybe the paradigm has life for another ten or twenty years. The comment was in reference to the Chevy Volt. The Volt has been in the news recently. Of course! It is just coming out for sale this year. But there is another reason it has been in the news. Some folks are mad at GM about the Volt. They say GM lied about the Volt and told the public that the Volt was an EV. A purely electric vehicle. And GM "lied" because the Volt is in fact a hybrid! Here we go with the nay sayers grasping at straws. Anything to make an EV sound bad so it will just go away! And we can go back to the good ole days! I love this. Almost no one has even seen one of these Volts yet some are repeating the mantra again: "The Electric Vehicle is not feasible". First of all, the Volt is an EV, not a hybrid. Second, who cares if it is a hybrid. Hybrids move motor and battery technology forward. Third, criticizing each and every new electric car and pointing out it's shortcomings will not put the genie back in the bottle and make the world give up on electric cars. Let's say you are a nay sayer and don't want electric cars. Then let's say the Volt is a big dud. Too expensive and bad technology. The electric car will still be coming and you can't stop it. So sorry. One of the big reasons the electric car is the king for the future is China. The Chinese do not want to waste time building ICE cars. They will quickly shift to electric. For the same reason they are not going to string a bunch more telephone wires! They have cell phones! The only argument left to the nay sayers is basically what the comment I saw was saying: That if you compare an efficient deisel powered car to the EV, it may have the same or maybe even less net damage to the environment and itcosts a lot less than the EV. I'm not going to take the time here going into the many reasons why that argument is feeble. The most glaring flaw in the argument is that it is short sighted. There is an irony here in that the commenter/nay- sayer I refer to was commenting in reference to the Chevy Volt. The Chevy Volt actually demonstrates technology that reminds us of the biggest advantage of using an electric motor to drive the wheels of a car. The advantage of this is that once the electric motor is driving the wheels, the designer can use any power source that he wants to power that electric motor. Batteries. Deisel. Fuel cell. Nuclear. Solar. Coal. you name it. This concept is lost to the nay sayer. And the irony here is: The Chevy Volt uses an ICE (the engine the nay sayer says must be used in cars) to power the generator that powers the motor that drives the wheels! In a way, it's an ICE vehicle, more than a hybrid. OK my rant is done. Let me just say one more thing about the Volt. Why it ain't a hybrid. The on board ICE is not to charge the batteries. You charge the batteries at night from the wall and you drive on battery electric power only. It's an EV. The ICE kicks in when you need extra power such as a hill, or going faster than 60 mph, or if you run the battery down. The 1.4 liter ICE is connected to a constant speed generator. Not the wheels. It's an EV.