I Sing The Body Electric

Let me start off by saying this: if an electric car runs and performs anything like my electric lawnmower, then they should be wonderful, dependable machines. I've had my little mower for something like eight years and it just keeps going and going and going. So, that being said, I now say this: I am 100% pro electric automobiles. That is a very popular stance to take these days. But not if you are a "car guy". And I am.

I love cars. I love looking at them and driving them. I like watching them race (except for NASCAR, that it crap). I like Indy cars, rally cars, hot rods, muscle cars, big luxury models and even those jet powered pseudo car things that break the sound barrier out on the salt flats. If I were a rich man (da da dadda dadda da), I would have a bunch of them. If I were a better mechanic I would love working on them. But mostly I love driving them. I love the sound of a big motor revving and rumbling, a huge four barrel carb sucking in gas like water through a hose.

I come by all this honestly. My Dad is a car guy. He's been driving them and working on them for nearly 60 years. He knows them inside and out and around the sides. He's also a bike guy and I like bikes too but I'm a little scared of them. Mostly because he told me to be.

So how can such a die hard car guy say he is for electric cars? It isn't easy but I think I can justify it. One reason, and it isn't a small one, is that I think we kind of have to be for the electric car. Like it or not we are going to run out of gas. So switching to electric as soon as we can will preserve what we have left for using in our old cars, which should be only now and then. Also the electric cars have started to get much better. The guys at Tesla have proven that an electric car can be fast and cool. Toyota, despite other troubles, have proved an eclectic car can be successful. And Honda have proven an electric car can be boring. And face it, some people love boring cars. Even more so if it gets 50 MPG.

But the car guys and a lot of other people won't buy into the electric car until we start racing them. Racing is what has driven the automotive industry since it's start. It gets people excited and pushes technology. So once we start seeing a real organized electric car racing scene, then I think a lot more people will be on board. It will take some getting used to. The guy will yell "Gentlemen, start your engines" and you won't hear anything. But I think it will be good in the long run. People will see that electric cars can be fast, fun, dependable and smart. Like my lawnmower. Oh, and they are alot quieter and they smell better. If you're into that sort of thing.