I’ve been thinking about getting a moped again — well, a scooter — like I had when I lived in downtown DC. You see, all of my trips are very short, and this is horribly inefficient even with a hybrid car. Trips to the grocery store, the post office, the bank and library are taking their toll, this month my car averaged about 35mpg, where it usually averages 46. And the gas station on the corner is up to $3.16 for the cheap stuff.
I’ve been looking around at Lepton electric scooters, they’re basically the same as a Vespa-type scooter, but they plug in and run on batteries, going about 30 miles at 30mph. I can probably pick one up used between $1,000-$1,900. But then come the cons to the deal: I’d still have to register it like a car in California. I’d have to get a motorcycle endorsement on my driver license. I’d have to get more insurance. And unlike a gas-powered moped, if this one runs out of juice I’ll be stuck unless someone lets me plug it in for an hour.
Of course, this is the biggest drawback to alternative energy vehicles, this lack of infrastructure. You’re almost always safe driving something that uses gas, since there are stations everywhere and if not, you can always get AAA to bring you a gallon. But what do you do if your electric vehicle runs down and you’re nowhere near home? What if you’re driving a hydrogen-powered car? I searched for hydrogen stations in California, which boasts that it has many, and discovered one here in the South Bay — in the VTA bus lot. (They have a few fuel cell buses here.) How convenient, I thought… but then I discovered that it is not open to the public.
I just don’t see how we will ever get out of our petroleum-based mess without huge, enormous, moon-mission-style money to create an infrastructure that allows it to get off the ground. I wish we could get a president and Congress in there that would look at it the same way that the moon landing was perceived. And really, what did moon missions get us other than Tang and eventually a waste-of-money space station and useless shuttle program? Wouldn’t it be far better, long term, to spend enormous sums of money to develop and deploy new sources of energy; a program that would have amazing and wonderful side effects: loss of interest or strategic need for kowtowing and war in the middle east… cleaner air… more stable fuel prices… and don’t forget how quiet highways would be if all the vehicles were no longer running on internal combustion engines!
Still, we’d be using plenty of oil for everything else — plastic bottles for expensive water… fuel for overcrowded jet planes… but can you imagine the impact if we no longer used gasoline for our everyday transportation needs?
And since the U.S. is now such an old, conservative, stodgy, and uninnovative country, I challenge those developing nations like China and India to make a drastic move now and stop letting all those gas-guzzling, polluting cars take hold. Use that U.S. cash flowing into your countries to build an energy infrastructure that we can import and give you even more cash for.
‘Cos that’s the American Way.
