Still, despite my car's and my compatibility, we will always have one problem: gas. (Her gas, not mine.) Experts tell me at some point, there will no longer be gas available for me to fill up my car. Okay, this might not every happen in my lifetime, but that's no excuse to not be forward thinking. Plus, if nothing else, I can definitely attest to the pain I felt this summer as I was filling up each week.
That's why I think electric cars are so cool. They appear to be much better for the environment, and they use a readily available resource for power.
David Pogue seems pretty excited about electric cars, too. This past week in the New York Times, he wrote about Better Place, which he calls "a radical, overarching plan to replace the world's gas cars with electric ones--really, really quickly." (You can also watch a video of David's interview with Better Place's chief executive Shai Agassi.)
According to Pogue's interview, Better Place has set up an electric car system unlike any other before it. Agassi says in the interview that his car model differs in two distinct ways. First, the battery is removable, so you can change out the battery before/during long trips instead of waiting for the car to charge forever. Secondly, the electric car system is supposedly cheaper than a gasoline car. Cheaper? Where do I sign up?
Another interesting component of Agassi's system is that people don't buy the batteries, but they purchase the car and miles, just like you buy minutes from a cell phone provider. Now that's crazy!
Despite the apparent wackiness of the plan, it seems to be catching on. Six countries, including Denmark, Israel, Canada and Australia, and two states, Hawaii and California, have all started building infrastructure for the cars. So who knows, maybe we all will be driving electric cars in five years.
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