educating children about technology and predictions for the future can be a dangerous thing. especially if when they grow up they wonder what happened to all the developments they were promised, but which never materialised.

as a child I read Usborne science books, and the ones entitled "Electricity" and "Future cities" featured some ideas for alternative sources of power that fascinated me.
these books dated from the 70's.
the first book had a vision for a filling station of the future, which instead of supplying petrol or diesel, replaced batteries for electric cars- spent batteries slid out, and charged ones in.
the second had many proposed uses for solar panels for generating electricity and pre-warming water for central heating/washing use in homes, and use of wind power, and 2 alternate visions of city life in the future, sometime around 2020 or so-
the first if we kept living the same way we are-
petrol and diesel vehicles continued to run on the roads, and kerosene airliners in the skies.
the sky was grey with pollution, people wore smog masks to breathe, trees withered away on the grimy street.

the second if we changed our ways; large trucks were gone- liquids were moved by underground pipeline, freight by electric railway. cars and small goods vehicles were electric. airliners powered by hydrogen- the exhaust being mere water vapour. needless to say, trees and general greenery flourished and everyone looked healthier and happier.


also in Future Cities were visions of large flat screen televisions, email, online shopping, recording video onto discs, and "wristo's"- communication devices built into watches.


so now in the 21st century we have DVD recorders for £50, mobile phones the size of matchboxes, internet shopping, lcd tv's......and we're still driving around in filthy, maintenance-hungry petrol and diesel-fuelled cars, the air in busy cities is foul, respiratory illnesses are prevalent, and to top it all there's the widespread controversy over climate change.

what happened to electric cars? we're told electric cars have limited range, poor performance and are generally crap.

however, people are buying them in london- take the G-Wiz
cheap to run, exempt from the congestion charge.
45mph top speed, 40 mile range- although that will increase when lithium-ion batteries are offered for it next year.
so electric cars are rubbish? that must be why no major manufacturer is building one.

Check this out- the Toyota Rav4EV
top speed= 78 mph, maximum range= 120 miles.
great- only it was discontinued.

why? watch the excellent documentary film "Who killed the electric car?".

when the California Air Resources Board caved in due to car manufacturers' pressure and withdrew the zero emissions vehicle mandate which originally forced them to develop electric cars, all of them- the Toyota Rav4EV, Honda EVplus, Ford Ranger EV and the main vehicle featured in the film- the GM EV1, were recalled from their leases, and nearly all were crushed.


note the bit on that page-
"Whether or not Toyota wanted to continue production, it was unlikely to be able to do so, because the EV-95 battery was no longer available. Chevron had inherited control of the worldwide patent rights for the NiMH EV-95 battery when it merged with Texaco, which had purchased them from General Motors. Chevron's unit won a $30,000,000 settlement from Toyota and Panasonic, and the production line for the large NiMH batteries was closed down and dismantled. Only smaller NiMH batteries, incapable of powering an electric vehicle or plugging in, are currently allowed by Chevron-Texaco."

Texaco and Chevron, if you didn't know, are oil companies.

in the film a brilliant clip from the Naked Gun 2 1/2 is used, in which a consortium of evil businessmen is being shown various energy-saving inventions that threaten them-
solar cells, compact fluorescent tube bulbs, heat-saving glass panels- and the electric car.

"but don't worry", the evil leader tells them, "no-one will ever know about them".

Update-

news from an EV driver's blog
new developments in the production of electric goods vehicles-

Smith Edison van

Smith Newton 7.5 ton truck

130 mile range, 50mph top speed, and Sainsbury's are planning to use them.

the scene portrayed in that usborne science book is feasible after all. an electric vehicle revolution is possible.

and in a shock announcement, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner calls for an end to petrol cars, and offers ethanol as an alternative, greener fuel.

"Electrically driven vehicles are the answer in the medium to long term," says Wagoner ,"but we need to do something else in the interim."

they offered the electric car, then killed it off, and now are still dodging offering it again, even though they know it's the answer, and they have all the technology.