My History with EVs

How It All Started for Me…

Three years ago I knew nothing about cars. In fact I wasn’t even that interested in how they worked, nor had I any desire for speed, racing or all things seen as a male domain (despite having met a few women who loved talking cars). I just took them for granted and grumbled at the gas station like everyone else when the prices went up.

My sudden turn around in interest wasn’t so much brought on by rising fuel prices; it probably would never have taken off if it were it not for Stephanie Walsh who showed me how to look after my car, and who got my interest growing in the particular car I drive today. As her boyfriend said at the time, “You gotta know about cars or the guys in the shop could rip you off.” Sadly she passed away in 2007, suffering from a mental illness, the scars of which were left by childhood abuse. This web site, this entire project, is a dedication to her life, her skills and her good nature.

Growing Up With Gas

Society is a funny thing when it comes to accepting the ‘status quo’ – we grow up thinking ‘this is how it is; this is the way things are, so it must be okay.’ Everyone drives cars; and most of these are internal combustion engines. A nice little system of society driving the cogs of its own wheels with a commercial engine in tandem with the wants, desires and urgent needs of a populous caught up in the notion of ‘progress’ – progress to what no one really knows.

Desire, Belief, Fulfillment…

The ads tell us to buy-buy-buy – the latest and greatest car – “packed with the latest technology” – yet still possessing an internal combustion engine. I often wondered why car models once sold as economical compact vehicles evolved over the last 20 years into bigger gas-guzzling beasts. The name of the car would be the same (I won’t quote them here) but their body weight and size bulged with every new release – as did the fuel consumption in many cases.

Consumers became accustomed to the parameters of a new car, enjoyed its improved reliability etc, but trading in for a newer model meant they had to handle a larger vehicle brimming with new features, new technology in ABS, air bags and so on – but still having to rely on an internal combustion engine to get them around – while also trying to park their bulbous beasts!

These days I always see these large ‘economy’ cars lining up at the gas stations, spilling into the street (the cars that is) while I will drive past knowing I will never have to rely on a gas station ever again, and that I will drive a car far more reliable than ever, with fewer moving parts.

Alternatives…

An alternative to the internal combustion engine is possible right now -one that is not dictated to me by the power of persuasion. Auto companies will tell you that hybrids and hydrogen cars are the way of the future; air-compression cars are dangerous, ‘Brown’s Gas’ vehicles are not viable, that battery power is not yet good enough and EVs (electric cars) are expensive and only for the wealthy. Some may even pretend to be developing something new but state it’s a few years off. Well phooey to them. If one person can make a difference, then that person is you.

It starts by making a stand right now against the accepted convention of what we are goaded into consuming in this world, and what we are supposed to believe; people had forgotten about the GM EV1, Toyota RAV electric and so on, until ‘Who Killed the Electric Car’ was made, yet we see little of this remarkable documentary on free-to-air television.

When my car is complete, I hope to have a range of around 80 miles between charging. And with solar panels on the roof of my house, plus a 4000W inverter delivering roughly 16Amps, I’ll be thanking the sun for getting me around town.

The Past…

My distant great relative, Charles Duryea of Springfield Massachusetts, was one of the early inventors of the motor car with his brother Frank, and the first to commercially manufacture their cars, setting off the American automobile industry – and even the first to win in the first motor car race!

The Duryea brothers had also raced against Henry Ford, as my parents used to tell me when I was young; my father used to joke how Frank Duryea had ‘fiddled’ with the competing cars so they wouldn’t work. Putting such dubious rumours aside, the brothers Duryea had certainly come up with a great way to get around town.

Creative; sure, and perhaps that’s where I get my inspiration from in the family line. Ironically in the 1895 race, there were two electric vehicles competing in a race of just six vehicles which included Frank Duryea’s vehicle. It would have been interesting had Duryea pursued a venture similar to the Detroit Electric angle. Nonetheless, the internal combustion engine saw great advances in society, along with mass consumerism; driving past many ideologies and conflicts along the way, and careening into what some say is our eventual peak oil oblivion.

The Decision is Yours, Not Some Auto-maker’s…

Today it’s time to temper the drive to such a conclusion, deemed by Hubbert Peak Oil analysts as bleak; to re-look at things we have become complacently used to and have taken for granted and say to the governments, auto companies, gas giants and advertisers “Yes, that is darn stupid, I can see through the gloss – why would I want to buy that [insert brand name] car!”

I guess these ramblings are a detour from the purpose of this site which is not only to inspire you to take action, but actually do it. The ability to have your own electric car is not just in the hands of automakers, but your own desire to make it possible. It is a small start in saying to the oil companies, the car makers and advertisers, “I’ve had enough.”

Conversion can be done by anyone with a modest capital outlay, and there are many new conversion companies popping up all over the world who can handle the conversion for you. In time, such conversions will become cheaper and necessary as we go beyond the peak oil of no return. For starters, to simply learn more about how it all comes together (quite simple, actually), is a first step in changing a world from complacency and acceptance of what is thrown at us by entities of outlandish commercial intent, to one of being aware of something greater than ourselves – our community and environment.

Carmel Duryea Morris
VK2CAR