Interest in electric cars was rekindled in the 1970s as energy prices began to soar to new heights. One of the new battery-powered cars that hit the market in the late 1970s was the Electrek Uncar, produced by Unique Mobility out of Englewood, Colorado. According to early 1980s Department of Energy data, the Electrek 2 2 wore a fiberglass and polycarbonate body, but was also available in hatchback form. Its design featured an enclosed battery tunnel running up the center of the vehicle, with a motor compartment almost completely enclosed on the underside. Propulsion came via 16 6-volt lead acid batteries, feeding a 32 hp General Electric motor via a Soleq controller. Regenerative braking was also a feature, and the car was designed to be recharged using a standard 110-volt household outlet. The listed top speed was 75mph, with a 0-30 of 9 seconds and an advertised cruising range of 100 miles at 30 MPH.
Beginning July 19, 2021, Californian automotive enthusiasts have yet another item to add to an ever-expanding list of dos and don'ts (mostly don'ts) regarding their mandatory biennial visits to certified smog facilities. Up to this point, if your car was armed with modified programming (software) on its ECU (Engine Control Unit), and as long as you passed a smog test, no one would raise an eyebrow. Come Monday, however, if your car's ECU program isn't verified as legal by a California Air Resources Board (C.A.R.B.) Executive Order, then your car won't pass smog, regardless of its emissions output
During that era of good times, Studebaker built a giant monument shaped with 8,000 pine trees. From the air, anyone flying overhead could see the trees spelled out “Studebaker" and it remains one of the largest living advertisements in the world. More than 80 years later, those trees are still standing and airplanes circling down to the South Bend airport will spot it plainly.?
The 2035 target is part of the country's plan to achieve a net-zero emissions economy by 2050, with the federal government already offering a $5000 subsidy for purchases of EVs priced under $55,000, with the province of Quebec adding a maximum of $8000 on top of that federal subsidy. In 2020 the government of Quebec announced an identical plan to phase out the sales of gas and diesel passenger models in the province by 2035, and aims for 22% of new car sales to be zero-emission far sooner, by 2025.
I think this analysis ignores that most coal power plants are located in remote areas, often on high ridges outside of polluted air basins unlike gasoline automobiles. Moreover, natural gas power plants put far fewer traditional emissions than gasoline engines on a per mile basis. Electric cars don't have tailpipe emissions.
I think the national obsession over climate change is unhealthy, when we should be more concerned about controlling urban emissions in air basins that significantly out of compliance. Climate change emissions have the lowest impact on the environment compared to nearly any other form of pollution.