Bumper Cars as an Alternative to Electric Cars?

Imagine taking a really stupid idea, multiplying it by a few million and setting it loose on the streets of America. No, I’m not talking about hybrid SUVs (this time). A website called Low-Tech has decided that, instead of focusing on increasing the battery life of electric cars, we should just get rid of the batteries all together. How? By re-introducing the ‘bumper car’ cable system.

Treehugger has it:

“Batteries are the flaw of electric cars, and not only when considering the environment. Electric cars are not yet a reality because of the limited mileage of their ‘fuel tanks.’ At best, an electric car can drive 100 or 200 miles. After that, the car has to be plugged in for hours.” Their suggested alternative: bumper car technology, where electricity is fed to the vehicle directly from the grid.

Kris De Decker reminds us that in many countries, there are networks of trolley cars and vehicles that use overhead wires for power yet drive on the road like a conventional vehicle. ” Like electric cars, the environmental score of a trolleybus depends on the way the electricity was generated. However, a trolleybus (just like a tram or an electric train) does not face the problem of energy storage. Therefore, the problem with the electric car is not that it’s electric, but that it’s wireless.”

What a mess that would be. Aside from the obvious problems of requiring massive, expensive overhauls of our road system and being unable to pass each other on the highway, a Treehugger commenter named Ross sums up our sentiments on the issue nicely:

So they’re proposing something like one of those newfangled train machines?

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: Flickr user brainware3000

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