Electrifying Madison: is it the new ethanol?

July 1, 6:05 PMMadison Green Living ExaminerShelly Rothman

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Madison Green Living Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Our future?                                                              Photo: Ildar Sagdejev

Madison is leading the country once again.  Our utility company, Madison Gas and Electric (MG&E) has purchased six electric car charging stations for the city.  While the technology is not new it will be the first network in the United States from an electric utility company.  What’s even better is that the new charging stations will be powered by wind eliminating the car’s carbon emissions almost entirely.

One station is in place at the MG&E plant on E. Main Street already and the entire network is expected to be functional by the beginning of next year.  This will allow electric car drivers to recharge while out and about in the city, not only at home, and hopefully encourage an electric car market in Madison.  The plan is to also make the network interactive in the way that when the cars are being charged during hours of peak demand, the car will not only stop charging but revert electricity back to the grid.  Also, according to the Wisconsin State Journal, MG&E and Wisconsin Public Power of Sun Prairie set an example and pumped up their fleets with plug-in cars.

Electric cars are not without faults.  Public car chargers are very rare anywhere in the world, an inconvenience to purchasing these vehicles. They tend to only get 40 miles per charge and a full charge takes about 4 or 5 hours.  MG&E hopes to cut that time in half by doubling the voltage of their new chargers but that option will not be available right away.  The car’s battery also requires lithium, which is controversial because the main source in the world is Bolivia, not exactly an American ally, and just how much of it remains in the world is unknown.  We don’t want to become dependent on another disappearing resource.

There is some worry as well that electric cars will become the new ethanol; a rushed, poorly thought-out attempt to offset our country’s carbon emissions.  Under the government’s thumb, the big, bankrupt American automakers are being pushed by the new administration to build, promote, and get these cars into showrooms ASAP.  “For now, the goal is simply to convince motorists to plug in”, said Nancy Gioia, Ford's director of hybrid vehicle programs.  This sounds like a typical American “act now, think later” approach which has proven disastrous in the past.

A solution: drop cars all together.  Yes, easier said than done, but all this federal money could go towards mass transit systems like local commuter or national high-speed trains.  Or, try a bike.   Life has changed around the automobile, it can change back.
 

Good job, Madison but we still have a ways to go.