A New Era For American Transport
For the first time in my life, I own a car that is not entirely gas-powered. This wasn’t entirely on purpose, though I welcome the change. My husband and I were looking to get a new van (we had already put 160,000 miles on our old van over seven years), and we were looking for pretty much the same vehicle with fewer miles.
Turns out that the same van — this time, a 2021 Toyota Sienna — only comes in hybrid technology, which was a pleasant surprise. When I climbed behind the wheel and looked at how many miles I could go on one tank (it is still a hybrid, after all), I imagined myself driving across all of Montana from east to west plus some . . . without stopping.
Cars and trucks have come a long way. When I was growing up in Monticello, most vehicles in the parking lot were small pickups, mostly Fords and Chevrolets. Cars were modest sedans such as the Toyota Civic, Ford Taurus and the occasional Saturn.
As time went by and gas prices decreased, the cars seemed to grow in size, and the predominant vehicles were then SUVs and heavy duty trucks. But gas-powered motors have not always dominated the marketplace.
Invented in the late 1800s, electric cars topped out at around 15 miles per hour and were not much more than an electrified wagon. Interestingly, by 1900, a third of all vehicles on the road were electric. By way of comparison, today, only about 1% of vehicles in the United States are fully electric (which is up from 0.1% in 2010).
Though electric cars were easier to drive and less smelly than gasoline cars, they were quickly overtaken by the Model T, which was the first mass-produced, gasoline-powered car. Because of its price, which was less than half of an electric-powered contemporary, the Model T was the affordable option. As a result, filling stations started popping up across the country, yet few places outside of cities had electricity. By the 1930s, electric cars were lost due to competition and lack of infrastructure.
In the late 1960s, a spike in the price of oil resulted in the government supporting research into electric and hybrid vehicles, and car manufacturers produced electric models; unfortunately, they had limited range and performance.
GM came out with the EV1 in 1996, which had a range of 80 miles, but the car proved too costly to mass produce, and the company discontinued the vehicle in 2001. Also, during this time, gas was cheap, so there was very little incentive to innovate or deviate from existing technology.
The beginning of today’s age of hybrid and electric vehicles started with the worldwide release of the Toyota Prius, which was in 2000. Since that time, gas prices have increased and there have been increasing environment and market-based concerns about greenhouse gas emissions.
Car manufacturers have responded. Tesla entered the market in 2006. The Chevy Bolt and Nissan LEAF were released in 2010.
Then there was the issue of infrastructure: though filling stations dot the United States landscape, electric charging stations were necessary.
Today, there are over 40,000 public charging stations in the United States, with approximately 1,500 in Georgia. There are none in Monticello and Jasper County, though there is one in Gray, Covington, and Madison and several in Forsyth (probably because it is on I-75).
United States manufacturers already in the hybrid and electric car and truck business include GM (GMC and Chevrolet), Stellantis (Chrysler), Ford and Tesla. Even a plug-in Jeep Wrangler will be available by the end of this year. An electric Ford F-150 will start production next year. Car companies are making major shifts in production to focus on electric by 2025.
My experience with a hybrid has been entirely positive. In fact, I can’t imagine going back. I was talking to a friend who owns a Prius, and she said that her husband once ran out of gas and was able to make it home on the electric charge of the battery. Though I’m sure that isn’t the ideal situation, it is still yet another bonus.
Hybrid and electric vehicles are finally having their day. The technology (power and range) and infrastructure (charging stations) are in place, and car manufacturers are not looking back.
Nor am I.