The continuation of my movie review will start tomorrow, but I had what I think is a brilliant way to get the U.S. to switch to all-electric vehicles. That's right, ALL-ELECTRIC... at least for personal travel. You would still need diesel for a small number of people, a small enough number to make biodiesel perfectly viable.
How does my plan work? It's so simple, I'm sure someone else has thought of it. In fact, it's so simple, I'm sure there has to be a major problem with it I just am not seeing... other than, of course, the fact that it will require people getting industries to cooperate. But let's assume we had them on our side. Here is how we truly escape our 'addiction' to oil...
1. Sell electric-only cars in urban areas at prices slightly LOWER than standard cars but with enough accessories and options to level the playing field, and higher-priced models for higher-end markets. They will have limited range, but since they are being sold competitively in urban areas where limited range is usually all you need, they will probably get a lot of interest since they won't require oil.
"But," I hear you say, "what if they want to go on a longer trip?" Aha- here is where the brilliance comes in.
2. Sell and rent a small diesel generator which can be added on as a rear attachment like a trailer. Make it easy to hook up with everything basically plug-and-play. The generator will allow people to take long trips.
3. Once the market is saturated with these, make a law saying that no NEW non-commercial vehicles can have internal combustion engines inside of the body of the car. You can argue, for one thing, that with the electric plus hitch option, people will be much safer than driving around with a tank full of fuel. The great thing about this is that only one state has to pass it for it to have an effect since the industry will have to provide for that state. Thankfully, everybody knows how to make electric cars, and the engine parts makers can switch to making the trailers.
Meanwhile, car lovers get to keep their cars, but the need for standard gas will dwindle naturally until it becomes a specialty business for collectors. You keep America's fleet of trucks and keep them running on diesel, then you mandate that all diesel fuel must be biodiesel.
Congratulations, you've freed America from oil.
So, what do you think?