Should you buy an electric car?  I ask this because I saw yesterday that GM has announced that the price of a Chevy Volt, its new electric car, will be $41,000.  What do you get for that? Well, it is likely eligible for a $7500 tax credit which is a cash rebate in affect from the government, so that drops the price to a net $33,500 and for that you get a car that can go 40 miles on a charge with a small motor inside for emergencies to charge the battery and get  you home.  You will use no gasoline, plug it in, and be totally clean for the environment... unless you count what to do with the battery of the car, which is huge and filled with acid, when it is spent.  No one has figured that out just yet.  And does paying that much money for this car outweigh, say, buying a tricked out Mini-Cooper for less and getting over 40 miles per gallon, going a lot faster a lot further?  Hmmmmm.....why is there a rebate in the first place?

Could it be that without it this car makes no sense at all?

Not to be outdone, Nissan has its Electra coming out at the same time for $33,000 - less then rebate, so it is even cheaper.  I saw this one up close.  It is a tiny car that goes, oh, about 40 miles and again the question needs to be asked, how does it stack up to say, a Toyota Corolla which is the same size, costs half as much, and goes a lot further and faster?  Hmmmm.....not too well without that rebate again!

Here is the thing; I love the planet as much as the next guy, and maybe more as an avid fisherman and outdoorsman.  But, does a little less CO2 justify a third more expense and a battery to dispose of later that is more toxic than the exhaust?  Are we all on some mad bender of technology that advocates building and using anything that we can conceive, and if doesn't make any sense, have the government subsidize it?  Hmmmm....I wonder what would happen if we just took the gloves off on oil exploration here in the continental US and Alaska?  I wonder what would happen if we allowed exploration wherever the oil was, with reasonable environmental protections, of course?

I wonder if there isn't a ton of oil out there still, no real demand for alternative energies that even in the best case scenario don't go far and can't tow a boat or trailer?  I mean, this is America; we do a lot of stuff on our roads and in our wide open spaces that require power and performance from cars to bass boats to ATVs to RVs to hauling most of our freight by 18 wheeler.  Are we really going to be converting willingly to Smart Cars and Electric Cars which are essentially big golf carts?

I wonder if we would be doing any of this without government stimulus and if we would all be better off if we let the free market dictate our choices and see what comes naturally down the road.  I mean, every dollar we divert to stuff people don't instinctively want might be better spent and invested by the people who made it in the first place and produce more goods, services, wages, and satisfaction, no?  I think yes, but what do I know?  I'm no all-knowing politician.