The electric car wars between Nissan and Chevy are starting to heat up, as evidenced by Nissan latest video, which begs the question, “what if everything ran on gas?” The video is amusing, complete with scenes of a smoke belching alarm clock, a two stroke hair dryer and an office gasoline dispenser to top off your laptop. There’s the requisite amount of choking on exhaust fumes, and even a greasy computer and mouse to remind us that gas is dirty, and that we should feel guilty for using it to destroy the environment. Watch the controversial video below.
Maybe a better question to ask is “what if everything in the video had the same indeterminate battery life as the Leaf?” How would you like to own an alarm clock that occasionally ran out of battery power on hot or cold days, before it woke you up? Wouldn’t a computer that ran out of power every 5,000 to 7,000 keystrokes be fun, especially if it died while you were mid-spreadsheet? And let’s not forget the joys of forgetting to recharge your microwave, forcing you to cook that pot pie in the oven and wait half an hour to eat (assuming you remembered to recharge your oven, that is).
As for the whole “clean versus dirty” argument, let’s be clear about one thing: very little electricity in the United States is produced by “clean” methods such as wind power or hydroelectric generation. Your “environmentally friendly” EV is really powered by coal, or oil, or even trash in some municipalities. Maybe it’s nuclear powered, which begs the question of what happens to fuel rods when they’re used up? Would you want them buried in your backyard, or even the next town over?
As I see it, Nissan is living in a glass house, and this video is their attempt at throwing stones. Nothing good ever comes out of that.
