Not So Far

A tidbit of 40,000-year-old archaeology news, coupled with a little virtual digging of my own, got me thinking recently that the electric car could soon be back from the dead—this time, for good.

European scientists who had examined the isotopic makeup of an ancient tooth found in Greece announced in February they’d found the first direct evidence that Neanderthals ranged 20 or more kilometers (12-plus miles) over the course of their lifetimes. Previously, some had suggested the dead-end species were nothing but homebodies.

I’m not sure why we should be surprised to learn the Neanderthals got around. After all, our cousins-of-the-prominent-brow presumably could have easily covered such a distance in a day’s walking. Why shouldn’t we assume the Neanderthals traveled at least that far—and more?

Then again, a similar assumption—this one about how far we modern-day humans travel—helped bury the electric car, including the EV1 from General Motors. The car’s ability to go just 80 to 160 kilometers (50 to 100 miles) before needing a recharge put a stake in its battery-powered heart. Drivers just weren’t comfortable with that limited range, GM said in pulling the car from the market.

You can’t argue with that—or can you? If we can profess surprise at learning how much ground the Neanderthals covered then maybe we should brace ourselves to learn how little we do.

I got digging and tracked down the most recent National Household Travel Survey, which provides a lot more detailed data than can any old molar. The latest survey, released in 2004, shows U.S. drivers travel on average just 53 kilometers (33 miles) a day. That’s certainly more than your average Neanderthal covered in day’s shuffle. But it’s clearly less, by a comfortable margin, than what an electric car like the EV1 could cover before it ran out of juice.

Now, if we could get over being surprised about how much—or little—we really travel in our everyday lives, it won’t bring back the Neanderthals. But I think it could restore the electric car to life, albeit with a major tweak that would provide the range—and peace of mind—that drivers clearly crave. With gas prices at record highs, and global warming a major concern, more electric cars could be a good thing.

Even though a car than runs on gasoline can travel, say, 600 kilometers (375 miles) on a full tank, the federal data show we rarely go so far in any one fell swoop. Instead, on an average day of driving, we make three or so car trips, each just 16 kilometers (10 miles) or so in length.

Yet we still demand the option of traveling even farther should we be so inspired (or compelled). That’s an important point. Even if the limited range of an electric car more than adequately covers our daily driving needs, it remains severely inadequate when it comes to the—how should I say it?—hypothetical driving we just might do.

That could soon change.

Carmakers are promising to debut a new generation of electric cars, called plug-in hybrids, as early as 2010. The cars will be hybrids, like Toyota’s Prius, in pairing a battery-powered electric motor with a traditional gas- (or diesel-) burning internal combustion engine. What’s different is the batteries are rechargeable—hence the “plug-in” part.

The cars should be able to travel in all-electric mode for an estimated 65 or so kilometers (roughly 40 miles). As the batteries dwindle, it’s back home for a recharge. Or, should you want or need to travel even farther, you can let the internal combustion engine take over.

In that mode, a full tank of gas can keep things rolling for hundreds of kilometers (miles) more. That should provide the range and comfort that drivers demand—and that older, purely electric cars just couldn’t offer. But I have a suspicion those gas tanks will go largely untapped.

I bet when folks start driving their plug-in hybrids, they’ll find battery power alone suffices most days (as long as they keep those batteries topped off). That’ll cut gas consumption and tailpipe emissions.

And maybe we’ll finally get over being surprised by what science tells us: Even though we’ve come a long way since the days of the Neanderthals, most days we just don’t go that far.