Note: For more from Alexandra, visit the "Ask Alexandra" tab on the Chevrolet Volt Facebook page.

Today I was dismayed to see individually wrapped potatoes and yams at my local supermarket. “Individually wrapped potatoes?” I thought, “What is the world coming to?”

Perhaps I should not be so disgusted with the single plastic wrapped potato, as I sneered when I first saw pre-washed romaine lettuce hearts in a package that I now buy. As lame as it sounds, they are easier to store in the fridge. Humans are highly adaptable, so we get used to the things that may at first anger or annoy us, but later come to accept. At first I was indignant to be made to watch commercials in the movie theater and would, to Ian’s embarrassment, hiss loudly when they appeared onscreen, but they now hardly register with me (to my husband’s relief).

I notice this with gasoline cars. At the turn of the 19th century, internal combustion engines were considered noisy, smelly and hard to start compared to their battery counterparts. Women especially preferred the electric car, but with the introduction of the self-starting car, a big negative to gas cars was eliminated and suddenly it was all about their benefits: gasoline was cheap and gas cars could go farther with faster refueling. We now completely accept unceasing traffic noise in the background of our every waking moment and smelly, poisonous gases coming out of a tailpipe.

So perhaps it is just human nature to focus on the negatives of electric cars. They are a new concept to most Americans, and therefore their limitations loom large. Cancer from tailpipe emissions, oil wars, $4/ gallon gas and noise pollution are the devil we know. Amazingly complaints like “You mean it takes 4 hours to charge?  How much does the battery cost to replace?  What if you want to drive to Vegas?” seem much bigger problems in comparison. Even so, each time I hear someone squinch up their face in disapproval over battery range, I want to yell  “WHAT ABOUT YOUR GAS GUZZLER AND AIR POLLUTION,  NOISE POLLUTION, OIL SPILLS AND PEAK OIL?!”  Not to mention the $90 billion a year the United States spends securing and transporting oil from the Mideast, but those issues hardly come up on our radar. We just want to know if we can drive to Vegas in a plug-in car.

Humans have survived by being highly adaptable. Ironically, in the case of gasoline, our adaptablilty (read: complacency) is literally the death of us.

In a few months, I probably won’t flinch at individually wrapped yams, but if you see me buying one right now please stop me.

Alexandra Paul is a longtime electric vehicle advocate, actress and former EV1 driver. She is working with Chevrolet to educate consumers about EVs and the Volt. Full disclosure, Chevrolet is paying her for her time, but her opinions will always be hers.

Comments (10)

Name

Email

Comment smaller | bigger