Yes, there is a jolt like a lightning bolt from GM! They claim to have invented an electric car called the VOLT that should get 230 miles per gallon in city driving. The VOLT hopes to be on the market by late next year. It was actually introduced in 2007 at the Detroit auto show. The projected cost is also quite a shock...around $40,000.00. That would buy a lot of gasoline for my $18,000.00 car.
Centuries ago Solomon wrote these words in Ecclesiastes 1:9: "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." .
When I was in grade school we lived across the road from our school. It was twelve grades in four rooms. We had a library that was open in the summer. I read a lot of books. They had most all the adventure books by Victor Appleton. These books were about a young inventor named Tom Swift. I never owned a Tom Swift book until a few years ago. I have over twenty of them now. I write all this to say that one of those books is titled, "Tom Swift And His Electric Runabout". It was written about 1912. I can't tell you exactly, for the cover sheet is missing. His first book was 1910 and this was his fourth book. Ninety-seven years ago an author had a young man inventing an electric car!!! Here is a paragraph from the book: "Have you thought anything of the type of car you are going to build?', asked the aged inventor (his father) of his son. "Yes, somewhat. It will be almost of the regulation style, but with two removable seats at the rear, with curtains for protection, and a place in front for two persons...." "But what about the motors and the battery?" "They will be located under the middle of the car. " "About how far do you expect your car will go with one charging of the battery?" (Tom) "Well, if I can make it do three hundred miles I'll be satisfied, but I'm going to try for four hundred."
So there you have it. Almost a hundred years ago Tom Swift was aiming for four hundred miles
for his electric runabout. GM is aiming for forty. Ah, progress!! Solomon called it: "There is nothing new under the sun."
