Future Cars

I was listening to NPR the other day, and they were talking about future developments for electric cars. I know, electric cars haven't been around very long. But as the people on the radio pointed out, they have a big problem – the electric cord that lets them recharge. If you forget to plug in your car at night, you might not be able to go to work in the morning. If your employer doesn't have a charging station for you, you might not get all the way home.

Indeed, I briefly wished I could get an electric car a couple years ago, as a means of taking trips. But as I understand it, a charge would last about 4 hours, and then – if I could find a place to recharge – I'd be sitting still for 8 hours. It didn't seem like a good method of taking long trips.

One development they talked about was the 'recharging mat', which isn't a mat at all, but a piece of machinery that would set up a magnetic field that would recharge a car's battery. They seemed to think this possibility might become available within 10 years, since there is already a prototype being tested and used. That would be great! Now, after my battery is charged, could I pick up this 'mat' and take it with me? I could maybe live with extending my trip by driving for 4 hours in early morning, napping or otherwise relaxing while the car recharged, then driving another 4 hours in the evening before getting a hotel room while the car recharged again. Or better yet, what would happen if I turned this 'machine' on while it sat in my trunk or backseat, while I was driving? Would it recharge my car as the charge was being used to move the car? As long as it didn't make my head blow up via magnetic resonance, that sounds pretty cool!

Another possibility they discussed was imbedding recharging machines in the roads, each one sending a small charge to your car's battery as you drive. But that method is far from perfected, would cost an arm and a leg to get the machines into the roads.... No wonder they didn't spend much time talking about that idea.

Okay, this is not a floating car like the Jetsons had. But it's better than what I've been driving for decades. Hope I'm still around and able to afford an electric car when at least one of these bright ideas becomes reality.