5 Replies to “Electric Cars (Swartz)”

  1. Hi Miriam!

    Your introduction here is really strong. You established the topic clearly and provided a central question through which your audience can think about the project moving forward. I loved the point you made talking about the downfall of the early electric car—the market’s lack of a high-capacity battery. It reminded me of how the straight tracks killed the swiveling bogey in England and your point fits right in with the content of the class.

    While I can’t imagine much of your audience sharing an interest in electric cars as strong as mine, I did find myself asking questions that went unanswered. I would love to hear more about early modern electrics like the General Motors EV1, and I think your statement about how electric vehicles “really took off” in the 1990s may be a hair inaccurate. From what I know, modern electrics didn’t occupy much of the automotive market in the US until 2010 or so, but it would have been interesting to hear more about growing interest in gas-electric hybrids like the Honda Insight or Toyota Prius, both of which debuted in America in 2000. Influential American manufacturer Tesla was also notably absent.

    Beyond my car-guy nitpicking, the connections you made between consumer interest in electric vehicles and cultural values of the time period were excellent. Recent interest in environmentalism, reducing our reliance on foreign oil, and our millennial affinity toward rechargeable plug-in gadgetry are all perfect explanations to the increasing popularity of electric vehicles in the modern age. Your inclusion of electric mass transportation in the U.S. and elsewhere provided great context and really rounded out your report. Great job!

  2. I liked how you began with America’s long-standing fascination with electricity as a way to demonstrate that electric power is not a passing fad, and then backing that claim up immediately by explaining electric cars have been around as long as gas powered ones. At first, I was curious if the electric car lost out market-share due to popularity of the Ford brand alone, but you quickly answered my question in the coming slides. I am still curious if the lack of high powered batteries were a problem because they couldn’t provide enough power, if they limited the car’s range, or both. I liked how you drew a connection between middle east conflicts and rises in interest in electric cars. I had no idea that electric charging lanes were being developed, that would solve the range problem, but could increase the cost of infrastructure maintenance. It’s a deceptively short time for a presentation, so I understand the need to budget your time, but it would have been interesting to discuss specific plans for future electric cars rather than projecting general growth in the industry. Two other areas that could be interesting to address are the concerns about battery disposal and government incentives to buy electric cars such as tax credits.

  3. I like how you started off setting the stage with the beginning of electric power discovery and framed the rest of your slidecast by analyzing people’s changing perceptions on electric power and why they changed over time. Whether it’s a new fascination, a good source of energy in growing factories, a cheaper alternative to the rising gas prices, fear of the Middle East or an environmental concern, people’s reasonings for investing in electric energy has shifted over time based on personal concerns or political/social/economic issues.

    I like how you’re reasoning for the recent wave of interest in electric cars was not just centered on its practicality. Electric cars have a better chance of being mass implemented t because it fits well into the current way of life. It’s common to need to charge electric powered devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops to name a few. It also helps with the current concern with space in cities. Electric charging stations take up much less space than gas stations.

    I will say I was a little confused at the part about the smart paved roads, I assume that they have the ability to charge cars that are driving on them but it wasn’t clear.

  4. Hi Miriam! Awesome job! Your presentation covers the growth and need for electric cars on a very wide scale! I like how you talk about the need for other sources of energy to power cars outside of gasoline and oil on a global scale, showing how the condition of other countries plays a part on American values. I also thought it was really cool how you connected electric cars to the devices we own today, and how rechargeable cars just seems like the next logical step because of the ease with which we are able to repower many of our technologies now.

    It might have been cool to look into how electric cars have evolved in more recent years, with the arrival of hybrid cars, and then some of the challenges that come with incorporating electric cars into our society on a technological side. However, I did enjoy seeing how the idea of electric transportation is reflected in mass transportation methods, and how new cities are being built with electric cars in mind!

    Overall, your slidecast does a great job on looking into the historical values and events that propelled the arrival of the electric car, why we’re talking about it today, and how future endeavors are being shaped by it. Well done!

  5. You had a great start to the slidecast beginning with the introduction of automobiles and electricity themselves. You answered many of the questions I had been thinking such as why electric cars were not as prominent as gasoline powered cars over time. It is interesting though that the battery technology which prevented the production of a practical motor vehicle for a consumer is not only reaching higher levels of practicality today with vehicles such as those produced by Tesla.

    Your coverage on the re-emergence of consumer electric vehicles in today’s society was a great reflection on our priorities as a country, and served as great social and cultural context. This included the economic and environmental concerns that arose in the 90’s and the beginning of the 21st century. I also liked the point that we as a society today are used to being able to charge stuff and simply put it makes sense to us. Overall great job on the slidecast and you put electric cars today into a well informed perspective.

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