Oil prices have risen all the way to the stratosphere and are showing no signs of coming down, at least not to such an extent that driving will become a pleasure again. These are the days of ‘fuel economy’ policies and as such, we should all be taking a hard look at the electric car.

Our need for a viable alternative to the ‘gas guzzlers’ is more acute now than when Al Gore showed up with his film on the ‘Global warming’. There are those who believe that the car emissions are speeding up global warming and then there are those who think that it is all rubbish. But all the arguments and counter arguments aside, the high cost of oil is untenable to bear in the long run. With limited supplies and greater demand, it is unlikely that the price of a gallon of gas is going to come down. Maybe this is the right time for all of us to look at the electric cars or the hybrid ones at least as a more secure means of transportation.

For one, an electric car will not cost that much as there is no need for any fuel. The only requirement for an electric car to move from point a to point b is an electric battery. The initial cost may be a bit high but over a period of time, the car would more than make up for the initial cost of purchase. There are quite a few companies that have already taken on the challenge to mass-produce cheap hybrid cars for the general populace, and some of them have already done so. With OPEC not budging an inch on the issue of increasing production, this may well be the only option we may have so as to limit the rise of the gas prices. It is indeed high time that we all thought of another viable means of transportation to the ones that we already have.