The First E-Car In Our Street?

 Eisenberg goes electric.

I wouldn't have noticed unless my neighbour had told me about it the other day. Did I know that  H.  had bought herself an electric car? No, I didn't but now I do.

Electric is kind of futuristic, modern, eclectic and avant-garde, isn't it? Mainstream perhaps in the metropolises of this world, but here in the hinterland of Austria, driving an electric car is still a brave novelty, one that gets talked about. Very impressed that she is doing her bit for the environment.

Is an electric car better  for the environment than our current fossil fuel ones? Who knows what sort of environmental damage occurs in order to build an electric car? Rare metals which because of its rarity might spark unrest and wars. Who gets those rare metals first? Smartphones or cars? On the opposite side is of course the disaster of fossil fuel. Hard to choose the right side and perhaps the only solution plausible is to use public transport, pedal power or foot power instead.

Now that I am aware of this newsworthy happenstance down the road, I can't help but look into her yard each time I go past it. So far I've either seen her new chariot parked under a garage or standing next to the side of her house with a long electric cable hanging out its side. Today's top up took at least three hours and for all I know is still going. Yes, the car needs electricity, another commodity that seems to be on the rare side these days.

Only yesterday our national Sunday paper had a big two page spread about the possibility of a national blackout and how to prepare for one. Gosh, been there done that but still, it gave me pause for thought when  they recommended that every household has enough food for 14 days, enough cash, medication, camping stove and candles. Yikes, two weeks seems quite a lot.

Certainly electric cars will stand idle, but then again so will our fossil fuel ones, because let's face it, without electricity nothing works. Not petrol pumps nor anything else for that matter. The best way to handle a potential blackout is to view it as a chance to have a two week camping holiday at home.

Biggi