Over the past one hundred years we have built our society and culture around the automobile. Not only the automobile, but the gasoline powered automobile. Every aspect of our society and culture is impacted by this.

Electric cars are different from gasoline cars: they require a different mindset, different behaviors, and different intentions to use them effectively. It will be impossible to simply replace gasoline cars with electric cars; our culture and society will reject them from reflex. If we were able to start from scratch and spend one hundred years building our society and culture around electric cars instead, we would live in a very different world. However, I do support the shift to electric vehicles, but for it to happen it must be more comprehensive and inclusive.

Every morning I get coffee at a place that employs young people who are decent and hard working, but most of them cannot afford a car. Right out of the gate they are excluded from enjoying success and advancement in a society built around the car. And given that electric cars are more expensive than gas cars, there is no hope and no future for any of us.

If I were King and was faced with this problem, I would recognize that the devices that were considered simple toys have evolved and become very serious indeed. Electric bicycles, scooters, unicycles, and… whatever they call the Segway thing, have all become serious transportation methods in their own right. These devices are an excellent gateway for young people to enter the workforce. From this awareness I would encourage their use on the sides of the roadways by anyone with at least a Class S license. (This Class S license would require only passing the written test to ensure that people know the rules of the road.) And insurance would be required for anything that traveled over thirty miles per hour on its own power.

If we are serious about the future, our efforts must be comprehensive and inclusive.