Running Out of Energy

What is wrong with this car? Perhaps you have asked the question yourself. Most of us have, at one time or another.

Several years ago now, Suzanne and I were pulling off 465 in Indianapolis off Keystone Avenue. We were talking away about something, I know not what. Suddenly, the SUV rolled to a stop. Fortunately, I was able to get it over to the side. We wondered what happened, until I looked down at the gas gage. Yes, I was driving. It was empty. We were out of gas. My first reaction was embarrassment. It had never happened to me before. We were very fortunate in that a very nice fellow traveler saw what happened. She and eventually her husband spend a couple of hours helping us get back on the road.

Would it not be great if we never had to worry about putting gas in our tanks?

That is part of the promise of electric cars, vehicles that have the advantages of mechanical simplicity, huge acceleration and quiet running. Of course, they still need to be plugged in, and the recharge can take hours. Very inconvenient. Engineers worked to shorten the time it takes to recharge batteries -- from hours to minutes. Paul Braun and his colleagues at the University of Illinois have succeeded in building prototype batteries that can be recharged in just two minutes. That is about the time you spend filling your tank with gas.

Here is the challenge, according to The Economist magazine (March 26, 2011): "To take advantage of fast-charging batteries, a car's electrics will have to be hardened up to cope with the huge amperage involved." Today's electric cars simply cannot handle such a strong current of electrical energy. They need to be hardened up -- strengthened -- to handle such a highly charged system. If such changes can be made, quick-charge batteries will make electric cars a highly desirable form of transportation -- simple, fast and silent. They may even push the old-fashioned internal combustion engine off the road forever.

            Of course, you will still have to watch the dashboard. Running out of electricity is every bit as easy as running out of gas.
            One way to view the biblical notion of the Spirit (Holy Spirit, Spirit of God) is that God is the source of life-giving energy we need. Life has its ups and downs, twists and turns, that can leave us weary. That means, of course, that we need to develop our time with God. As individuals, we need energy as well to live our lives. Most of us do not the miss the time for physical nourishment. As the saying goes, call me anything, but do not call me late for supper. Most of us make sure we have made time for friends and family. We are social creatures, after all. However, when it comes to seeing the feeding of mind and soul as important, we tend to be less diligent. We need to remember that when we are weak, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” (Romans 8:26).