'Hey Bill Nye, Should I Give Up My Love of Classic Cars for Electric Ones?' #TuesdaysWithBill

'Hey Bill Nye, Should I Give Up My Love of Classic Cars for Electric Ones?'

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Having built a career in television and entertainment, Bill Nye is a master at meeting his audience where they are. Through the 1990s, his television program Bill Nye the Science Guy presented science and engineering in a fun, zany way to young people. Nye takes the same approach with so-called gearheads who are nostalgic for classic cars like the Mustang. Beyond the environmental impact of fossil fuel-burning vehicles, electric cars simply offer a better driving experience — not only in terms of comfort, but also in performance.

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BILL NYE, THE SCIENCE GUY:

Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life. In Seattle Nye began to combine his love of science with his flair for comedy, when he won the Steve Martin look-alike contest and developed dual careers as an engineer by day and a stand-up comic by night. Nye then quit his day engineering day job and made the transition to a night job as a comedy writer and performer on Seattle's home-grown ensemble comedy show “Almost Live." This is where “Bill Nye the Science Guy®" was born. The show appeared before Saturday Night Live and later on Comedy Central, originating at KING-TV, Seattle's NBC affiliate. While working on the Science Guy show, Nye won seven national Emmy Awards for writing, performing, and producing. The show won 18 Emmys in five years. In between creating the shows, he wrote five children's books about science, including his latest title, “Bill Nye's Great Big Book of Tiny Germs." Nye is the host of three currently-running television series. “The 100 Greatest Discoveries" airs on the Science Channel. “The Eyes of Nye" airs on PBS stations across the country. Bill's latest project is hosting a show on Planet Green called “Stuff Happens." It's about environmentally responsible choices that consumers can make as they go about their day and their shopping. Also, you'll see Nye in his good-natured rivalry with his neighbor Ed Begley. They compete to see who can save the most energy and produce the smallest carbon footprint. Nye has 4,000 watts of solar power and a solar-boosted hot water system. There's also the low water use garden and underground watering system. It's fun for him; he's an engineer with an energy conservation hobby. Nye is currently the Executive Director of The Planetary Society, the world's largest space interest organization.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Elijah Bender: Hi Bill. My name is Elijah Bender. I'm a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and I'm a huge car enthusiast. As you can see, I have my Mustang shirt on here. Do you think in the future building classic cars and performance engines will be something that we just have to give up, or is there hope for gearheads like me who also want to be environmentally responsible? Are things like ethanol and other biofuels viable options? Thank you.

Bill Nye: Here's what I think is going to happen, my gearhead friend: Once you have access to a high-performance electric vehicle, you will never go back to gas-powered vehicles. Ethanol, schmethanol. Electric cars are just much more fun. They have so much more torque than gas-powered cars. They have maximum torque at zero. Now I can tell you I'm a guy of a certain age and my cousin had a Mustang. He had a '65 Mustang: the 289-cubic-inch engine. It's a very reliable engine. It's okay. It's an old car. It doesn't steer. It doesn't stop. The seats are hard. It's a rough ride. After you have an electric car, you just don't want anything to do with those. You'll see. Now you're getting your degree in history, but it doesn't take that much, if you're into cars and the mechanisms that run the valve lifters — those cars had pushrods. I mean they didn't have overhead cams, those old cars. What are you talking about? If you can understand the mechanisms in a traditional gas-powered engine from the muscle car area era, let's say, you'll have no trouble understanding the electric vehicles and electric motors. In the same way you have to be respectful of the energy in a gas tank, you will be respectful of the electricity in a big battery and you will figure it out man. I'm telling you.....

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