Looks like Chevy's got a ton of Volt customers waiting in the wings. Let's hope the price is reasonable....

yes and no. I know exactly where you are comming from. But the electric grid is extremely modular. Replace a coal plant with a nuclear one and nobody really notices. Slightly different if you replace gasoline with ethanol or hydrogen. But thats not really your point.

The electricity issue is less important than you make it sound. First off, the bulk of car electricity use will be over night not durring the day time. So demand won't go up dramatically. Also, power plants have alot of excess capacity at night, juice is drasically turned down then compared to daytime. So you wouldn't need to build more plants, just get more fuel. Which brings me to my last point. ~50% of the electricity in the US is made from coal, and I think other fossil fuels account for 10% or less. The rest is nuclear, hydroelectic, and wind. So we can assume that about 60% of the electricity produced at night is derived from fossil fuels. So even then, electric cars will still produce less CO2 than gasoline cars will. Plus, more can be done to reduce pollution at a power plant than in an exhaust pipe. And it is also possible to increase the use of other sources besides fossil fuels to generate electricity, such as wind and nuclear

I still want internal combustion engines though, despite the fact that electric cars are better for the environment.

I'm willing to bet there will be a better long term solution than electricity. It's just a matter of "when".

those Tesla cars are amazing, but the fact that they can't supply the market with a more affordable, 4 passenger vehicle that doesn't necessarily have to go 0-60 in 3.5 seconds is frustrating. They offer so much potential, but few will be produced and you need to own a mint to afford one (it retails for almost $100k).

Electric propulsion sounds good til you get to....

-durability
-reliability
-safety
-cost of replacement


Most, if not all of the above tend to get shoved under the rug when it comes to discussing the pros/cons of battery powered automobiles. Funny.

+4
:word: :drinking:

id rather have both, one that is cheap to drive and one that still gets a good roar from the tailpipes...

um..... I don't like power wheels. They are kid toys.

A rebuttal:

Charging will have to be pretty fast to offset the range limitation of an electric car (in case you want to go out on a weekday evening). For the same reason (plus convenience), most people will plug the car in and start charging as soon as they get home. So most of the charging will probably happen in the evening, which is already when residential use spikes.

It is my understanding that because of natural costs and EPA fees the cleanest plants run at or near capacity while the dirtiest plants are largely idle. So unless someone builds more new power plants, any increase in peak power demand is going to be met largely with coal.

I never thought of the people that would charge their cars right after they got home. That would be a killer on the grid. Most would avoid it, simply because its cheaper overnight. But if you have to go out, then yeah you don't have much choice. The recharge times for the Tesla roadster are under 4 hours. Not great, not awful either.

Good points. However, if electric cars become popular I'm sure that you will see SUV's with solar pannels and parking garages with recharge stations. But the second half doesn't help to shift demand. Gah. Build more nuclear plants I guess. The ultimate green energy!