I'm considering buying an electric vehicle, , WHEN , , , it has a battery the size of a walnut , goes 500 miles on a charge , and will charge in a hour from a solar collector on a dark snowy night.

Otherwise , speed up the development of the O.P.O.C. engine that is better in every way to what  an electric powered vehicle can provide.

WOW-someone says a Tesla will go 300 miles on a charge. Have you checked their MSRP?

Besides, I love the roar of a big carbon emitting turbocharged engine with a 0-60 in under 4 seconds and a top speed of 200. The very idea of subsidizing some weanie in an electric car is repulsive and hopefully this whole scam collapses quickly. See my early post.

It wont be long before we have batteries to replace the coal and nat gas fired power plants to operate those charging stations.

HA

$1.2 billion in giveaways to force battery technology into the marketplace, Tesla, Fisker, A123, the volt etc. Result-the battery makers are bankrupt, the cars arent selling, Boeing potentially about to lose BILLIONS due to trying to incorporate the same lithium ion technology into their 787 Dreamliner, all currently grounded, due to fires in the APU and knowing that Fisker, Tesla and the Volt all had fires and we are still throwing money at the well connected to appease the delusional poiticians and so called greenies to buy votes.

current battery technology does not, and will not work in anything effeciently much bigger than a camera or flashlight. Even laptops and I phones had fires.

Even the greenies dont realize the mining of lithium creates vastly more air polutants and toxins than fossil fuels.

In the end, although we may be broke as a nation, opps, we are, science will triumph and idealogues that currently populate the DOE and this admin will pass on not having had to account for their folly in the face of scientific validation that their agenda will ultimately fail, but who can pass up a chance to re distribute some more of my/your wealth.

Answer to “someone”….

In my area (Dominion Electric) the electricity is produced using 38% coal, 42% nuclear, 17% natural gas, 2% renewables, 1% oil. 

The latest turbine generators are about ~35% efficient in converting the heat energy into electricity.

 The small internal combustion engine in a car or truck is only about ~15% in converting heat energy to wheel rotation.

An electric motor is ~ 80% efficient in converting electric energy to wheel rotation.

Several studies have been done showing that:

from coal mining to generator to high voltage transmission to battery to electric motor to wheels  is a more energy efficient system than:  

from oil well pumping to transportation to refiner to transportation to gas tank to engine to wheels    

(the coal is mined just a few miles from where it is used. Oil usually travels hundreds or thousands of miles)

Electricity can be produced from almost any energy source.  There are dozens  of ways to make electricity, there is only one way to get gasoline.

Currently, and likely for many years to come, about one-half of the oil we use will be imported from foreign producers.  Electricity is almost 100% USA produced (a small amount in the northeast comes from Canada).

I drive a Volt.  I now have traveled over 17,000 miles using 61 gallons of gasoline (and USA produced electricity). Electricity is much cheaper than gasoline.

I charge up every night when the power company has a surplus of electricity (so much that they give me a discount for charging at night)

If most electric car drivers charge at night (which currently 93% do) the USA electric grid could support about 40 million electric cars without any upgrade.