I have a Volt and live in Nevada so the car works great for me. Most days I drive less than 40 miles so I am almost always in Electric mode. The days I do have to exceed 40 miles I have the gas engine that recharges the batteries as I go and if I want to "get off the island" I can drive as far out of town as I want to go in gasoline mode.

Our local power is generated through hydro-electric. But I do agree, the grid needs to be cleaned up in order to make a truly environmental play.

My gas consumption will go from 550 gallons of fuel that I used in my old car to about 55 gallons.

My main reason for getting an EV is simply to reduce my support of terrorism. The less money I can send to foreign countries that support terrorism the better it is for the USA. I would like for the USA to be self-sustaining AND clean. I don't want anymore American blood to be spent on protecting our "interests" in the middle east...

Just my 2 cents...

I do think that electric cars are part of the solution to energy independence, but not the whole solution.  In my opinion what needs to happen is, America needs adjust it's infrastruction to accomadate for electric, as well other fuel alternatives This adjustment should be directly propotional to resources availible (especialily with regards to fossil fuel ie:petroleum and natural gas). Next cars need to built according to that resource budget as well, with the remainder trending towards biofuels and electric. In short if resource X acounts for 60% of America's fossil fuel and resource Y accounts for 40% then build cars that follow those trends. Electric and biofuels get a break because those aren't finite resources. Under this plan Amercica could easily become energy independent.

1, with Electricity everyone is time driven yet need time to relax & re-charge, so should your car (we'd just need to be efficient in managing it);

2, the world will still use fossil fuel because so far nothing can replace that Power

3, considering Atoms {with the nuclear scare- under the carpet- if another earthquake hits Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant the cores are hit= meltdown we won't even be thinking about cars because we will no longer exist after the release of radioactive materials} Yet Hydrogen ooo which combines electicity w/ O2 to create exhaust =pure water vapor and creates 0 harmful pollutants, yet people need to be educated for proper usage- ignition + pressure. Plus we can create new jobs by getting a Water creation Plant running!

4, think of how much $$$ is INVESTED in overseas oil and need I mention our 'Wars'...we are talking about Stocks & Banking Industry and General Public vested in Old ideas.

*Guess we can't always rely on the Decision makers to make life easier for everyone, since the Money holders (GM Ford, or somebody, bought the Design prints many yrs. ago, in fact I saw pictures in 80'S + 90's) held onto the Idea till recently.

5.Excerpt from:

'WHO INVENTED IT': It was in 1665 when Ferdinand Verbiest, a Jesuit priest and astronomer, began designing a four-wheeled self-moving wagon powered by steam.

6.**and we are not allowed to be inventive + use RECYCLED cooking Oil because that'd mean they're not making a $ cut ~ instead search 'HHO' uses water already starting a contract with 1 US Automaker & the Government..... or we can go old school by using a horse & carriage, or maybe our feet :D

Any car the size of a Volt only has room for 2 adults in the back. Sixty percent of people that have bought Hybrids say the won't buy another. The Volt would be my choice.

I saw a show and we've used approximately 1 trillion barrels of oil since the start of the industrial age.A trillion is a thousand billion.  We have approximately 1 trillion barrels of proven reserves left, though maybe upto 3 trillion in the earth's crust.  (supposedly).  At the current rate of usage (86/87 million barrels per day in the world) that means in 31 years a trillion barrels will have been used up or approximately in 94 years 3 trillion barrels will be gone. The number of LNG (liquefied natural gas) vehicles is thought maybe to go up 5 times in the next 23 years.  I think electric vehicles are important.  Electric skateboards are now being made that go upto 20 mph.  And the same with electric bicycles that are becoming available.  I think we might have to use solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear  etc.,to

take the co2 out of the air and maybe convert it into coal or gasoline or diesel perhaps?  :-)