If this were true then EVs would be hugely popular RIGHT NOW. But it is not true. I wish it were.

With some luck, someone will be able to build one for about $32,000 . . . and with the $7500 tax-credit, that will bring the price down to $24,500. But the price of batteries is just still damn expensive. And the prices of EV components other than the battery (chargers, controllers, and electric motors) are not cheap either. Mass production will help . . . but $20,000 is completely unrealistic unless you would accept a 10 mile range.

I drive a Landrover Discovery with a 3.9L V8 engine and to fill it with petrol costs over 100 pounds for 85L (near enough 200 US dollars) and for that I get about 250 miles.

Unlike most people I NEED a big engine because I tow a trailer for my business. Most people drive quite short distances most of the time and could easily use an electric car even with a range between charges of only 50 miles.

What we really need are hydrogen fuelled vehicles but of course the hydrogen has to be made using electricity, but that can be a good way to use “off peak” power as national grid electricity cannot be stored in the conventional sense.

Things will work their way through. The next thing people will complain about is the shortage of nuclear fuel, it is not an infinite resource.

We need to plan better to live closer to our place of work and to schools and shops. Because of bad planning people spend too much time in cars driving between affordable housing and their workplace.

I could go on and on…….

So where’s that electricity coming from? Either a coal or oil burning power plant.

What we need is smaller more efficient gas burning cars. There was a carburetor that could get 100 miles/gallon invented decades ago but the oil companies bought the patent and shelved it. As long as there’s huge profits involved, we won’t find a good solution. It’s about making money, not being ecologically sound.

Just another trend like the rain forests were in the 90’s. Never hear anything about those now.

Ummm… To the government, those aren’t profits. There’s a HUGE difference. That money goes to pay for the roads your drive your cars on, the bridges, the police that patrol the roads, and on and on… Our government is not waist deep in cash at the moment. If you haven’t read the news lately…he oil companies are.

Your analogy is silly, making your math irrelevant.

The incentive is to remove dependence on foreign oil. You still get that if you sell all your cars to the developing world.

The batteries in electric cars are horrible for the environment.

As per Wired:

“Pound for pound, making a Prius contributes more carbon to the atmosphere than making a Hummer, largely due to the environmental cost of the 30 pounds of nickel in the hybrid’s battery. Of course, the hybrid quickly erases that carbon deficit on the road, thanks to its vastly superior fuel economy.

Still, the comparison suggests a more sensible question. If a new Prius were placed head-to-head with a used car, would the Prius win? Don’t bet on it. Making a Prius consumes 113 million BTUs, according to sustainability engineer Pablo Päster. A single gallon of gas contains about 113,000 Btus, so Toyota’s green wonder guzzles the equivalent of 1,000 gallons before it clocks its first mile. A used car, on the other hand, starts with a significant advantage: The first owner has already paid off its carbon debt. Buy a decade-old Toyota Tercel, which gets a respectable 35 mpg, and the Prius will have to drive 100,000 miles to catch up.”

Oil is the best fuel in the world and there’s plenty of heavy sour waiting to be refined.

I started wildcatting in 1973 and have been in the industry through its ups and downs.

Oil paid for my home in Carlton Woods, my Rolls Royce, my wife’s plastic surgery and my daughter’s Yale law degree.

And no matter what Al Gore and the rest of you ecofascists and ecohippies say, it will pay for my new private jet next year.

Enjoy that $5 gas this summer, Erick.

http://www.nmen...es/molycorp.htm

I quite like the idea of electric cars. There was one outside my office the other day; nice and quiet. Of course, I don’t drive myself, so I suppose I don’t have the full perspective…

http://www.sola...calvehicles.com

Average commute by American to work is 16 miles one way.

@43, Actually a recent federal study indicated that if everyone in the US had a PHEV, we would could power 80% of them on the current grid.

@58, Do you think everyone is going to switch? Demand will continue to rise while production continues to fall, if only because of expanded worldwide demand and the need for plastics, fertilizer, and other petroleum products.