[Uncledave]

Plug-ins are a great path for us. It would significantly improve the economics for wind energy as well, as there would be a larger market for overnight power (which is also when the winds are stronger).

[Uncledave]

Renewable Energy Ping

Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off

[NormsRevenge]

Pssst!

Don't let the bigwigs at Nascar see this.. Lots of Pit stops add so much to a race. :-)

[patton]

You are correct - and as soon as somebody invents a battery that works, I will happily buy one.

[doc30]

Plug-ins are a great path for us. It would significantly improve the economics for wind energy as well, as there would be a larger market for overnight power (which is also when the winds are stronger).

And will a huge electric bill, like several hundred dollars, be a great path. Is there a breakdown on a cost comparison, on a cents per mile basis, for electric from the grid vs gasoline?

[Cicero]

Maybe. It could at least be another niche development. The question is, how much will these batteries cost, and how often will they need to be replaced? And will my local power company agree to charge substantially less at night?

It's still unlikely that the car could be used for more than short trips, so it would effectively be an extra for most people. How much would states charge for registering a third car for two car families? How much will insurance companies charge to insure a third car?

How can the Trial Lawyer's Association be prevented from bringing on the usual gigantic lawsuits the first time someone in one of these little cars dies in a head-on collision with a normal car?

No doubt all this can be worked out, but it wouldn't be economical unless everyone was willing to cooperate. And I wonder if even the environmentalists could persuade Democrats to cross their close friends the trial lawyers?

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Uhm, what will be the source for the electric power?

[Centurion2000]

as there would be a larger market for overnight power

Sounds like the electricity company needs to figure out how to STORE electricity.

[KellyAdmirer]

So many of the counter-arguments on this thread - "Do I have to buy two electric cars when I run out of juice in the first" etc. - are answered by the simple formula: the car will still run on gasoline if the batteries are exhausted. You'll just have to fill up more often - much more often. Is that so tough to understand?

Ok, next question.

[Ben Ficklin]

If these new/alternative sources of energy come to fruition it may lower our dependence on oil, but it will not lower our dependence on foreign oil.

The oil producers hurt first will be the domestic producers whose costs are much higher than foreign producers.

[theBuckwheat]

Plug-ins = coal powered.

[SW6906]

Let's see: with the environmentalists stopping the setting up of windmills, demanding that dams be removed from rivers, wanting mining for coal stopped (and Bill Clinton locking up our largest coal reserves in a refuge), not allowing drilling for natural gas, exactly how are we going to generate all of this electricity?

I'm serious.

[Atlas Sneezed]

How do they figure 500 miles per "gallon" for a vehicle that doesn't consume "gallons" of anything?

[Erik Latranyi]

So what you are telling me is this:

1) I have to trade the OPEC Cartel for Monopolistic Electric Utilities.

and

2) I have to trade free market oil for gov't regulated electricity (gov't controls both supply and price).

You don't have a right to call yourself a conservative if you support this.

[RightWhale]

There are not enough threads on the CFR. We can go through thread after thread about the North American Union and not a mention of the CFR. Are they irrelevant anymore, or is it us?

[yochanan]

Anything that keeps money from binladenland is OK by me.

Of course I can see some liberal from hell saying this discriminates against apartment dwellers who are disproportionally minority!

[Kay Ludlow]

Electric vehicles would make some sense if we were moving to nuclear energy - otherwise we'll use the same amount of energy on hybrids, we'll just be generating it at the power plants with oil instead of in the engines. Of course, the stability of the power grid is an issue too...

[tubebender]

To be fair to you UD there are tens of thousands of these vehicles in the US already and perhaps half of them are being used at this moment. They are called Golf Carts and many gated communities allow you to use them on the streets and are a must on most golf courses...

[RFEngineer]

"Plug-ins are a great path for us. It would significantly improve the economics for wind energy as well, as there would be a larger market for overnight power (which is also when the winds are stronger)."

No they arent, no they won't, there will not, nnnnno.

Plug-ins and electric vehicles are for the technically illiterate to ponder as viable transportation alternatives.

Their benefits are ALWAYS mis-stated and/or exaggerated.

They will not work as a viable alternative to internal combustion engines.

Other than that, I completely agree with you.

[Erik Latranyi]

Plug-ins are a great path for us.

Three reasons why plug-ins are NOT a great path for us:

1) Government controls the quantity of electricity produced.

2) Government controls the infrastructure of how electricity is delivered.

3) Government controls the price of electricity sold.

[Myrddin]

Fine. Let's make a Pocatello to San Diego run. See who gets there first. It's 925 miles. I gas up at Nephi, UT after the first 256 mile segment. Lunch and fuel at exit 8 in Utah after a 214 mile segment. Next gas stop is at Lenwood Drive in Barstow, CA. That's 276 miles. The last stop will be at L St/805 in Chla Vista. Only 180 miles. Average speed on each segment is 65 MPH. Break times are 10 minutes at Nephi, 30 minutes at St. George, 10 minutes at Barstow. From the gas station at Miramar, it is just over 30 miles to the destination in Chula Vista.

If my guess is right, you might make it to the first stop and be finished charging for the second segment about the time I pull in to Chula Vista, CA.

I've made this run over 50 times. It's real familiar and not something I would attempt in an electric car or a hybrid.