[Big Dave]

I think we may be on the brink of a viable electric car or at least hope so. It would be nice to reduce oil to a mere petrochemical feedstock. When somebody comes up with a suitable energy storage system, the auto industry will begin making such cars as fast as they can re-tool. What worries me is the question: “When are we gonna get all that electricity?” People on this site are bright enough to realize that electricity does not come from a receptacle on the wall. (It might astonish you the number of people – some with Ph.D.s – that think exactly that.) there is a whole supply, generation, transmission, and distribution industry behind that. According the Dept. of Energy about 35% of US energy resources (coal and nuclear, mostly) is consumed in generation of electric power where roughly 45% (almost all oil) goes to transportation. If we peel off ships and aircraft, a sudden shift to electricity for land transportation would require the US to double it electrical generating capacity as fast as the cars get sold. In today’s regulatory climate that is not to be done. The permits alone require a decade. The US Steel and heavy machinery industries are atrophied to less than a quarter of their capacity in 1975. Imports won’t help. The US already imports power from Canada. If you live in New England there is a fair chance some of your power already comes from Hydro Quebec. They really don’t have a lot more to offer unless they import coal and generate it along the Great Lakes. The US power grid is down to single-digit reserves.

Be careful what you ask for. You might just get it.