I'm not yet convinced about electric vehicles. From an economics standpoint, I can't see how they would save anybody money, when compared with a similar gas powered vehicle. And, from the "green" perspective, as long as so much power generation in North america is from coal- or oil-fired plants, you don't really reduce emissions. There may be a case for the reduction of smog in city centres, but you're just moving it elsewhere, not eliminating it.
Then, what about battery disposal after it has reached the end of its life? At this time, I consider electric vehicles to be neither economical nor particularly green. Of course, I could be completely wrong, but hey, my opinion is free.
Amen, brother. This is what I have been trying to tell the world but they haven't been listening.
I feel a rant coming on...
The bigger question is: where is that power supposed to come from when there are more electric cars on the street? The power grid is already over-stressed, and adding a bunch of e-cars sure isn't going to help that. We can't build nuclear plants because of all of the uninformed, terrified sheep throwing fits about how dangerous it is (when in reality, if properly regulated, inspected, and operated, it is probably the best option we have), wind power is inefficient, unreliable, and expensive, solar power is an even bigger waste of money and space, we can't flood valleys to build hydroelectric dams, and we can't build coal plants because they are too dirty. I guess that leaves natural gas plants, and I can't think of the convenient reasons right now not to use them, but I am sure there are plenty.
I did a study back in school that was quite revealing. If everyone in America were to switch to an electric car, the power requirements on top of our current system would be astronomical. IIRC, we would require over 750 new high-capacity nuclear power plants (think somewhere around $8 billion each for construction alone, not accounting for operating costs) or over 4500 new coal power plants (probably about $1 billion each for construction alone) to support the additional demand. Those numbers are probably higher now, as I did this study several years ago. Also keep in mind that these are numbers for the US only, they aren't even accounting for the rest of the world!
The bottom line is that most people don't even know/think/care about the upstream effects of their cars - just as long as their tailpipes are cleaner, they must be saving the world. Most of the math/science just falls on deaf ears, or isn't being screamed loud enough, because really the only people that get heard these days are politicians and celebrities. Also, I think people pushing these things may know the science, but just have a selfish agenda, if you know what I mean...
Then again, some people just don't want to pay for the gas, even though the extra expense on their car doesn't pay for itself in gas savings, especially with the increase in the electric bill.
