What kind of car are you going to buy next?

Equivelent road fuel tax for electric powered vehicles could be used to rebuild electric grid and pay costs to convert to clean coal.

can't buy 30 to 40 throusand dollar cars on $15.00 dollar a hour jobs get real

Although this would never get through Congress, a federal tax credit for purchasing small wind turbines and/or solar panels would be a giant boost to electric vehicles, and not make this a windfall for the power companies. A small wind/photovoltaic system in any home could basically keep one of these vehicles powered, and also cut into the consumer's home energy bill. 

Hey Derf,

If you can live with solar panels on your roof, a wind turbine and a bank of deep cycle batteries, that's where the energy comes from. And don't lecture me about engineering, I've lived in a home that is powered from these sources. As i said previously, if/when the government incentivizes these technologies to households and the prices come down due to competition, any idiot will be able to do this.

We are on retirement income and live comfortably but unable to afford new cars anymore. We will likely purchase a regular gasoline powered used sedan, with fairly low mileage and that gets at least 30-32 miles per gallon. As the electric cars come on line and we can get a used one, again with fairly low mileage on it, we would go that route. We are concerned with the environment and our dependence of foreign oil.

Just bought a nice big gas burning 4X4 Dodge Truck. So as you putt, putt along in your Toyota whatever and dream about the next generation of cars. You know the ones that run on batteries, solar energy or cow dung. I will be the guy blowing by you and the rest of the bird seed eating liberals!Also have you noticed all of the global warming that is going on, it is 10 degrees here in NY and going to get colder. Boy that Al Gore has you all buffaloed. I bet you also think the Mafia killed JFK, and believe in aliens ( not the ones watering your lawns) and Bigfoot. Man we got to be the dumbest people in the world!

How long do you think it will take for the Low life Scum money grabbing Politicians to come up with new taxes on you new Electric Vehicle? since you not paying for gas or the gas tax? and they need that money to write themshelfs and their friends and family a check after all they need money too.

This rush to electric cars is a bad idea.

So, you worked all day and your electric car is sitting in the parking lot.  It's 95 or 25 degrees.  How are you going to cool or heat the inside and have enough battery left to drive 20 miles home?  'Sorry dear, we can't run the A/C AND get home'.

Are parking spaces going to evolve with power outlets that accept credit cards?  As if major cities power infrastuctures weren't burdened enough, soon they will be having blackouts as E-commuters plug-in at work so they can keep their car cool/warm for the ride home. 

My electric bill is already too high.  Do you think I want to have 3 vehicles plugged in at night, making my electric meter spin out of control?

And just like the old laptop that won't stay on for more than 20 minutes on battery power, that 4-year old e-car will now only go 15 miles on a charge.  Time for new batteries... WHAT, $6000!!!  PLUS A DISPOSAL FEE!  Sounds like another 'throw-away' car.  How's that for going green?

The boast is that the e-car doesn't use any power while stopped in a traffic jam.  Yeah, right.  Only if it's 70 degrees outside and not raining or at night.

It's not just the batteries that will be expensive. GM's hybrid has an electric motor inside the automatic transmission, and they both share the same fluid environment.  So If the trans or e-motor fails, they both get damaged.  Look for at least a 6 to 8 thousand dollar overhaul cost!  And the 3-phase electronics won't be cheap to service either.

A hybrid by it's design can't be that efficient.  The vehicle is carrying around the weight of two drivetrains and wearing them out almost simultaneously.

Some folks think a compressed gas fuel is the way to go.  Can you imagine the general public trying to use self-service pumping stations?  I can already hear the explosions.

Turbo-diesel power is the answer.  Low RPM, high torque, clean exhaust, reliabilty, good performance and economy.  Diesel doesn't evaporate easily like gasoline.  Phase out the different grades of gasoline.  Have only one gasoline.  You gotta run the lawnmower, right? 

20 years from now, we'll be dealing with millions of tons of dead batteries.

Until the US has more sources for clean, efficient power generation, and battery technology is improved, the internal combustion engine will rule the road.

A plug-in SUV would be a awesome. OR.... How about a flex Plug-in with Biodiesel!!

But automakers need to bring the costs down. $25,ooo-$30,000 is more money than I can afford to spend.

I have a plug-in (stupid me). Your electric bill goes through the roof, it draws a lot of juice. I'm trying to unload it, any takers?

The plug in Volt would not be a good idea for me, and all the other people who do not have a garage in which to store the car and to plug in the electrical cord.  My cars have and always will be parked in the open, on the drive or street.  Last month we had a 1-inch ice storm.  How would a 20 foot power cord work with that?  Our four cars just spent the night in the open and it is 15 degrees below zero.  I do not think the Volt is the car for me.

Dave Miller

I would love to own an electric car, but I am fed up with the overpriced junk that is now on the market!  Car prices are the equivilent to some small home mortgages and I refuse to pay those kind of prices just to see the car depreciate by 60% the minute you drive it off the lot.  I buy used and I own it for years so therefore I do not have any car payments.  If they could price them under $20,000 I would go for it, but over that and you can forget it.

Electric Vehicle Revolution!  

I believe the future of personal privately owned transportation will be electrically powered vehicles. It doesn’t mean that every one has to give up their classic autos or motorcycles that run on gasoline. But for basic commuting, family trips, etc.. it makes perfect sense. I look forward to the day when I have a vehicle that is electrically powered. Someday they will be cheap, clean, and will be more reliable than internal combustion engines and the maintenance and upkeep will be miniscule compared to doing oil changes every 3000 miles, replacing timing belts, air filters, oil filters, spark plugs, etc. etc..  

Many people talk about the price of gas as if it’s the only price factor of a vehicle and don’t even talk about the amount of money it costs each year to maintain an internal combustion engine!  

Oil is not an unlimited commodity. There’s only so much they can pull out of the ground before it runs out. And the idea of using food crops as a base for creating oil is ridiculous. Food is the power source for biological life forms, not automobiles, and we need the food to feed people not cars. The price of gas is not going to stay at $2.00 a Gallon forever. As the supply of oil diminishes the price will go up!  

The fact is we have an inexhaustible energy supply. It’s called the Sun. Every day our Planet is hit with more energy then we could ever create in the Earths Lifetime. And It’s free to every one!  

The idea of having electric filling stations to swap out batteries and pay by the Mile for the electricity for an Electric station is also ridiculous. Or the idea that more fossil fuels will need to be burned at power plants is also ridiculous. My car sits in the parking lot 8 hrs a day in the Sun while I’m at work. There’s no reason they can’t put Solar cells in the top of the roof or hood or wherever so the car will be getting charged while it’s parked!  

 The only time an electric car should ever have to be charged from an external source is in the case of several days or weeks of bad weather, long trips, or other cases where the car can’t be in the sun for extended periods of time. The idea that a huge infrastructure needs to be created to support electric vehicles is also a dumb excuse for the viability of electric vehicles. When I Pull in to Holiday Inn for the Night I just want to run an extension cord to an outlet and it can charge while I’m sleeping.  

Electrically powered transportation will be the future. Its just to bad were going to have to wait for the auto companies to get it into their heads to create cars that get charged by the Sun instead of having to rely on an infrastructure of Electric Stations or Battery swap stations or Hybrids that still burn fossil fuels to create the electricity to charge the batteries.  

The only thing that’s stymieing the Electric Vehicle Revolution is people. Once the public accepts the idea that electric cars are the future the quality and viability of electric vehicles will explode exponentially while the price of those vehicles will drop as they can be massed produced cheaper and cleaner as the demand for them increases. Internal combustion engines are inefficient, pollute the atmosphere, require more resources to maintain and that is what keeps us dependant on foreign oil, the influences of OPEC on the economy, and wars in the Middle East!  

Do you want an independent America? Do you want to free our economy from the influences of OPEC and foreign wars in the Middle East? Do you want to stop supporting terrorists groups that are being supported with the money that we spend buying foreign oil?  

Then put your excuses aside about electric powered vehicles! Accept the idea there is room in your garage for an electric powered car next to your gas guzzling SUV! Help support and promote the Electric Vehicle Revolution!  

I want to buy all electric that looks classy like the new cadillac, or a BMW, and can be recharged in less than 10 minutes, with a mileage range of around 300. I presume that the battery technology will allow for it to be user friendly, light weight, non-volatile ( in case of a crash), and standardized to be interchangeable in different makes of cars.  The battery MUST be environmentally safe too, because if we can't recycle, there will be a wasteland full of old dead batteries. I am holding off until these new electric cars come on to the market and then I will probably wait 1 more year after that, for the kinks to be worked out!

Oh I want to add to my wish list on the all electric car...they should all have solar panels built into the roof, hood or trunk area, and integrated into the electrical system of the vehicles to use the sun's power whenever possible.  Hopefully our power companies around the United States are gearing up for the extra demand for electricity and begin NOW to boost the transmission plants and grid systems.

I live in a condo, so how would will I charge an electric car every night.  Do I get a 1000 foot extension cord.  Before everyone says that electric is the way to go, you need to look at all of the problems.  The cost to make and dispose of the batterys, how efficent is it to generate the electicity and transmitt it over hundreds of miles, etc.  When you add everything up is an electric car that effecient, and the last time I checked the alot of the power companies oil to make electricity. 

I want a big SUV to drive my boats and other toys.  I don't want to live like a tree hugger or those sissy Europeans

I currently drive a 2005 VW Jetta TDI wagon: 47 MPG, lots of space and runs great on biodiesel. My SO (Significant Other) drives a 2001 Ford Explorer: a gas hog, yes, but it's paid for and will last us until a viable SUV-type hybrid replacement (Ford Escape? Saturn Vue?) becomes available. Until then we use the Jetta for our long trips and save the Explorer for those times when we really need a larger vehicle.

Kudos to the car industry for finally committing themselves to building greener vehicles. Keep it up, guys, because these low gas prices won't last forever!!!

my next car will be another manual transmission, likely a honda/acura vehicle.  i have not yet been let down by them as i have by other automakers.  i love the styling, the driver's feel (instead of cushy buick or toyota), the reliability, the resale, etc. 

i do NOT believe electric cars are the future.  i believe there are other much better and stronger and more effecient alternative fuels in the pipeline.  electric cars will NOT solve the energy problems unless you somehow rebuild the entire infrastructure as far as energy production in the us goes.  we'll see catapulting coal usage at power plants trying to suppl power for these vehicles.  we'll still see dependance on oil, though in a less direct fashion.

purely electric cars are all hype and will not survive.  i see this as yet another pitfall for some of the major auto manufacturers around the globe.

the ONLY electric car style i can see withstanding the test of time and not just digging deeper deficits in alot of these companies would be a small commuter vehicle meant to go just a few miles every day on city streets.........  oh wait, that's what some scooters can already do. 

If the automakers would start realizing that the cost of automobiles is the hindrance to their well being, and the unions would quit being so damn greedy. We might actually get somewhere. IF the automakers want to rebuild, they need to sell a viable electric sedan that seats 4-5 adults, cruises at 70 MPH and has a range of at least 350 miles and recharges in under 15 minutes AND and this is the biggie, COSTS LESS THAN $12,000 on the open market. Paying $40,000 for an electric car just makes the people with money feel good about "going green" which is a joke, because there will be so few of these cars on the road that it won't make a bit of difference in the air pollution problem that we have. If the MASSES can't afford the car, what the hell good will it do? Until it is cheaper to buy and operate the electric car without the sacrifice of convenience, than it is to buy the Internal Combustion car, nothing will change. We have clean diesel power at great mileages, and Ford decided not to sell the car and technology in the US because they didn't think it would go over because its diesel....

The automakers in this country, both management and labor have had their heads firmly planted in the wrong spot for so long that they will probably never recover. Cars in this country, especially west of the Mississippi, are not a luxury, they are a necessity, and people will talk with their wallets. Build me an electric car with the above specs and I will be first in line. Continue to build the faux hybrids that get just as poor mileage as the regular cars and trucks, and cost $10,000 more per unit, and I will continue to drive my pickup.