I was reading an article on the following link about batteries for electric cars.
https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100913/ap_on_bi_ge/us_electric_cars
The government is spending about 2.4 Billion dollars to build some Lithium Ion battery factories in states. So far, the factories will employ about 390 people. I suppose it is a good deal, because of the government money, it keeps the factories in the United States. Initially the batteries will sell for about $30,000 each.
I know I won't be able to afford one of those cars because I would have to buy a new battery some day.
A question I have always had about the electric cars is how much will the electricity cost to recharge the battery each evening? Will it cost more to go 100 miles on electricity versus gasoline.
The batteries themselves wear out and the internal components are highly toxic. How are we going to dispose of that without polluting the environment?
At a time when we are trying to force people to cut back on the use of electricity in order to reduce carbon emissions, won't electric cars simply exacerbate that problem.
In cities and suburbs where it is anticipated the electric cars will be best used driving people to and from work, we already have severe brownouts when everyone is running their home air conditioners. Are we going to need to make a choice between running the air conditioner or charging our cars at night.
We won't have enough wind energy available to pick up the slack for many, many years.
I remember when Jimmy Carter forced the electricity generating plants to switch over from burning natural gas as fuel, and start burning coal. His reasoning was we have an abundant supply of coal and the government thought we would run out of natural gas in about twenty years if we continued generating electricity with gas. No one thought about the consequences of acid rain, or particulate emissions, or todays big problem; carbon dioxide emissions. We now know we have at least a 100 year supply of natural gas even if every power plant was burning it. He also made the maximum national speed limit 55 mpg in order to save fuel.
Considering the additional electricity consumption which will occur with electric cars, I am concerned that we may be heading for another Jimmy Carter moment because all the ramifications haven't been thought through.
Ted