you wrote:

"Or did you forget that there is no such thing as an electric car, only cars that run on oil, coal, or nuclear power? And before you bring up solar, remember that there is not enough real estate on the planet to support enough solar panels to meet our needs"

No, I didn't forget this. Using fossil-fuel energy as stored electricity is still far more efficient than burning it up in individual ICEs at a less-than-50% energy-conversion rate.

Wide use of electric cars would cut waste heat, would eliminate greenhouse gas emission from tailpipes, and would provide more reliable transportation in the medium term.

We'll be using fossil-fuels for the foreseeable future, but the economies of scale that result from using that fuel as electricity in individual vehicles are far more efficient, and beneficial, than the way we use that fuel now. Just do the research, it's all out there in black and white.

And, while gasoline-supplies are subject to all manner of risks, with those risks growing daily, our electricity supplies, while hardly guaranteed, are more stable than our gasoline supplies in the medium term.

Look, in the long-term, most of us will die of starvation and disease as the lights go out. But if we can delay the day long enough, maybe not so many need die, and maybe the situation need not become apocalyptic. One way to delay the day is electric transportation.

A better way would be draconian limits on fuel consumption, including rationing. While we save the oil and gas in the ground. An even better way would be a police-state that controls the use of fuel at the point of a gun. Oh, and the most rigid possible immigration and population control.

The reason we're IN this mess in the first place is because cheap and easy fossil fuels--the most dense energy source on the planet, by FAR--allowed our world population to simply run out of control. We're now in overshoot, and we'll pay for that, sooner or later. How much we pay...that's the question.

Check world population growth against fossil-fuel use. They track precisely.

Because of our population overshoot, our future as a species is probably very grim... But, for now, more electric cars would be a relatively benign way to delay the inevitable day or reckoning..

All you guys praising Holy Toyota and its Pretty Prius, you're kidding yourselves. You know what vehicle Toyota's spent the most money in the last three years developing and marketing?

That would be the Toyota Tundra. A full-size pickup that gets about 14 mpg. Also the Lexus IS 350 (18 mpg) and 250 (21 mpg). And the LX 400, 18 mpg.

Toyota's like every other automaker. It's in the business to make money. And Americans, with the joys of cheap gas, choose big vehicles with high horsepower. And small, fuel-efficient vehicles -- hybrid or not -- sit on the lot.

I see a lot of articles comparing european cars with those in american but they never seem to address the fact that a gallon in the US is less then a gallon in europe. 35mpg in US gallons equates to only 29mpg in europe-- It would be a tough job to find a car that can't meet that on the motorway/highway.

On the whole our mpg estimates are lower because we used averaged (both highway and city driving) totals. We gave up on just using highway mpg because it's incredibly inaccurate when dealing with how a car is actually used.

An average family car such as the Ford Mondeo hits around 50mpg on the motorway/highway that's a whopping 60mpg in the states.

So stop complaining about the high price of your ridiculously cheap fuel and get a car that's fit for purpose.

Instead of far flung operations with massive and expensive distibution systems and complicated refineries, and the added complication of dealing with 100's of millions of uneducated and unhappy customers, the oil companies would be able to radically streamline their operations, realize enormous economies of scale, and deal with only about 100 customers who know their business.

Or did you forget that there is no such thing as an electric car, only cars that run on oil, coal, or nuclear power? And before you bring up solar, remember that there is not enough real estate on the planet to support enough solar panels to meet our needs.

Every solution to the problem of energy used in transportation is still in the future. Lots of people love nuclear power, but nobody wants a fission reactor within 50 miles of them and fusion is years away. Solar could actually work, but not until we rebuild our space program, convert the energy into electricity outside the atmosphere, and figure out how to get it down here. Hydrogen is expensive and possibly dangerous. We need to start now, needed to start in the early 70's, but please don't think the solutions are at our fingertips.

just fyi, realname, note that an apocalyptic future is far from a matter of sarcasm...it's a matter of time:

http://dieoff.org/page137.htm

Check it out. The hard numbers are just about impossible to argue with.

I've had a 2007 prius for the last 8 months now, and I think it's a lovely car. And I went from a 1994 Camry V-6 coupe to the Prius. Sure, the Camry is a little more refined, and a little more powerful, and has a nice big trunk, and more comfortable seats...it also gets 24 MPG on a good day.

I'm willing to give up a little refinement and a little comfort to save gas, and emit a lot fewer pollutants into the atmosphere.

Truth is, the next generation Prius is going to be the one to have, it'll likely be a plug-in hybrid, and will probably get over 100 mpg.

I don't understand people who say the Prius isn't worth it...sure, for its size, it should be priced at about 16K...but it has at least 50K worth of high-end technology in it. And it's a very refined, practical car. I'd say that's a fair trade. And if gasoline suddenly shoots up to 6 bucks a gallon (which is could..there's a whole list of things that could cause that, none of them implausible), I'm gonna be sitting pretty.

Oh, and by the way, to all those who say, or think, that the Prius doesn't *really* get good MPG? I get 55 MPG routinely, in ALL driving. I let the computer drive the car. That's the secret to driving it. You drive at reasonable speeds, no jackrabbit starts, and you let cruise-control drive at any speed above 25 mph. That's how it's supposed to be driven, but apparently a lot of people who own one can't let go of their lead-footed habits. Nor did they read the manual, apparently.

We all need electric cars. And a whole generation of practical electric cars is on the horizon. Another year, or two, and we'll be able to buy them. That'll be the sea-change. Or could be.

And, yes, making the batteries does take energy, and does cause pollution, and recycling the batteries will be a challenge...but if the day comes when, now and then, or often, there is just no gasoline to be had, you'll be glad you can plug your car into your electrical socket at home and get to work the next day.

And the benefits of no exhaust... No lubrication system. No cooling system. No catalytic converter...those benefits are huge. The cost and energy savings of simply having all those sub-systems disappear will be considerable.

There's a reason why oil companies have been fighting electric transportation for nearly 100 years. They get it. The people who run those companies understand full well the implications of an all-electric personal transportation system. It'd would change their business utterly.

I'm not sure anyone has really thought through all the benefits electric transportation would provide. Put a critical mass of practical electric cars into the market, and there will be a seismic shift. It'll take awhile, but it'll happen.