Electric Cars of the (Not so Far) Future

In March of 2009, a plan was drafted which would put $2.4 billion towards the development of new electric plug-in vehicles, and as part of the stimulus bill, $2 billion more that is to be set aside in order to aid the jump start of the manufacturing of these cars. This government funding will assist Obama to reach his goal, to have 1 million plug-ins on the road by 2015. In order to prepare for this transition, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has initiated Project Get Ready, installing charging stations in three cities, Raleigh, Indianapolis and Portland, as part of an evaluation process in the development of these new stations. The goal of the project is to hopefully smooth the transition to electric cars and encourage people to use them when the become available, by providing sufficient places to plug-in. Of course, there will also be a federal tax credit for up to $7500 for the purchase of these cars to boost their sales.

Electric cars, will most likely become part of the new, upcoming vision of a smart grid, able to both consume and provide energy. "Smart charging"would control when the cars got charged, or when they gave up energy back to the grid, buying energy when it was the cheapest, and selling it back when it was more expensive, working similar to the exchange of the stock market. This charging method would help with ensuring that the supply of electric matches the demand of the market, and it would also provide that energy is being more efficiently distributed and used.

Most major car manufacturers such as Ford, Nissan, Chrysler, Dodge, Tesla and Toyota are all working on creating new car models that are either hybrids, or full bred electric vehicles. New electric/hybrid models that will likely become available somewhere between 2009-2011 include: Chevy Volt, Dodge EV, Tesla Roadster, Model S, Tazzari Zero, BYD E6, Toyota Prius, Th!nk City, UEV Spyder, Miles ZX40, Phoenix SUT, Colt MIEV...just to name a few.

Interested in perhaps buying one? Most of these right now are not very affordable to the average middle class family, running anywhere between $12,000 and $110,000. But, don't worry, as with most things, as electric cars become more popular, the price will eventually come down.

I have no doubt that the EV (Electric Vehicle) is the car of the future, with people demanding ways to get more mileage for their money Obama and the EU encouraging car makers to alternate to start manufacturing plug-ins. In terms of long term environmental changes, though, the electric car is, perhaps, only a temporary fix, still relying on, as Friedman calls them, "fuels from hell" (coal, oil, natural gas, etc.) to produce the electricity to power the cars. We still need to be keeping an eye towards the future for more sustainable, alternative fuels. But if we could switch over completely more environmentally fuels such as hydroelectric, geothermal, solar and wind power to create all of the electricity, this idea will be revolutionary. Would this be the case, we could be running our cars on very clean fuels with little to no emissions. Imagine what a green world we would be living in then!