Electric Vehicles

I am very excited about the prospect for electric vehicles. The nice thing about electricity is that it can be produced from a variety of local sources. For example, you could have a windmill on your farm, or a solar panel on your roof. This makes them adaptable to local power production, saving on power transportation costs.

They can also rely on the current power grid which is at least partially developed for power distribution for cars. Electricity is nearly everywhere, even at current gas stations. All that is needed is a plug and a payment mechanism to make it work.

For these reasons, electric cars represent, I think, one key to a paradigm shift in thinking about energy.

Socially, electric cars have a wimpy image, which is ironic given how much torque an electric motor delivers. Many of the electric car designs are made small to conserve energy because the battery technology is not there yet to hold a relatively large amount of electricity. Electric vehicles are powerful enough to run locomotives and they power some very fast and powerful cars like the Tesla Roadster.