Electric vehicle enthusiasts do not all live in California! I own an electric bike with a 30 mile capability that I have used for over a year in my community, avoiding the use of my gasoline vehicles as much as possible. I would rather not spend any money on gasoline, whether it comes from terrorist territory or not. Whether our gas guzzlers contribute to global warming or not is not the issue as much as that we are grossly polluting the air that electric vehicles would not pollute. We need EVs NOW. Maybe hydrogen will get an opportunity way on down the road. But we are having to breathe that pollution that the auto makers could help us avoid by simply building enough EVs for the population to use TODAY. We used the bag phone before the present day cell phone came out. Why can’t we get an EV model that can get us started using EVs? The EV-1 would have been a good start if GM had advertised it nationwide like a regular car. The auto companies have a surprise awaiting them when they finally build the first EVs for public commuting. They will not have enough to go around. Electric vehicles will catch on like a fire!

Anyone who thinks Lithium Polymer batteries are ready for general consumption hasn’t done their homework. There are all sorts of infant mortality issues, manufacturing problems, overheating and capacity issues if incorrectly charged, all of which can be resolved. I’m sure Toyota isn’t going to dump a half baked car on the public, like GM will.

Remember how the corolla hit the market and how much more reliable and practical it was than any other economy car?

Remember how Lexus drove all the American, German and British luxury manufacturers to make much more reliable cars that didn’t cost a $$$ to maintain?

Mainstream America and Europe will be ready for PHEV or EV’s when Toyota is ready to sell it to us.

From CNET:

“The $43 million plant, south of Detroit, will assemble individual batteries from South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd. into 70,000 packs a year at full production for the Chevrolet Volt and other plug-in hybrids. Each pack will have 220 cells and is estimated to cost $8,000.”

That’s $500/kWh today. Prices are dropping fast… Can you imagine how the equation will shift when we hit $100/kWh?

I have a feeling that as soon as people get a taste of the “electric miles” part of the PHEV driving cycle, they’ll want more and more EV range, not just because of the very low operating cost, but the emotional impact of driving in pure electric mode. Those here who have had the fortune of introducing someone to their first EV will get what I mean when I say, “EV smile.”

Therefore, I would ideally think a plug in hybrid would be best with 5-8 kwh and then add a 15k base car and you have a 22k plug in hybrid with 20-40 miles.

I think once the plug in hybrid technology is in some of the public’s hands, the appreciation for the all electric range will be much higher and we won’t have people getting angry over news articles stating a 40 mile range.