If we allow our country’s business to proceed as it has for the last two years we will grind our way into being a second rate country. The rest of the world will pass us by. We will be “Number One !” only in the size of our CEO salaries.

We need to get people into Congress who put America first.

Want to get absolutely NOTHING accomplished in this country? Just be a simplistic-minded political nutcase. While Americans argue, fuss and fight politics back and forth at each other, more progressive countries like China deliver results.

Things usually progress in the following steps:

#1. Conservatives are violently and vehemently against anything more progressive.

#2. Gradual acceptance.

#3. ” I was for it all along ! ! ! ”

#4. Stealing all the credit: ” Us conservatives came up with all these ideas first.The liberals were always against it, not me ! ! ! ”

My assumption is that we will have batteries that have 2x -3x more capacity and are significantly cheaper in no more than five years. A 175 mile range with the ability to recharge 95% in less than 20 minutes gives us “distance driving”.

But if I’m wrong, then I think PHEVs are the answer. Something like 85% of all American driving days are < 30 miles. (I'm pulling those numbers out of my memory, so check before believing. ;o)

If we all drove 30 mile range PHEVs we could cut our oil use by, perhaps, 75%. If we cut our personal oil use to one fourth of what it now is we'd be in much better shape – climate-wise, health-wise, financially and in terms of national security.

The next few years are going to be very interesting. Will batteries appear that solve our personal transportation problems? If so, high mileage gasmobiles and PHEVs will be temporary fixes.

What’s your take on this one?
Ed, and u2 Zach?

Yeah. That’s the answer.

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To be fair to the people who responded to the poll, EVs just aren’t quite there yet. And I say that as a huge EV fan. Ranges need to go up some and prices fall a few thousand dollars and then I think the average person will change their opinion.

We can’t drill our way out of this oil problem by letting oil companies loose in the Arctic. Any new oil from there is a decade away. More Canadian oil from a new pipeline is years away. Neither is going to cut the price at the pump in the next few years.

I think we’ll see EV prices drop with the 2013 models. Battery prices are down.

We may see some range improvement as well, GM has hinted at that with their Volt. Renault is rumored to be introducing a higher mileage EV and the Honda Fit EV is listed at having about 20 more miles range than the Leaf.

Short term the only way to lessen the hurt at the pump is to drive less (car pool, public transportation) or drive more efficient vehicles. (Look for big upturns in hybrid sales.)

My optimistic guess is that we will have a much better EV, price and range, in the next 2-3 years. Solar will be a lot closer to a dime per kWh. More people will have learned how cheap wind power is.

At that point numbers on polls such as this one will start to shift toward choice three….

Just a bit twisted. What about “hide my head in the sand” Fla has great sand!