“Do any of you think we’ll get to the point where electric cars are a viable alternative?”
Electric cars are already an alternative in most cases in that they have produced cars that get 100+ miles to a charge which is sufficient for round trip commuting for most people.
However, there are a number of things to consider with electric cars.
Electric cars are NOT non-polluting, they just move the pollution source to the power plant. Most power plants in the US are still using coal and natural gas. While power plants are more efficient and cleaner than car engines, they STILL pollute, especially the dreaded GW pollutant of choice–carbon dioxide.
There is also a real threat of a lithium shortage in the next few decades and since most EV’s currently use lithium batteries, well you do the math.
Finally, remember the power shortages a few years ago in California? With no new power plants in this state in several decades, what do you think is going to happen if a few million people start plugging their cars into the power grid?
In the long run (at least with current technology) we should be developing a hydrogen economy. Hydrogen allows us to effectively store electricity without the need for batteries. Since all electricity in the US is typically generated and used immediately, this allows us to capture wave, solar, geothermal, wind and any other renewable power source and use it to drive electrolysis of water to generate the hydrogen.
Electric vehicles, hybrids..these are just delaying the inevitable.
