Good discussion about the topic. Electric cars are better for the environment because most modern batteries are made from recyclable materials.So they can go back, be reprocessed and put back into cars. So their manufacture isn't any worse than a typical car now. It is true that a bunch of electric cars that get their energy from a coal plant isn't better than current gas. Except that the level of pollution per mile is significantly reduced. Also the ability to have some level of control over the single point pollution vs millions of individually and hard to regulate personal engines is a huge benefit down the road. But I do agree that electric vehicles need to come with a larger emphasis on clean energy production. Gas cars even really efficient ones with current coal power is bad on top of bad... I hope that our future holds a national agenda and support for green energy.

Now that is all just about the power of the car. There is a HUGE environmental impact from all cars no matter how they are driven. The lifestyle that the car has created in America uses an exhoritant amount of land compared to our population. That with a shift away from extended family households means that there is a land use issue associated with cars.

We only have so much land in the US, and on the Earth and we already live in a lifestyle that requires much more land than we have to counteract our current pollution levels. Continued reliance on Cars, without a national open space agenda to control the amount of sprawl and particularly the wasting of biologically productive lands for housing when there are other lands more appropriate for new developments.

Think about WNY, we have many tens of thousands of fewer people but than in 1970... but yet we take up almost 100% more land than we did in 1970. More infrastructure, fewer people.. Much of our lands in East Aurora, Clarence, Wheatfield are wonderfully fertile lands. These should be supported as such so we can continue to grow our nations food supplies.

Once land is built upon.. it loses a huge amount of its fertility and productive value. With an expected 138-150 million more people in the US by 2050 we need space to grow food. Or unlike our goods, we will become reliant on imports from other countries.

Electric cars will be embraced by consumers when the cost of electricity is substantially less the gasoline. Until the government signals that they are willing to reduce government obstacles to electricity production, the public will not be confident in electric cars.

Electricity is more dependent on domestic energy supplies than the more importable fuels such as oil and liquefied natural gas. I don't think that electric cars are going to be taken seriously by consumers until they see that we are creating an abundance of electricity from nuclear and coal fueled power plants.

Technology wise, I don't doubt that electric/electronic cars can eventually surpass gasoline cars in size, comfort, safety, and performance.

Buffalo can build the infrastructure you need to support electric vehicles. Here's a free resource http://EVtransPortal.com/cerip.html An example of a company you can find there is Evoasis. They are offering to install charging points free of charge through the end of 2008, you'll need to hurry to take them up on that offer.