Consider the source of most of the world's electricity. More on the Chevy Volt
Eventually electric motors will power the wheels on most cars, but what will supply the electricity to the motors? That is the main Research and Development effort, read on
I still wonder about the other factors surrounding the car of the future. Cutting weight in half would quadruple the range, driving at half speed would quadruple the range again, etc. These issues appear to have scurried to the shadows like so many cockroaches; well, there are the the whimsical efforts of Didik : muscle car, simplicity.
Where is the low weight car in the manufacturers future? It's barely visible (The 2009 Tata motors Nano at $2500!, the Mini $30,000, the Flybo, more). I believe American manufacturers are faced with continued demands for vehicle size and high safety standards.
Will all light vehicles be classified as bicycles and golf carts? Ships and Trains have been hybrids for half a century.
Maybe there is a need for a new class of vehicle in legislation that consumers and manufacturers can use. (example: Twike 507 will be registered under a brand new Vermont law that covers electrically powered enclosed motorcycles under 1,500 lbs.; no helmet or motorcycle license will be required. )
Where is consumer restraint in all this debate? The Twike manual
Steve plays with numbers:
it costs about $2 for 2 chocolate bars to run your push bike for 10 hours (averaging 100 watts).
it costs about 10 cents for the electricity to run a push bike for 10 hours (averaging 100 watts)
Conclusion, pedaling is 20 times more expensive than plugging in!
1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) = 3,600,000 joule (J) = 3,600 kilojoule (kJ) = 860 calories
(about as much energy as is contained in two bars of chocolate);
this is equivalent to 1,000 watts of power expended for one hour.
