On the question of turning a gas-burner into a coal-fired car, I think it is still an improvement. While it is true that the vast majority of electric power in the United States comes from coal, with an electric car you at least have the option of using renewable power sources like wind or solar. Also, my understanding is that by switching to electricity from a power plant, regardless of how it’s made, you are benefiting from the strength of scale. A large power plant is just more efficient at making electricity that an engine of the size that’s in a car. Plus, you have the innate efficiency that comes from a car that doesn’t continue to use energy and emit pollution while stuck in traffic.

You are correct that it is time to take another look at nuclear power, and I think society as a whole (even the environmentalists) are changing their minds about it. Despite the fact that people are changing their minds about the value of nuclear power, it is not a fair leap to say that the environmentalists caused global warming. We are all responsible for that. It took a lot more than coal power plants to get us where we are today.

At this point, converting a car to electric is not something that you do in order to replace a gasoline car. Modern gas-powered vehicles work extremely well, and the truth is that battery technology to make electrics serious competitors just isn’t there yet. The reason to do it now is to learn, and to get the ball rolling. There is no way to know what technology will be running our vehicles in 200 years, but from what we know now there is no way it will be gasoline. I see an electric conversion project as an interesting challenge, and my hope is that by making one and driving it I can have less of an impact on the environment, and maybe even be a tiny, little help in the transition to whatever power-source is going to fuel our cars in the future.

You also brought up the question of the ethical and social responsibility involved in driving around with all that acid in the batteries of an electric car. That’s a very good question, and something I know little about. My hope for a while now has been that I would be using a Prius battery if I could get one, and get it to work in my electric. I figure that by using an existing product in the way it was intended (almost) I would benefit from all of the safety testing that Toyota has already done. I have no idea yet if this is a practical idea though. The ethical and social responsibility of an electric car is a very important question for sure. Thanks for bringing it up.