The good thing that will probably come from this is a shiny new congress. That will happen about 19 months and 5 million more lost jobs from now.

huggy, I've got to be totally cynical: Do you actually expect a new congress to be any more competent or honest than this sad example we have now?

On the topic. I was under the impression that Obamama's environmental program would make it even more difficult and costly to produce more electricity. How in the hell does that jive with promoting higher consumption? Aw, why do I even ask, they're so freaking incompetent, they couldn't figure it out if it bit them.
Sorry, I have just totally lost confidence. I hope the turds hit the fan so hard, that all those systemic problems finally get addressed. Ugly, but I see no choice.

It will maintain the price differential between a hybrid and a conventional vehicle at $7,500.

Even if the differential is smaller, that future $7500 has an opportunity cost that only someone who can buy the car at the dealer price without a rebate can afford.

All consumption-based tax credits are "for the rich," or at least the not-poor. You have to buy them, while whatever poor people buy a disproportionate lot of gets "sin" taxed at above the highest marginal income-tax rate.

That's not all a bunch of accidents.

the 1908 Model T Ford got better mileage than a typical sport utility vehicle in 2008

Sure, it was a deathtrap, unheated and uncooled, loud, slow, but it got slightly better fuel economy... with the far more volatile gasolines of the time.

And at a claimed "13-21 mpg", that's not better than a lot of SUVs. (The Honda Pilot gets 16/22.)

"So the problem isn't a lack of technology"...huh? The problem is *specifically* the lack of battery technology that would--in terms of weight, size, cost, and life--make the plug-in hybrid a viable unsubsidized proposition for general use.

This is revelatory about Obama's attitude: all problems are problems of power relationships and can be solved by the restructuring of those relationships.

Sig: my mother's '69 Rambler Ambassador got 17/24 mpg, & it was a V8 that cruised at 80 feeling like it was doing 50. Also, it had smog attachments feeding blow by back with a PCV valve. After we removed the smog crap, we got 26 highway at 70+.
The carcass was hauled out for restoration 3 years ago with 400,000 plus miles on the original block.
Also, it was fully loaded with air, power steering, power brakes, and automatic.
One memorable trip was in 1972 across the salt flats to Salt Lake City at 90 mph. My parents didn't have a clue at the speed because the car felt like it was floating.

The "Smart Grid" is just a cover story for "demand management." That is, since wind and solar are so unreliable but politically correct, when wind and solar are not available, demand will be managed to fit the grid capacity.

That means remote-controlled thermostats, controls on use of home appliances, hot water heaters, etc.

The state will reach into your home and tell you what and when you can buy electrical power.

As to electric cars, they will ever be limited by batteries. Batteries will ever be limited by electrochemistry which tells us that the best reactant is lithium.

We got lithium batteries alread but they don't have much further to go in their develoment cycle.

Hence, electric cars won't get much more capable.

Another liberal pipe dream.

Whitehall,

Demand management is not a bad idea. It is used on aircraft electrical systems. Load shedding is done in an orderly way if demand exceeds supply. This prevents a total loss of power.

It is already done with customers who are on interruptible contracts. Electric furnace steel mills and aluminum smelters for instance.