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Originally Posted by coldfusion1279
One major obstacle to pure electric cars like this is the strain it put on the power grid. Whoever said infrastructure was right, but not about "where to plug it in" but where the power is coming from. This switches a huge volume of cars from chemical energy to electrical energy. A switch that many parts of the country probably cannot currently handle if these cars are successful.
That being said, I will go back to drooling at the Tesla.
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You're right, the electric grid in this country is barely adequate to serve our current peak demand periods, and is due anyway for major investment in upgraded infrastructure to handle the expected population growth of 100 million people over the next fifty years. The only problem are the selfish NIMBYs who bought property next to existing high voltage transmission lines then fight any plan to upgrade the power lines to handle more juice, but then rabidly complain any time their electricity goes out for more than a second that the electric company should do more to prevent blackouts.
Any major push to upgrade the electric grid would probably also occur concurrently with the construction of new nuclear, new renewable, and new natural gas plants. Right now the American Midwest is to wind what Saudi Arabia is to oil; we only need to harvest this power and get it to our cities. Also, installing wind turbines on farmland in the nations heartland can help struggling farmers.
While the wind isn't always blowing, put enough wind turbines over a large enough area, and you'll see that the output of the entire wind farm will be pretty stable. But even so, renewable energy can be complimented by natural gas; with very little pollution and the ability to bring a natural gas power plant to full generating capacity in 20 minutes (oil and coal plants take an entire day to "warm up"), the natural gas plants can offset any temporary loss in wind. Then to provide a stable backbone of the electric grid, nuclear. But, construction of any new nuclear plants should proceed cautiously until we finally start building the Yucca Mountain containment facility.
There are also other ideas to harness the excess energy of wind when their isn't sufficient demand, and it can come in the form of either pumped water energy storage or centrifuge storage. In the former, excess electricity is used to pump water from a low location to a really high location. Then when electric demand increases, they open the gates on the upper reservoir and let the potential energy of the water generate electricity. There are already numerous power plants like this already stationed all across the world.
Another idea for energy storage I saw a few years ago was to put heavy cylindrical masses in a nearly perfect vacuum, then use magnetic bearings such they they would be suspended in place without touching anything. Then when there is excess electricity, electromagnets begin spinning the huge mass faster and faster. Since the masses are held in a vacuum with magnetic bearings, there is essentially no friction (only an ever so slight amount due to our inability to generate a perfect vacuum), and thus once spinning can stay that way for weeks or months without any additional input. Then when demand turns around, you can use the electromagnets to pull energy off the spinning masses, and sell that electricity back to the electric grid.
Rather than look at new and upcoming ideas and ask "Why?", we should be asking "Why not?". For every potential problem with new technology, someone, somewhere is most likely working on a fix to make it better. And if they aren't, then patent your idea and do it yourself! Let's finally create that awesome future with lunar bases and bullet trains and clean air from electric cars and robot butlers and commercial space flight and everything else we've been promised for decades. We as a society are always moving forward, always progressing, so let's not let cynicism about imperfections in current and upcoming technology hold us back from implementing and solving these issues, and in the process improving the health and well being of society.