Should Electric Vehicles Be Promoted?

According to a recent article in the New York Times, there are at least four different ways to recharge electric vehicles. There's the standard 120 Volt wall socket that is typically found in most homeowners homes. There's also a 240 Volt charger, which can be purchased for several thousand dollars. The advantage of this is that it charges much more quickly than 120 Volt wall chargers. And for $30,000 along with not being widely available, it is a superfast public charger. Both the 240 Volt charger and the superfast charger could be used in public settings.

The drawback for the super-fast charging devices is that they can cost about $.49 a kilowatt hour, which makes the electricity more costly than operating a gas powered vehicle.

For many individuals who drive to and from work within the range of an electric vehicle, the 120 Volt wall socket is perfect because the vehicle can simply be plugged in overnight. However, one study pointed out that less than half of the cars have a regular off-street parking spot where a charger could be installed.

To encourage electric car use, some states are requiring the installation of chargers in certain types of buildings like apartment buildings or with certain types of big retailers.

Do you think that governments should be encouraging the use of electric cars?  Should it be required that recharging devices be installed in public? Is the plug-in hybrid (combines battery with gas engine) a better alternative?

I would love to hear your comments. Visit the Mark Langschied Law blog for more automotive blog posts.