WASHINGTON — More than a decade ago, GM killed an electric car called the EV1; the company said motorists weren’t interested, but many analysts said a hidebound GM lacked interest.
The car ended up as an expensive public-relations debacle. It didn’t help that oil prices at the time had collapsed.
But even if oil prices are high, there are bumps in the road to a plug-in automobile future.
If large numbers of electric cars are plugged in at the wrong time of day, they could strain utility capacity.
“Today, our electric grid cannot support massive quantities of plug-in hybrid vehicles very well,” said Peter Darbee, chief executive of Pacific Gas and Electric.
Depending on a utility’s fuel mix, plug-in vehicles could boost particulates, or soot. And only half of Americans have electrical outlets where they park their cars at night, according to a major auto- firm executive.
Electric vehicles might not solve all strategic issues, either.
James Woolsey, former head of the CIA, promotes electric cars because, he says, “We can, we should and we must, as a major national priority . . . absolutely, totally, completely destroy oil’s monopoly” to break the U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
But Irving Mintzer, an energy expert, notes that most electric vehicle motors contain rare elements such as neodymium, and about 95 percent of the world’s supply currently comes from China.
The United States might swap one form of dependence for another, he said.
And then there is the question of consumer tastes and habits.
Alan Madian, director of consulting firm LECG, notes that it takes time for motorists to get used to new types of cars; for example, it has taken a decade for Toyota to sell 1 million Priuses, less than 1 percent of the cars on the road.
