Dirty Coal statistic of the day

The solar array on this Boulder, Colo. business contrasts sharply with the coal plant smokestacks that tower over it. [Photo Credit: Christof Demont-Heinrich]

People are attracted to electric cars for four basic reasons:

• Technology -- they want the newest, latest thing;
• Foreign oil dependence -- they want to reduce their country's dependence on foreign oil, often for reasons of natural security;
• Economics -- you can save money, in many cases, quite a bit of money by driving an EV;
• Environment -- Driving an EV is better for the environment, especially if: a) you produce your own, home-grown renewable energy to partially, or fully power it; b) and/or you live in a place in which a high percentage of electricity is generated by renewable energy forms (for instance, in the American Northwest)

In many cases, probably most, a combination of Technology, Foreign Oil Dependence, Economic, and Environmental considerations inspires people to leap onto the rapidly growing EV-Express.

Air pollution kills tens of thousands annually in smog-choked Southern California. [Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Licensed Photo]

It often seems as if most people don't care about air pollution. This despite the fact that it kills tens of thousands of people in the U.S. every year.

This might be because people don't see air pollution -- although, of course, all it takes to see air pollution is a diesel powered truck roaring by.

Whatever the reason that the real dangers of air pollution don't appear to register for many Americans, there are some places in the U.S., and in the world, where air pollution is so bad, it's impossible to ignore.

A lifelong fan of solar, Phil Blackwood got a MINI E and then put up a 9.4 kW home solar system so that he could power it -- and his home -- with sun. [Photo Courtesy of Phil Blackwood]

Phil Blackwood had been celebrating solar from afar for years.

On the drive home from work, he’d eye homes with solar and wish he had a sleek, shiny PV array for his Lincroft, New Jersey home.

However, while many solar gawkers jealously eye others’ home solar systems from inside a gasoline-powered car, for the past year or so Blackwood wasn’t driving past local PV systems in an average vehicle. He was zipping by in a car that can actually run on the energy produced by a home solar array – a MINI E, an electric prototype version of BMW’s MINI.

This picture of a Roadster speeding by a wind farm is the first thing visitors to the Tesla Motors web site see. [Photo Credit: Tesla Motors]

The photo above, of a Tesla Roadster speeding by a wind turbine farm, captures perfectly the revolutionary potential of EVs.

Unlike gasoline powered cars, which will never have the capacity to plug into wind, solar, geothermal, hydro and other forms of renewable energy, EVs can tap these air pollution free sources directly.

This is a truly radical advantage for EVs.