[hugh]

Apparently not included in the plan: building new power stations, or even any discussion of it.

Anyone got any good numbers on questions like: if half of California's cars were switched to electrical over the next ten years, how many more power stations would the state require?

[DaniFong]

It depends on how much use they get out of each vehicle and which sort of vehicle they are. I calculated that about ten square meters of mirrors at a solar thermal station would power one average U.S. daily commute with an electric microcar. A low drag vehicle like the Aptera would require around 5 - 6 square meters, instead. Provided that we can get our drivetrain, engine, and regenerative braking as efficient as we think we can, then we can get that down to 3 square meters for a compressed air powered microcar, and less than 1 square meter for a compressed air powered scooter.

[netcan]

How much emissions (if any) are saved under different power plant regimes coal, gas, etc. Anyone have an idea?

[coryrc]

Chip Gribben does: http://www.evdl.org/docs/powerplant.pdf

He has a 2.5 page bibliography at the end, if you need more exact answers.

[DaniFong]

Tesla Motors does as well; they do a well-to-wheel analysis.

http://me222.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/twentyfirstcenturyc...