Electric Cars

Here's a starter on electric cars:
http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/5104

I have no concrete figures or studies on this, but a strong suspicion
based on the actions of Detroit, as much as anything:

An internal combustion engine encapsulates between 1000 and 6000
small explosions per minute. Over the years, automotive designers
have succeeded in developing designs which control and distribute
the ensuing vibration, heat, and exhaust, minimizing the damage.
Nevertheless, they have built into the consuming public the expectation
that the average automobile will only last for, maybe 6 years,
maybe 150,000 miles.

Contrast this with electric motor systems, which contain no explosions,
create little heat, and create very little vibration:
in virtually all the devices I have owned which employ electric motors,
the electric motors don't fail.
I had a band saw that I cut firewood with until one of the wheels fell off.
I have drills and sanders that last forever
unless an axle breaks or a bearing fails (and I can't find a replacement).
I have scavenged many an old washer or dryer, worn out and left on the curb for dead, for the motor, to put to some new use in my shop.

The key thing about electric cars is that they are likely to last
for decades. I am convinced that this is precisely why
Detroit has successfully suppressed their research, design and manufacture for the last 100 years,
and why they will take hold, now.
The savings to the consumer in depreciation costs will far outway
fuel costs (although the fuel, going forward, will also be cheaper.)

got coal??????