Maybe, maybe not

(11-20) 20:18 PST — Bay Area environmental leaders are counting on a $1 billion investment to build the nation’s first electric vehicle network - with service stations to recharge batteries and garages to swap depleted batteries for fresh ones - and finally make the gasoline-free cars practical....

San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland will begin implementing their own policies next month, with plans to make electrical outlets for low-voltage vehicles available on all public buildings next year. Higher-voltage charging equipment also will be made available at city parking lots and curbs - including one plan to put outlets in sidewalk streetlights in San Jose and San Francisco.

[From Making Bay Area friendly for electric cars]

In International Falls, MN - admittedly, last time I was there was a long time ago, but I see no reason why it might have changed - there were electrical outlets on all the parking meters in the business district so, during the long winter, drivers could plug in their head bolt heaters - devices that kept a car's oil from becoming so cold and sluggish the car wouldn't start. Most of us who lived in Northern Minnesota had head bolt heaters in our cars.

So widespread public distribution of electrical power - in this case, outlets on streetlights for re-charging electric cars - is clearly possible. The scale is different, in the Bay Area, but the problem is the same.

But I still have my doubts. Hasn't California been known to have power problems - rolling blackouts or greyouts during the summer months? Nationally, in fact, the power grid seems barely capable of handling air conditioning, let along re-charging a sizable fleet of cars. Even around here, in the nether regions of New England, we have the occasional power blip in the summer. And don't even ask what happens in the winter after snow storms, not to mention sleet and ice. In fact, pick up any newspaper after a major tantrum of nature - from snowstorm to flood, from hurricane to earthquake - and power outages are part of the story. Prolonged power failure makes it impossible to pump gas too, but at least you can run your car a whole lot longer on a tank of gas than you can on any battery available today.

Plus, of course, electrical power doesn't necessarily solve all the environmental issues autos raise - most of them it just moves somewhere else. (And some, like battery disposal, it adds.)

I'm willing to be convinced - and I like the hybrid idea a lot - but right now I don't see all-electric cars as much of a boon.