Electric vehicles coming to a street near you

A state legislative committee is meeting in Long Beach tomorrow. I know, sounds like a bore. But the topic actually sounds interesting. They'll be talking about whether California's infrastructure is ready for plug-in electric cars. Will the state have enough charging stations for the Chevy Volts and Nissan Leafs soon to be hitting the pavement?

When I read about the meeting, it reminded me of a video I recently watched on latimes.com and now have a reason to share. Times reporter Susan Carpenter  experimented with driving an electric vehicle, using energy generated by solar panels installed on her roof, to be truly emissions free. It made me want an electric car even more, although first I'd need the house and roof on which to install the solar panels.

 

I'm curious about how driving an electric cars works. Would owners charge their cars at home, like Carpenter? Or at public charging stations like they do at gas pumps? And, more importantly, is it really better to be fueling your commute with electricity instead of gas? That's why Carpenter's experiment is so intriguing, she's using just the sun to power her car. Along with the video, she wrote this fascinating column about the intricacies of installing solar panels on her roof to charge an electric car, which answered some of my questions (you can charge them using a standard 120-volt outlet that you'd find in any home, although it's much faster when you use a 240-volt charger that charging stations would have).

I'm hoping I'll learn even more after tomorrow's meeting. Not that I'll be there because I've gotta work, but there should be news coverage of it. I know I'm not the only one who's clueless and curious.