That last post made me think about how our language will need to change to adjust to a new reality of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs).

Typically, we speak of cars in terms of a) gas mileage - MPG; b) speed - MPH; c) acceleration - 0 to 60; and d) gasoline cost - $/gal. From boyhood up, I fantasized about a speedy coupe like a Ferrari or a luxury sedan like a Mercedes. The car review section in the Sunday paper almost always talks in terms of performance or comfort, rarely in terms of environmental impact.

In a new PEV era, talking about cars will require a bit of a paradigm shift and it is going to be a little disconcerting.

We'll be talking about a) range instead of gas mileage - how far can you go on a charge?; b) speed will be the same concept; c) acceleration - except for the Tesla - few will own these - acceleration will be much less important in PEVs, because speeding about takes a lot of juice, and until storage improves, rapidly discharging comes at the expense of range; d) energy cost will be much less, and it will be in terms of $/kWh - we're not used to that. Finally, how many of us can say what our car gets now in terms of lbs CO2/mile ... mine is 0.57...how about yours?

Topping up will become much more common - think of how many more electrical outlets there are than there are gas stations...given the lack of range for the foreseeable future, I imagine the electric car owner will take advantage of plugs and idle parking time to charge wherever possible. Solar PV garages, anyone?