Quote from Random.Capital:
For every million electric cars on the road, you need the rough equivalent of a Three Gorges to power them. On the east coast, some of this can be taken up by running the coal-powered parts of the grid 24/7. On the west coast, you either need to build similar plants or start flooding the state of Oregon for the mother of all hydroelectrics.
It's all solvable, but make no mistake, electrics aren't a free lunch and they sure as heck aren't "green".
Enough solar electricity could be generated by existing technology in the Mojave Desert to power every home and and car in North America, the bailout money would pay for the entire project probably.. but first you would have to get Big Oil to step aside.....