Air conditioning and other minor car appliances. Could a system similar to a small wind turbine not only power car appliances but create extra vacuum of wind from the turbine blades cooling engine bay or braking systems. However I am not sure if the turbines would cause problems such as A) make the cars engine work harder due to resistance, B) having the technology for the wind turbines/generators made small enough for this application and C) produce enough power to run even small systems like lights, audio systems or air conditioning. Maybe the turbines could work in conjunction with solar roof panels working with the cars alternator. Is this idea flawed, what's your opinion. Cheers John.

What factors might detract from creating cars with higher fuel efficiency or cars that use alternative energy sources?

Says we could cut foreign oil imports by 20% in ten years.
Produce 20% clean electricity by windpower and use natural gas for fuel for cars that is 98% produced in North America and currently cost 1 dollar a gallon.

Plus unlike any other plan proposed so far it is possible with current technology and cost structures.

Pickens' plan would divert natural gas usage from power generation to vehicle fuel, reducing reliance on oil.

Cars could run on natural gas. Yes. That makes sense.

Pickens' plan would increase wind power generation. Wind is an underutilized generating source. That makes sense.

But wind is a baseload power source and is not reliable enough to use for peak power.

Natural gas plants can be turned off and on more easily than other plants, and natural gas is expensive, thus it is used primarily for peak power - power generation during high-demand times, when you need a reliable source.

Thus, you can't replace gas with wind, even though they're both power generating sources, because they meet different market segments.

Yes we should build more wind capacity for baseload generation, but doing that won't enable us to divert natural gas from peak power generation to use as a vehicle fuel.

More wind power would enable us to increase exports of coal, which is great, though the green-types don't want to hear that.

But it doesn't solve the issue of dependence on foreign oil - other than a de facto coal-for-oil program.

Why don't more people see this?

Know-it-all, the cost to store wind-generated power would make it much more expensive, which kind of defeats the purpose - - at that rate why not just use nuclear?
Blackcat - wind can be use for power generation only if it is windy.

70% of all the cars on the road now are over 10 years old, and there is no affordable alternative in the foreseeable future. Its not going to be any different in 10 years.
Even when a decent alternative to oil is available, it is going to be DECADES before it is the norm.

What a coincidence that Obama won't even be in the white house in 10 years.

It may seem silly but cant you put an additional fan where the radiator fan is on an electric car to use the cars forward movement to turn the fan which in turn will charge the cars battery? It makes sense to me. What do you think?