"According to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, existing U.S. power plants could meet the electricity needs of 73% of the nation’s light vehicles (i.e., cars and small trucks) if the vehicles were replaced by plug-ins that recharged at night. Such a shift would reduce oil consumption by 6.2 million barrels per day, eliminating 52% of current imports."

So we are currently wasting all this power at night and a smart grid would enable plug in vehicles to use it. The transition would pay for itself — that much is clear.

But the big win comes with alternative energy inputs as they become integrated with our existing grid. Then your car would be powered by an increasing amount of wind, solar and geothermal via the electrical grid. Clean nuclear, natural gas, and even clean coal can all contribute to the system. The idea is to re-engineer the electrical grid as an open system that can accept input from unlimited sources. Like the internet, it would then become a framework for innovation and ever increasing efficiency.