'Green' auto movement facing an uphill climb (2)

Intrigued, but balking
Based on JD Power research of new vehicle buyers in China - and in major markets around the world - while many consumers are intrigued by the idea of owning an electric vehicle, they balk when they learn about the price premium associated with these vehicles.
In China and other markets, the retail price of an electric vehicle can be double that of a similarly sized conventional vehicle. This price premium is usually met with significant resistance by consumers.
Even with government-provided subsidies, credits, rebates and other types of incentives, electric vehicles can typically cost 25 to 50 percent more than their conventional counterparts.
The path forward for growing an EV industry is not likely to be easy, but pursuit of an electric future is almost mandatory.
A report by the International Monetary Fund, issued earlier this month, warned that dwindling global oil supplies should drive oil prices upward as demand increases - especially in countries like China, where oil demand is soaring, and annual vehicle sales are expected to double in the next decade.
China today is the second largest consumer of oil in the world after the United States. In 2010, China's imports of crude oil accounted for a little more than half of the country's total oil consumption, government experts say.
Importing more than 50 percent of annual oil consumption is generally recognized by oil industry experts as an energy security issue.
The concern doesn't end there.
In 2010, the International Energy Agency estimated that growth in China's oil demand was increasing at a rate 8 times faster than global supply growth.
According to industry analysts, at the current rate of demand growth, nearly two-thirds of the oil consumed in China will have to be imported by 2020.
Since it is estimated that 60 percent of oil consumed in China today is used to power the national vehicle fleet, it is only natural to look for an alternative. That alternative is electric vehicles.
However, even if breakthroughs in electric vehicle technology can be achieved - to give them greater range, faster recharge times and better performance in suboptimal operating conditions - and even if the prices come down substantially to make them more attractive to consumers, the challenges do not end there.
Electricity would need to be produced in sufficient volume to power a growing national fleet of electric vehicles, and that electricity is created at power plants usually fired by coal.
China controls the world's largest reserves of coal, so access to coal resources is not an issue.