what most people seem to miss when arguing "U.S. Vs. Europe" fuel prices, is that our respective economies are structured around what our energy costs are. Sure the US pays much less for gasoline/Petrol than the UK. But that is what we are used to paying, and that cost structure is built into our overall cost of living, budgets, pay scales, etc both in individual households, and commercial business. So when we see an over 50% rise in prices in a relatively short span of time, it hurts just as much as when those in the UK go from paying $7 per gallon to say, $9 per gallon. Gradual increases in energy prices are tolerable. Large spikes in energy costs are harmful to all industrial economies. As for the new battery, yes it will be a boon to the hybrid car industry. But pure electric vehicles suffer from a big problem aside from long charging times. That is the fact that the energy to charge the vehicles comes from a power plant burning fossil fuels for the most part. If we were to switch our reliance from oil refineries to electrical generation plants for powering the hundreds of millions of cars in the US, think of the massive increase in the number of fuel-burning power plants it would require. We already have little reserve capacity in our power generation grid as evidenced by the rolling blackout problems in various states over the last few years. Whatever we do in the area of powering vehicles, it must not merely exchange one inefficient, polluting and fossil fuel consuming power source for another.

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