Electric Inflation?

While I profess no intimate knowledge on the industry, I am curious as to how a mass uptake of pure electric cars will affect electricity prices.  The cars I am talking about are the ones that are purely battery powered and need to be plugged in to charge.  The Perspective section in the Australian Financial Review (Weekend edition, 14/06/08 ) mentions the new Chevrolet Volt and Fords new electric Shelby Cobra as examples of a possible, if not, inevitable future for the automotive industry.

California company, Tesla motors claim that one their roadsters will only cost US1.25c a litre to charge.  However, this is with the caveat that it’s assuming present day electricity prices (and charging only at off-peak times?).  Can we assume higher electricity prices with mainstream use of plug-and-drive cars?

Speaking from anecdotal experience, I’m pretty sure Adelaide would not be able to sustain such a constant drain on it’s grid unless there was considerable infrastructure spending to go with it.  Which brings on the debate as to whether the government should have a hand in assisting industry establishing convenient recharge points.

There is hope that there will be batteries good enough that actually provide power to the grid, the tricky part is the interim when the adage of gas-guzzler will simple move to electricity.  Whilst the idea of a viable alternative to petrol powered combustible motors sounds great, I would hate to think that the drive (no pun intended) towards 100% electric powered cars becomes the new infltionary pressure craze.

Given the commonality of heatwaves here and the extreme strain that airconiditoning units take, will the future solution be us having to cool down in our electric powered cars?