Michael Fumento

What's the greatest fear of the owner of a purely electric car? Running out of juice, of course! Feed the fat cats!Not even a tiny gasoline engine to chug on home or to the nearest gas station. This not only eliminates long trips but can induce a nervousness even around town dubbed "range anxiety." But fear not; there's an answer! Installing recharging facilities - and lots of 'em because juicing up a car battery is a sloooooooow process. (Car owners, bring a book. Like "War and Peace.)

On Monday, reports the Washington Post, a coalition of companies including "Nissan, FedEx, PG&E and NRG Energy issued a report calling for billions of dollars in government aid to support the transition of the U.S. vehicle fleet to cars that run on batteries. The group is asking for $124 billion in government incentives over eight years including $13.5 billion for tax credits to build public charging stations."

What shock! (Pardon the pun.) Aren't government handouts, including corporate welfare, the answer to all problems? And everybody knows about the big fat surplus the Obama Administration is running. Meanwhile, buyers of electric cars are already getting a fat $7,500 write-off.

Message to electric car sellers and buyers about "range anxiety": Sounds like a personal problem.