Everybody is screaming that the US must get off foreign oil, and

for car makers to produce electric or other alternative fueled cars, but IF all that happens, just how many NEW CARS are they actually going to be able to sell?

I've always bought used cars. Maybe 2 years old, but still used. I pay 1/2 or less of what that car cost NEW. and I drive them as long as I don't have any expensive problems with them. Right now, my newest one is 10 years old and has 70,000 miles on it and NO PROBLMS, and my oldest is 21 years old, has 125,000 miles, and other than oil & tires, coat me $150 for a repair to the oxygen system in the whole 21 years.

How many people like me are there? OK, maybe most people don't keep their car for 20 years, but there are lots of people who buy used cars because they can't afford new ones, and there are LOTS <ORE that don't buy a new car every few years.

I'd like to see us get off foreign oil too, but people aren't going to scrap their current cars just to buy an electric one.

there will be something used that is energy efficient.

...purchase new cars.

It would all depend on what happens to the cost of gas and upkeep on carbon based vehicles. The reason people keep their cars for a long time is the newer cars, though marginally better, are not substantial upgrades from what they already have. Sure there will be a transition period but at some point the equilibrium point will be reached where there will be fewer and fewer 'gas' stations and more and more 'charging' stations or possibly for plug in vehicles no stations at all. At that point the cost and inconvenience of owning a 'gas' vehicle will become too much of a burden and people will be forced into the newer vehicles. Will there be those that hold out to the bitter end, sure, but literally as those drivers die off and new drivers that have grown up with electric vehicles take over the 'gas guzzler' will go the way of the horse and buggy.

if they keep them at 35000 bucks apiece.

When dealing with introducing a new technology it usually starts off pretty pricey (look at PCs or flat panel TVs when they first came out). The people with money that like to be on the cutting edge will be the first to buy in. If the price of gas goes up to the point where the difference in mileage is equivalent to the payment for an electrical vehicle, no matter what the overall cost of the vehicle is, then it will make sense for more middle to upper income people to purchase. As demand goes up and production ramps up to fill that void and when you start to see used versions available then the price will start to come down to a more affordable level.

a way to make the price a tad lower so people that want to do the right thing can.Get market share and then try to make money.