We fire coal to boil water and runa steam turbine generator. This converts much but not all, of the heat to a differnt energy source/form; electricity.
Electricity produced by coal, NG or nuclear, is a "distilled" power source. It doe not heat efficiently and does not power a heavy vehicle with efficiency. Coverting it back to heat suffers a loss in transition and transmission.
It is a better form of energy from coal heat for lighting, communications. cooling and running small motors. But gasoline, NG and coal, when fired directly for heat or propulsion, work better.
Our solution to transportation may need to be a synthetic form of combustable fuel that directly replaces gasoline. Science fiction perhaps. But consider, that the electric car preceeded the internal combustion engine and that it failed to compete over 100 years ago.
Have the physical laws of energy conversion changed? More to the point, have the laws of the free market been changed?
There will come a time when the availability of useful crude will diminish and market forces will incourage technological changes. By most accounts, 2100 will see the end of usefully recoverable Crude.
This whether we burn it in our cars and trucks, or the Chineese, andthe rest of the world, do so in theirs.
If we look back at the history of the auto, it was not the government that created it's innovations and developement to the current form but consummer preferences. Private sector attempts rife with failure including attempts to power autos with steam(coal &LP), electricity, wood smoke,compressed air and a multitude of internal combustion power plants running on peanut oil, petroleum, NG and manure.
What has won the day? Gasoline and diesel. And though the carcasses of thousands of failures litter the history of the automoble's evolution, we have a current winner.
Electric ain't it. Not just yet anyway.
I would suggest that we let natural market forces bring the electric vehicle to it's potential, not government mandates which actually stifle innovation. Ford may be onto somethingbut so far, the public doesn't get it. It is up to Ford, not Obama, to make the sale.