well PHEV vehicles are becoming very popular and intriguing --
(in Business Week article) these are hybrid vehicles such as the prius
which are modified with a larger battery pack is added and are recharged.
The car is plugged in overnight and can typically travel 50km before switching over to gas.. Since most daily commutes are 30kms? or the number of times one needs to gas up is very low. Also the power used is offpeak electricity. Of course theres still a way to go, modifying a vehicle will void its warranty, and Toyota still has no plans in making a Plug in Hybrid Vehicle but possible consumers may make the choice themselves given ever higher gas prices..

OF course if everyone switches over then there would be more demand for electricity..