Electric cars do not require nuclear power. Nuclear power, if you track the complete life-cycle costs, isn't very efficient. There is also a small problem with a small supply of commercially viable uranium. Double the number of nuclear plants and uranium becomes the next oil, something to fight over and speculate in.

The existing coal, oil and natural gas power plants will work quite well. There is going to be increasing pressure, both domestic and internationally, to shift away from carbon-rich energy sources. This is going to gradually force a shift from fossil fuels to any combination of wind, hydro, solar, nuclear, etcetera. But all this is independent of the shift to elelctric cars. A shift that might take fifty years or more. The gasoline infrastructure, a matrix of fuel suppliers, outlets, car manufacturers, and mechanics, part houses, highways, and all the rest. This matrix took decades to get a foot in the door and the basic structure is roughly one hundred years old.

Electric cars get a leg up because much of the infrastructure, roads, repair shops, hotels can be used. The energy allocation and distribution systems will change but much of this can ride on existing systems. The poor load diversity of our present system, requiring the system to be designed around the maximum load, is, in this case, something of a virtue.

Electric vehicles are gradually going to be phased in. It is going to take decades and the initial offerings will be marginal. As with gasoline fueled vehicles they will improve with time.