For me, the bar on electric cars has been range and recharge time. I don't see much point in a car that can only go, say 200 miles and then needs 12 hours to re-charge -- a 400 mile trip would take a full day longer than it does now! Fortunately, there seem to be a lot of advancements in the battery realm lately, as yvanleterrible alludes to: better capacity, ridiculously short charge times -- the
practical reality is getting closer. Of course, I'll likely run up against price as a hurdle next.
The only blind spot most folks seem to have with e-cars is that the electricity still has to be
generated at some point, which is still mostly a fossil fuel driven operation, so you just move the 'emissions' from the car itself, to the generation plant.
Additionally, you have efficiency losses at all four points of the chain (generation, transmission, charging, and actual
use), so e-cars still have a bit to overcome before they pass the
ICE on efficiency.
However, I've been keeping a gimlet gaze on
these folks who are working on Quantum Electron Tunneling devices that should get conversion 70-80% efficiency (compared to ~40% for conventional generation facilities). As I recall, they've taken out a patent for a 'Thermionic Car' that would use their devices to convert heat -- from the burning of
whatever fuel (pure ethanol, anyone?) -- directly to electricity (at ~75% efficiency, thank you) to power the car's electric motors.
I
wants some of these things.
I has
plans for them, I does.
