On Thursday, January 3, 2013 1:34:32 PM UTC-5, wrote:


If by "not too distant future" you mean 50 years, than I think a big

maybe.



Absent some astounding breakthrough in portable electric generation, i.e.

all devices such as fuel cells and not just batteries, I doubt the all

electric vehicle will ever become a significant fraction of vehicles on

the road.



Hybrid vehicles stand a much better chance, the biggest current obstacle

being the huge premium in cost.

When airplanes were invented, many argued that it will never become an economical transportation.

When computers were invented, even the president of IBM said he does not think there was much of a market for personal computers.

When automobiles were invented, it was criticized for being so unreliable compared to the horse.

On the other hand, there as just as many examples where things did not work out. Like the space program. We never went back to the moon or set up a permanent colony.

America enjoyed the prosperity from the automobile, airplane and computers. Electric vehicles could just be the next big thing. While there is no guarantee of success, failure is pretty much guaranteed if we don't try.