http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060902/..._petition_dc_2

As usual, battery technology and the weight of the batteries is the key factor. To make a car to run on batteries MOST of the time and on the ICE only occasionally means a car with more battery storage capacity. And to make a practical car that means lighter batteries that can hold a bigger charge.

 

I'm sure the power companies are chomping at the bit to dig deeper into our wallets and are jealous that the big oil companies are doing it to us already. I wonder what the miles/KWhr of charge conversion rate is. Here in the boston area, power costs OVER $0.20 per KWhr. In 10 yrs it will probably be $1/KWHr. My electric bill has doubled over the past 12 months and I'm using less electricity.

Guess I can answer my own question with this data:

http://baltimorechronicle.com/2005/083005Korthof.shtml


"At 4 miles per kWh, the all-electric plug-in Toyota RAV4-EV travels about 140 miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of gasoline (at 35 kWh per gallon). More aerodynamic EVs, such as the General Motors EV1, get 6 miles out of each kWh, or about 200 miles per gallon gas equivalent ("mpgge")."

For an equiv 50mpg that = $2.50 worth of electricity at 20 cents / Kwhr.
not too shabby, a little less than a gallon of unleaded.

 

I doubt it will be a decade either. Toyota won't tip their hand about whatever they have hiding away, or when it will be available. I'm guessing we see a next gen Prius III that gets 80 mpg, then the next evolution after that (all electric or darn near close).

 

Most sources I looked at varied, but indicate roughly 35kWh present in a gallon of regular gasoline. Where I live, gasoline prices are about $3.20 a gallon, and electricity is $0.16/kWh. That means for the same amount of energy, elecrticity would be $5.60.

Of course, gasoline engines tend to be less efficient than elecrtic vehicles, at around ~30% efficient as opposed to ~85% efficient for electric. However, from a perspective of cost, if gasoline or diesel could be burned cleanly at 50% efficiency, such as with a heat-engine powered by the exhaust heat, or heat recperation, gasoline would be cheaper than the electricity, unless some sort of off-hours metering is available from the power company, which could dramatically reduce the expense.

At slow speeds however, and under acceleration, gasoline engines are almost always inefficient. At high speeds, battery-elecrtic cars have a much more difficult time achieving decent driving range, as despite the efficiency, power requirements are just higher, and battery energy-densities are very low. Electric cars are also at a disadvantage if cabin heating is necessary, requiring elecrtic heating, whereas any "waste" heat from an engine can simply be blown in.

This is why I think an ideal car will be a plug-in hybrid that is either a series-electric (elecrtic drivetrain, highly efficient, fixed-output generator) or parallel hybrid similar to what is out now, that runs the engine running whenever it can do so most efficiently, or if heating is needed, and uses the motor for supplemental power, slow-speed driving, or short trips (no point warming the engine up).