The concept of using an electric motor, or a combination of electric motors, to provide traction to the road, is an elegant and efficient way to convert electrical energy into propelling road vehicles. The problem comes from the immediate source of the electricity. Is it derived from some on-board electrical generation source, or from a storage system like a battery or possibly a large capacitor?
There have been hybrid systems, in which the on-board generator is powered by a hydrocarbon-fueled source, like an internal combustion engine, driving a generator that delivers the electrical power to the traction motors, much more efficiently and effectively than a series of gears, couplings and shafts, which all lose much more power than passage of current through a properly sized electrical cable. There is also the possibility that electricity could be transmitted wirelessly to the drive motors by having induction fields in or near the road surfaces, this was offered long ago by the inventor, Nicholas Tesla.
1. EVs powered from multi-cycle gas turbines is more effective thermodynamically than oil to gas to ICE.
2. EVs reduce the demand for oil/gas leaving more and cheaper for ICE use.