Even at 100 miles range, that's a product that would suit easily 50 million households if the price is right. Picture your typical suburban 2-car family. They could replace one gas car with an EV for the short hops and keep a gas car for longer hauls, towing the boat or whatnot. Then there's students/profs commuting to a nearby school. 100 mile range EV's won't be for everyone, but there's a very large market to kick off this industry. And hopefully range increases over time.
There's a VC-backed firm in CA developing a battery-swap infrastructure for EV's. You pull into the station and they swap out your spent battery for a fresh one, as you would a propane tank for your grill. Just takes a few minutes and you're on your way.
I’m ready. I’d start with a 100 mile range.
I have read that the Chevy Volt will get 640 miles on a charge. Of course it will be a hybrid
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Traffic/story?id=485098&page=1
Life for commuters can be heaven or hell. They report an average one-way commute time of 26 minutes (over an average distance of 16 miles). But the variance is huge: On the best days, the average commute is 19 minutes; on the worst days, 46 minutes. That means traffic, at its worst, can double the average commute time, adding 27 minutes each way
source: US Census Press Release: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/american_community_survey_acs/004489.html
Based on a ranking of states with the longest average commute-to-work times, the ACS showed that New York (30.4 minutes) and Maryland (30.2 minutes) residents spent the most time traveling to their jobs. New Jersey (28.5 minutes), Illinois (27.0 minutes) and California (26.5 minutes) were also among states with some of the longest one-way commute times. States with some of the lowest average commute times included South Dakota (15.2 minutes), North Dakota (15.4 minutes), Nebraska (16.5 minutes) and Montana (16.9 minutes). (See state rankings [PDF].)
From the above, it looks like a vast majority of Americans stay within a round trip of 50 miles per work day. Add some chores, and we still make less than 100 miles per day. Plug it overnight. Repeat the next day.
I work 23 miles from home. Rarely I exceed 100 miles per day.
A more complicated hybrid of pluggable/combustible engine car would be even more suitable.