” but I can see a time like the late fifties and early sixties where kids and a few old farts are souping up their battery-mobiles”
This is going to take an entirely different set of skills; a lot of this is REALLY dangerous, with high-voltage, high-powered electronics.
I don’t think the Volt is it either, but the batteries will get better, a lot of people are working on this. If it cost $10,000 HONEST dollars (no subsidies) less, I’d take a look at it. If the battery actually delivered the originally-planned miles, I think that it would have sold much better.
Some people have already hacked the Prius to make it a plug-in hybrid, with, of course, automatic “Void Your Warranty”.
I myself think the following idea is attractive: an electric car with a towable or modular “bolt-on” for the back with a tubrodiesel generator. So, during the week, you don’t need it, but if you want to take a long trip, you’ve got it. Of course, the EPA and DOT will make a commercial version virtually impossible to build or sell - at least, for now. But then, it’s not a “motor vehicle”, is it?
Actually I think the real market for electrics in the next few years is Asia. Asian cities are generally old with pedestrian or horse drawn transportation arteries. Electrics with limited rang fit in well there. I only hope, with out much real hope, that the USA can lead in developing the technology..