There are already hybrids that have an onboard gas engine generators which recharges the batteries fast enough for the car to drive cross country.
Toshiba has the technology now to make fast charge battery banks which charge to 90% in just 5 minutes. About the same time as a gas and windshield clean stop. If those battery banks can go, say, 150-200 miles between stops then the next hurdle is charging stations.
Another company is close to a breakthrough on salt-based batteries which would make the batteries much cheaper and easier to get the main components. Lithium-based batteries need Cobalt which is mined by child labor and very expensive. A combination of a fast charging and cheap battery could mean the end of gas powered cars as we know them fairly soon. Well, not the end, but the beginning of a long transition as the old cars break down and are not worth fixing.
If the gov decides to subsidize low income people in rural areas for new electric cars then it would speed up that transition but then where does all this extra electric power come from? I’m thinking more homes will need to go solar so the power can be diverted to transportation. Probably more nuclear power plants too.
so what happens when you miscalculate, are out in the middle of nowhere without a recharging station in sight? (I’m talking about the purely electric cars- not hybrids)
There are likely goign to be many long distance trips where folks are way out in the boonies- and no chargers in sight-
Nuclear, yes. solar, no.
I still don't think electric cars will be feasible outside of local, high-density applications.
For me, the ideal solution is a hybrid. Use the battery to start your car and run with it for the first thirty miles. Then switch over to gas and use the kinetic energy and some gas to recharge and keep the battery charged so it can then used for the last thirty miles again.