Battery powered electric cars have already failed.
There is only one area where the battery powered electric car has proven to be better. In bumper-to-bumper traffic over short commutes. Where you have no concern that you are going to run out of battery charge. And the electric vehicle conserves all the energy of the stop and go.
Everywhere else, it is proving to be more polluting than an ICE.
Especially now that we are getting to the end of many Tesla's battery life.
We are seeing very big, very expensive paper-weights.
A real waste of all the resources that went into creating it.
Battery powered cars are EXTREMELY polluting
Just because they do not have a tailpipe, does not mean they don't pollute.
Now we are seeing that the idea of replacing a battery in a 10 year old electric car is cost prohibitive, we can see the actual costs and compare pollution generated between ICE and electric vehicles.
So, we compare an ICE vehicle which will generally last 30 years.
Lots of base metals and plastic. Mined in many 1st world countries.
And most if its pollution happens when you drive it.
It is only slightly more polluting than a coal powered electric plant currently used in China.
A battery powered electric vehicle seems to have a life span of 10 years.
Lots of base metals and plastic PLUS lots of rare earths; cobalt & lithium which are mined in slave conditions in third world countries. (many are taking up the moniker "Blood Batteries"
Most of its pollution happens before it gets to the show room. Comparable to an ICE pollution creation over 30 years.
And then you charge it, causing whatever pollution that electricity was produced with.
With a lifespan of about 10 years, the battery powered electric vehicle is far worse for the environment.
10 years, and all those rare earths and all that labor, just become a pile of junk.
Battery powered cars are dangerous!
All that electricity stored in a battery that is supposed to be intelligent and disconnect itself on shorting.... well, that doesn't always happens.
Just waiting for the first responder to be first to be electrocuted to death.
While we wait for that, we can see all kinds of fires happening in electric vehicles. And because we use lithium batteries, we really do not have a way to extinguish the fire. And if the lithium is in a certain form... it will explode when exposed to water.
Of course this is no where near as dangerous as hydrogen cells, but still, we have a long way to go to making these things safe.
Battery Powered Cars cannot be made for everyone.
The real reason we will not see a Tesla in every driveway is we just do not have enough cobalt, nickel and lithium.
In fact, we do not even have enough copper.
To make Komifornia's dream come true, no more ICE's sold in the state in 10 years, we would have to see record mining production increases that have never happened before in recorded history.
That is correct. We can't do it. Not unless Komifornia offers huge incentives to mine for these minerals. Making great big pits all over California. And even then, they might not make it.
Or maybe Komifornia only intends the rich to actually have a car.
But what will the landscaping crews do to get to these rich people's houses to manicure their lawns?
There just isn't enough of the precious resources to build enough Teslas to make California green (and the rest of the planet black in the process)
Electric vehicles will be a thing in the future, but not lithium battery powered.
(Or maybe we will use compressed air.
Just nobody yet has made a Tesla level compressed air powered vehicle yet.)
However, the technology coming will probably also get rid of the tires and motors too.
So, they might not really be electric vehicles.
My thoughts of where we should have gone / could have gone is using turbines.
Back in the 70s we tried using the much more efficient turbine in cars.
The problem is with gearing, and turbines do not have a good torque range.
But if you built a turbine that powered a genset charging super-capacitors
you would have a much more efficient hybrid vehicle.
Car manufacturers (like Tesla) should look into the Tesla Turbine. 10 HP per pound!