Electric cars are pretty limited in range and speed, and the batteries are expensive. But still, for as much as I drive during the week, having one would make sense. If I charged it with off peak power, I could get a deal that would definitely reduce my commuting costs and also definitely reduce oil consumption as well as serve to level the utility's peak-to-average load factor.
But that would mean building one. I'm not that motivated, really.
Why are electric cars not for sale? Better yet, why are true hybrid cars-true hybrid in the sense they can be operated off pure electric power, with a mechanically separate engine-generator section (which would make a dandy household standby generator, too) and electric driveline?
Conspiracy?
I don't think so. Rather, it comes down to the fact that electric-or even hybrid-cars are a potentially disruptive technology , and corporations hate disruptive technology. They will never put out anything they perceive as potentially disruptive, whether it is or not, no matter how their own engineering staffs prod and pull them. Engineers don't make the decision.
It's always new entrants to the business who bring in the disruptive technology. And there hasn't been a new car manufacturer in America, or elsewhere in the Western world, in a long time.
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