Are electric cars the future?

To answer the question let’s think first in the problems that electric cars have today:

Electric cars have two problems:

1. While the current range is suitable for most people, it is not enough for everybody (to check your range just check this iPhone app).
2. The infrastructure is not yet prepared. What happens if you don’t have a garage? What happens if you don’t have available a parking garage with available electricity outlets near to your work either? Even if the range is enough, you don’t have any way to charge your car.

I have spoken with several electric engineers, and they tell me that we are not even near to create a battery/recharging technology able to recharge your car with electricity at the same speed than it takes to refill your tank with gas. But is this really the case?

I believe that the observations of these engineers are wrong. Not because I know about the future, but because I know about history.

Let’s imagine for a moment the answer of a telecommunications engineer in the late eighties to following question: Are we near to create a wireless phone that fits in your pocket?

Now let’s go to the mid-nineties: Do you think that we can build a cell phone with a battery life of one week in stand by?

Now take a look at this note about a new battery technology and you can see that there are already prototypes able to recharge in minutes.

So, are electric cars the future? Yes, they are.

If you know about other battery technologies, please let us know your comments!

Picture by Bertel2rp.