I don't know how to put this but I really do not want electric cars to be the future of automotive. So far, most electric cars are boring to even look at while there are so many impractical issues with electric cars such as charging. The part about electric cars being green is also not enstirely true as it depends what are the sources of your electricity originates from. If your power source is from non renewables like coal, you might as well drive a conventional petrol/diesel car as dirty oil is still cleaner than your electricity from coal power plants in terms of carbon dioxide emission. The production of the battery is also an issue as batteries still need rare earth elements to build them where at the end, are electric cars really that green? Formula E do have some really close and exciting races, they do made the dyson vacuum cleaners in Grand Turismo sound great. I feel that manufacturers jumping to Formula E felt a bit like a knee jerk reaction. Personally, I think hybrid with diesel/petrol would be a more viable future than electric cars until hydrogen economy is viable.
Agreed, I believe petrol/electric hybrid power units will be the mainstay of the automotive industry for some decades yet. Just makes so much sense. You get the benefits of both technologies with the ability to self charge the batteries using KERS systems. Lower emissions, good range, lower fuel consumption. Those who believe fully electric vehicles will be mainstream in the short term are kidding themselves. They won't be. As @Cheeseman wrote, electric vehicles will require a huge investment in power infrastructure and many new power stations will need to be built. All industrial nations with large populations are reliant on oil, gas, coal and nuclear power generation and this will not change for a long time to come. Electric cars remove pollution from towns and cities and dump it elsewhere. Wind and solar are less reliable at meeting specific power demands and will be complementary power generation systems. Also you have the lithium question. Is there enough to meet demand? Many new mines will have to be opened. The environmental side effects of lithium mining are quite grim.
In the late nineties and the beginning 2000's some manufacturer developed drivetrains on fuel cell technology for common use. This seems to be forgotten at the moment with all these battery and hybrid cars though I think storage of electrical power via hydrogen is more environmentally friendly. Remember the Green GT H2. First concepts had been created for implementing in motorsports but then vanished again.
Yes, I remember that. I recall a fuel cell Ford Focus around that time. Looked like great tech but seemed to disappear off the radar.
Not totally... BMW is still working on it and was one of the Manufactorers who wanted Fuel-Cell-Engines as part the new LMP1-Rules... But as we see, ACO stick with their rules...