I don't see an extremely widespread adoption of electric vehicles until the battery issue is fixed. Half of the issue is almost solved: Range. But it has a cou

I don't see an extremely widespread adoption of electric vehicles until the battery issue is fixed. Half of the issue is almost solved: Range. But it has a couple of problems. First, while the range of miles being able to be driven on a battery is now fairly large - upwards of 200+ miles - that still isn't quite comparable to the range an internal combustion engine can get. That value needs to double, if the car is to be used for more than general commuting (at least here in the United States, where the only way to go between cities cheaply and without hassle is to drive). Some of this issue may be mitigated in the future - and other advances could help it with current technology for batteries; for instance, more power efficient motors would greatly assist in extending the range of current battery technology capabilities. The second issue is Charging. For general commuting, this likely isn't an issue at all, even today. Just find a place to charge it, plug in, go into the office (or wherever). At home, plug it in, and it will be ready to leave again in the morning. But for long distance driving, assuming you have a place to recharge (let's suppose this is common in the future), you still have to wait a while to get a decent charge on the battery. With an ICE, you can simply pull up, put some fuel in, and be gone in less than 5 minutes, depending on what you need. You can't do that currently with an electric vehicle. Instead, you need to wait around until it is recharged; if you have no reason to wait (like stopping for food or something), you are basically forced. For long distance driving, this has good and bad points, but sometimes you just want to fill the car up, get some snacks, and go. Maybe the segment of the market that does longer drives is shrinking, or is already small enough not to matter? Maybe advances will help out here? Maybe car owners can add a "hybrid module" for long distance drives that incorporate an ICE/generator combo to keep the battery topped up as it is driven? Right now, the answers are unclear. For those who are only going to and from work, maybe doing a bit of shopping, electric cars can make sense. For others, at best they'll be a secondary vehicle, or only used for going to work and back, with something else in the driveway for longer distances. Lastly - there's the issue with the supply of lithium on the planet. I have read (I don't know the truth of this) that there isn't enough lithium available to support a large population all using electric vehicles. Perhaps we'll find other sources, or perhaps my information is out of date. Recycling will help too, most likely. Future battery technology may do away with the need for lithium. Lots of "ifs" here, but we may have an issue if we are sticking to lithium chemistry for power (given the reactivity of lithium vs other elements, this may not be possible - IIRC, elements that are more reactive than lithium have problems to them for the use of them in batteries).