Two inventions were required for BEV's to compete with even 1920's ICE vehicles: the power MOSfet (1970's) and the Lithium-ion battery (1990's). GM was about

Two inventions were required for BEV's to compete with even 1920's ICE vehicles: the power MOSfet (1970's) and the Lithium-ion battery (1990's). GM was about to put Lithium-ion batteries in the EV1 when the project was cancelled in 1999. It was less than 10 years later that Tesla introduced it's game changing Roadster. In between Toyota's Hybrid technology both helped and hurt EV development. It helped advance EV tech but reduced commercial and regulatory pressure for pure BEV's.