@gsned57 Series hybrids are great stop gap technology, I agree that Musk is probably just bad mouthing them because they are the only other commercially viable threat to the all electric. I think the biggest barrier to the all electric is the American PERCEPTION of the needs of car. 80-90% of the population of this country can be well serviced by an electric. You’re three points are valid but I think for mass adoption (aside from headhunting the marketing gurus at Google and Apple) what is needed is a solution for any two of your three points.

Luckily there is now an emerging battery technology that promised a MUCH faster (think fifteen minutes instead of four hours) for a full recharge and are almost fully recyclable. Recycling batteries is not only also good for the environment but I think will cut down on their cost. If only the billions of bail-out money going to GM was subsidizing real change and innovation.

With today’s technology, the Fisker and the Chevy Volt are the way to go.  You get 40 - 50 miles ALL ELECTRIC BEFORE THE GAS ENGINE TURNS ON.  For longer trips you have a gas generator to provide the electricity.  This eliminates range anxiety and for daily commuting is emission free.  A parallel hybrid like my Prius uses gas over � of the time and although a great step forward pales in comparison to a series hybrid design. 

I find it funny that Elon Musk is bad mouthing series hybrids when after GM came out with the Volt he jumped on that bandwagon and said we’ll build one of them too.  I think for a company like Tesla though, trying to build an internal combustion engine and all that go along with it are out of their area of expertise and that’s why they aren’t going forward with that plan.

I don’t think an All electric vehicle for the masses is going to come around until we get 3 things

1. the price of batteries needs to come down
2. storage capacity of batteries needs to be able to propel people about 300 miles between charges
3. Quick charge stations need to be as frequent as gas stations and provide a charge in less than 10 minutes.

In the mean time I’m not buying another car until I can get a series hybrid (priced under $35K (probably the volt if it’s out first).  NPNS (no plug no sale)

Elon Musk is one dumb bunny. The Volt and the Fisker are real cars that can take you anywhere, unlike the Tesla, which is a glorified town car, just like those electrics built before WWI. The Tesla’s battery pack is also a short-lived (and expensive affair). Tesla builds batery-only electrics because they simply don’t have the expertise or the funds to do otherwise. They had originally promised to build a range extended electric, but reneged on that promise, along with all the others they have broken over the years. I believe zero words coming out of the mouth of any Tesla spokesman.

The big companies will push the Serial hybrids, while the small start ups will push electrics. Why? Because the serial hybrids have massive complexity, which will lead to loads of backend maintenance, which translates to PROFITS. Worse, the hybrids suffers all the downfalls of BOTH electric and gas systems. The electrical part will require new batteries FREQUENTLY. As in every 20K miles. The reason is that it will account for about 70-80% of the driving so will be recycled.  In addition, you will have loads of maintenance to do to the engine and generator. So, you have a heavier car than a straight engine, you have to pay every couple of years for batteries, and you still have the same maintenance costs. The good news is that when oil shoots up again, the car’s overall price to run will not jump high.

The start up will push electric because it is much easier to get into the game. In addition, since these will cycle through batteries, it will take 5-10 years before you need new batteries. The great news on that, is that is in 5-10 years, battery tech will be improved (hopefully replaced with super caps). The major downfall is distance and recharge time. It takes a LONG time. That is today. My guess is that some car company will get smart soon and produce a minivan that gets 100 miles with ability to order more batteries for long distance. In addition, a SMALL trailer can be added behind it with a power source (say motor-generator like a hybrid) for doing the OCCASIONAL distance runs. Once a company builds this, I have little doubt it will take over. Why? because few drivers go more than 100 miles in one drive except for vacations, etc. IOW, a minivan with 100 mile range would suffice for the average mom to take kids around and then you rent a trailer to travel across country.

Within 2 years, the hybrids will be dying its death and the cars will be either gas or electric.

All those jerks that jumped on GM for “killing the electric car” are now finding
out that it wasn’t that easy, and it wasn’t that cheap. What killed the electric
car was the prospect of not making any profit. It was too expensive to produce.
In the 90’s you had a heavy payload of batteries, too, and they cycled out early.
At least they are getting close now. Why argue series/parallel/ev/erev. I’m
just glad they are all working to lessen our dependence on foreign oil