So, why aren't "we" buying more electric cars?

[KansDem]

33. We've been hearing this for years...decades

It has always been "in five years" or some other similar prediction.

From 1966--
The Wall Street Journal reported that Ford Motor Co. claimed it made a “major breakthrough in battery research" that will allow electric cars to achieve much longer driving range. According to the story, the timetable for introduction cars using the breakthrough EV technology will be five to ten years. Here’s the most interesting thing: the article was published more than 45 years ago, on Oct. 4, 1966.



In the article, Michael Ference, Ford vice-president for scientific research, made it clear that electric cars will not fully displace vehicles powered by gasoline—but conceded that there’s room for an EV for short-range urban and suburban driving. “The internal combustion engine will continue to be the most practical form of power for long-distance and expressway driving for some time to come,” said Ference.

Company officials said the battery breakthrough—using a sodium-sulfur chemistry instead of lead-acid—would mean a car about the size of a Ford Falcon could go 82 miles on a single charge.

Laurence G. O’Donnell, the Wall Street Journal reporter, wrote that the reason Ford was “pushing development of an electric car” was the prospect of new federal support designed to cut air pollution caused by gas-powered cars. “Ford conceded that introduction of a bill calling for federal aid to subsidize development of battery-powered vehicles was a prime reason it announced its battery research work months ahead of its original plans,” writes O’Donnell.

--more--
http://www.plugincars.com/ford%E2%80%99s-electric-car-battery-breakthrough-45-years-ago-109417.html

We've been hearing this claptrap nonstop for almost five decades. Or that some super-breakthrough in engine development will give us oodles of miles to the gallon.

At best, we've slightly more than doubled our MPG in the last 35 years--



http://www.pewenvironment.org/news-room/fact-sheets/history-of-fuel-economy-one-decade-of-innovation-two-decades-of-inaction-329037

But we're still going to war for oil and driving gasoline-burning automobiles...