Electric Vehicles have surely come along way since the slow, short distance limited, cars they were towards the end of the 19th century. With the current battery technology developments allowing longer lasting charges, and smaller sizes and weights, the future of the electric vehicles looks to be a competitive and promising one.

Future automotive power systems will be quite competitive, with petrol electric hybrids on the market already selling quite well, these will be the first vehicles to transition from internal combustion engines green vehicles. The future will be electric or fuel cell vehicles for those who want a change from current petrol engines, while hydrogen internal combustion will satisfy the automotive enthusiasts who like the noise and vibration and power application from current petrol engines.

With the current electric vehicles on the market including the G-Wiz and Venturi Fétish, there are many other vehicles in development planned to be released as early as next year, including the Tesla Roadster which has made many inroads and put electric vehicles back in the public eye.

The financial feasibility of electric vehicles is one of the main points that need to be looked at, the Tesla Roadster makes huge headway compared to the other vehicles in the cost of running the vehicle per kilometre. At 2.5c per km compared to just over 5c for the Toyota Prius (Petrol Electric Hybrid) as its closest competitor, electric vehicles are a wise choice in the economy where fuel prices are always on the rise.

To become a greener world, CO2 emissions really need to be cut back, and what better way could that be possible than cutting back those emitted by vehicles. Electric vehicles emit zero emissions, if charged by green energy such as wind or solar power, although arguments have been made that if coal is burned, then emissions are still no better than petrol engines. The calculations show that emissions released from the burning of coal are actually lower than that per km of petrol engines at only 88g per km with the closest being 106g per km from the Toyota Prius.

Although there have been some serious political issues with alternative energy vehicles, specifically the CARB and ZEV mandate, the future of the automotive technology doesnt revolve completely around the United States, with Japanese manufacturers developing some ground breaking vehicles for the future. Overcoming energy storage issues hasnt been a problem, and the development of batteries has advanced rapidly and will advance rapidly in the future as more money is pumped into research and development.