"It is a safe prediction to
"It is a safe prediction to make, however, because battery technology improvements will eventually make this possible, and petroleum costs will eventually make it a necessity."
Great line.
This question of when the transition to electricity will happen in ernest is a good one. It's definitely slower than I anticipated, but maybe I was blinded with the knowledge that it's a fait accompli.
The end is clearly renewable electricity because of the ease of generating it and the lowering cost relative to the increasing cost of oil.
At some point, there will be a general consensus. When this happens some 3-5 years from now, there will be rapid growth. We can't scale up production much faster than that just yet, but that will change pretty soon.
The new Nissan LEAF capacity in both Tennessee and Great Britain will sure help, but there are many more OEMs coming to market with both BEVs and PHEVs.