It is definitely true that the fundamental enabling technology for electric cars is lithium-ion as a cell chemistry technology. In the absence of that, I don't think it's possible to make an electric car that is competitive with a gasoline car.
We still haven't seen any cars take advantage of the electric powertrain in terms of how you proportion an electric vehicle versus traditional vehicles. Yes there's electric cars, but they haven't really done it in a beautiful way.
A mobile is an abstract sculpture made chiefly out of sheet metal, steel rods, wire and wood. Some or all of these elements move, propelled by electric motors, wind, water or by hand.
Everybody recognizes that if you can make very efficient electric motors, you can make a quantum leap forward.
And what's interesting about the hybrids taking off is you've now introduced electric motors to the automobile industry. It's the first radical change in automobile technology in 100 years.
History was a trash bag of random coincidences torn open in a wind. Surely, Watt with his steam engine, Faraday with his electric motor, and Edison with his incandescent light bulb did not have it as their goal to contribute to a fuel shortage some day that would place their countries at the mercy of Arab oil.
By 2025, more than half of the power units you see on the road will have some relevance of electrification. There may be a base combustion engine, but it is combustion and electrification that will make the machine run.
Well, as you know, General Motors does not make hybrids. Ford only made 4,000 hybrids last year.
