In the good old days, travelers were only able to own vehicles that ran on gas, a rather filthy product. So was ethanol, a gasoline substitute that is much cleaner but also much harder to produce. A few electric vehicles did exist, but they could only go around 20 miles on a single battery charge, making them non-viable alternatives to conventional automobiles. However, numerous new electric car designs give the promise that people will be able to use these clean and cheap vehicles in everyday life.

Some of the main stumbling blocks in electric car designs have been the size and durability of the batteries while designing a motor capable of producing enough horsepower to move the weight of the vehicle using conventional batteries. Some of the electric car designs use lead-acid batteries, which are the least costly, however their ability to hold a charge to make the distance traveled on a single charge has been fruitless. Other types of batteries, for example lithium ion, have a longer durable charge but are considerably more expensive in a battery large enough to supply the necessary power.

Cars have been built smaller and light to remove a lot of the payload begin pushed by an electric motor, requiring less power but a vehicle able to move one person for short distances has lacked consumer appeal. Many are not thrilled with the notion of having to plug their vehicle into an outlet every 60 or even a 100 miles to recharge the batteries.

We are still waiting for successful charging systems

Keeping the batteries charged for longer drive times has been a challenge in electric car designs and vehicle parts such as friction generators built into the wheel of electric cars do not generate enough power to offset the power used by the electric motor. Placing a generator on a separate gas-powered engine makes the car a hybrid and adds additional weight to the vehicle.

The most important electric vehicle part is the battery. Some of the current electric car designs look more like a three-wheeled bicycle with a car body surrounding it and do not lend themselves for the commuter. While some of the el car designs have been applauded during competitions held every two years in Australia, they have not been convincing enough to win major approval for mass production. Nevertheless, the so-called deep cycle batteries, a battery technology for those in marine use, are being successfully applied in el car design.

Having enough power to allow an electric car to travel at normal highway speeds and have enough acceleration to make them safe to use on a highway filled with gas or diesel powered engines is at the frontline of the combat for electric car designs. Whilst some of the current crop can accomplish this, the distance they can travel is greatly reduced by their use of power at take off and extended high-speeds.

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