Nor-LA-SD-guy I wish it were that simple. While I agree, there is no question we could build the car you are talking about, the reality is it requires an infrastructure shift to make it practical.

Remember, electricity in this country is overwhelmingly generated with fossil fuels, with nuclear and alternatives generating 10-15%. Much of the electricity comes from coal fired plants. Also, the batteries, which are the most expensive part of the car, need to be replaced/recycled as their energy retention efficiency degrades over time. A gasoline engine (or diesel) provides much more reliable power over time. Also, bear in mind when one of these cars gets into an accident and significant battery acid leakage occurs you need to call a HazMat team to clean it up. Dry cell batteries may correct this, but as of now I don’t think their capacity is as great.

I’m not saying what you’re proposing isn’t possible, but we are no where near as close as you might think to implementing the technology, and we may just ultimately be shifting our fossil fuel use around a bit, not eliminating it.

I remember reading somewhere a few years ago that if by some freak of history the electric car had become mainstream first, the internal combustion engine invented afterward would have been hailed as the greatest discovery of the age.