Ahh yes SPQR I wonder how long.
I think that link shows the end of the transition not the start.
People will take up cars like the Nissan Leaf electric car first as it
is very close to their present cars, yet has very low running costs
and a range that suits many people.

The iRoad of that link has a very short range and might in the future
be what someone would have for a second car.
Until the price of electric cars in Australia becomes realistic they
will not take off like they have in countries like Norway, the UK and the US.

At $51,900 it is a Nissan joke. $21,500 more than the US price.
I had a driving test of the Nissan Leaf and it is a magnificent car
to drive and use and I would buy one in a flash if the price was sensible.
Actually they offered me the demo car for $45,000 but that was too
dear. The dealers are trying to get rid of them for around $39,000.
There is a rumor that the Ford eFocus will be here next year.

Why would anyone want one of those in Oz? There is no way they can get a decent V8 into one.

As for the Nissan Leaf, the only places they can sell any have either huge taxpayer subsidies on the things, or special conditions, like congestion charges.

All this stuff will go the way of the rotary engine, which was going to rule the world a couple of decades back.

Come 2030 everyone will be required by government to produce a minimum amount of CO2 to try to stop global cooling.

It will have no effect just as it has no real effect on global warming, but the UN will not give up it's con job, as long as we keep paying them to exist.

Oh dear the planet's going to fry! Oh that's right snow is falling everywhere the warmist predicted it would not. Lets have an earth hour and turn on all the lights in celebration of the idiotic tax being abolished.

Ahh Hasbeen the petrol head !
The driver of V8 dinosaurs !
Well,when I drove the Leaf I gave myself a fright when I put my foot
down to get away from oncoming traffic.
It had better acceleration than any car I had previously driven.

I guess that is why F1 is now getting serious about electric racing cars.
Electric cars are getting some subsidies, but not in Norway as far as
I know.
The Leaf has displaced the Golf in the popularity stakes in Norway.
Total Leafs are over one million with the majority are in the US & UK.

If the CSIRO's prediction of $8 a litre by 2020 comes anywhere near
true there will be a big increase in electric cars.

The term Carbon Tax is a misnomer anyway. The correct term would be academic hangers-on & other brainwashed, cradle to grave charity contribution.

Bazz the subsidy on electric[erry] things in Norway is about 45% at last information.

Incidentally, all the cars I drive are 4 pot & light weight, much lighter than the new stuff, petrol or battery powered.

I reckon we will have developed methane clathrate, long before petroleum fuels become too expensive. This will be on the way to cars driven by steam, or perhaps electricity, generated by a nuclear chip, installed on the production line for life.

We are certainly not going to be able to generate electricity for cars, unless sanity returns, & we use coal, gas or nuclear to do it.

From another point of view, we just might run out of the economically available rare earths required for battery & electric generator/motor production before petroleum becomes economically unviable.