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Electric cars have been lingering at the high point because no significant car has been rough to market. The Tesla and the Volt appear to be the firsts going there.

What about these?

MDI Enterprises S.A. - Air compressed cars
Electric Tiger Star Truck
Zenn Motor Company
Tata Motors
GM before the Volt
Zap Electric Cars
Global Electric Motors
Phoenix Motorcars
Dynasty Electric Cars
Nice Car Company
Reva
I could keep going but let me Google that for you.

We need to take the first steps if we are ever to migrate from oil to electric.

I agree.

Altairnano has developed a lithium titanate battery used in the Phoenix Motorcar Sport Utility Truck that they claim fully recharges in under 10 minutes. but we'll have to wait till 2010 when the Phoenix electric SUT goes into production to see if these claims are really true.

still, it's pretty impressive that they've made a new type of Li-ion battery that can recharge in such a short amount of time.

You might want to check these guys out. http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/ No ABS but pretty much everything else you want. Not sure about the price yet but it should be in that general range.

You forgot to very important companies. ZAP is due to deliver their ZAP-X crossover utility vehicle in 2010 which is, first of all, nicely designed and offers a range comparable to any mid-size sedan. There's also Phoenix who already produces reasonably priced EVs for fleets and plans on introducing consumer models next year.

$2,375 in 1917 has the same buying power as $38,600 in 2008.

A proletarian, i.e. one of the poorest class of people, can afford a $39,000 car?

The 2009 Phoenix SUV has a purchase price of $54,000, and has the following stats.

0-60 m.p.h.: Less than 10 seconds
Factory Set Top Speed: 95 m.p.h.
Range: 100+ miles per charge
Charging Time:
On-Board Vehicle 6.6KW Charger: 5 to 6 hours
Off-Board High-Power 250KW Charger: Under 10 min. to 95% SOC

http://www.austintxgensoc.org/calculatecpi.php
http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/why-choose-phoenix/roi-calculator.php
http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/vehicles/suv-specifications.php

$2,375 in 1917 has the same buying power as $38,600 in 2008.

A proletarian, i.e. one of the poorest class of people, can afford a $39,000 car?

The 2009 Phoenix SUV has a purchase price of $54,000, and has the following stats.

0-60 m.p.h.: Less than 10 seconds
Factory Set Top Speed: 95 m.p.h.
Range: 100+ miles per charge
Charging Time:
On-Board Vehicle 6.6KW Charger: 5 to 6 hours
Off-Board High-Power 250KW Charger: Under 10 min. to 95% SOC

http://www.austintxgensoc.org/calculatecpi.php
http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/why-choose-phoenix/roi-calculator.php
http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/vehicles/suv-specifications.php

I dont think US automakers like Tesla Motors or Phoenix Motorcars will cry much about this. They are aiming for complete zero emissions vehicles anyway.
Look, the crying from automakers is silly, like the DaimlerChrysler announcement that "we cant make it". Well, tough luck. Innovate or die. Its a market and competition, you dont have any birthright to sit there and dictate things.
Auto industry is long overdue for some serious shakeup, and the ones that get with the future sooner will likely survive.

I Like http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/ because the car looks nice and those 10minute charge batteries are cool.

Phoenix has a better looking model with only a 10minute recharge.
http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/

I wasn't trying to invent these technologies- I'm aware they exist, and I'm aware they're ready to go into production in most cases, including your capacitance issues- taken care of with modern capacitance arrays and nanotech batteries. They just need some kind of spur to force them into production- such as a government subsidy or drive to make this reality, or the demonstration by a small company, as with http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/, where they will demonstrate to the world how usable and economical the electric car can be, and then your average behemoth car manufacturing conglomerate will fall in line.

What is needed to force the issue is governmental regulation- without emissions controls, most companies will always do the capitalist thing, which is whatever is best for the bottom line. And that includes selling the fucking earth we live on out from under our feet- ask my friend who declined to allow an oil company to drill under her house, and they did so anyhow, finding oil and not paying her a penny for her mineral rights.

peace.

Many of these are more-or-less performance oriented vehicles. . .

Tesla Roadster: http://www.teslamotors.com/

Tango: http://www.commutercars.com/

UEV Spyder: http://www.universalelectricvehicle.com/spyder.htm l

Wrightspeed X1: http://www.wrightspeed.com/x1.html

ZAP-X: http://www.zapworld.com/ZAPWorld.aspx?id=4560

Silence: http://www.silenceinc.ca/accueilEN.htm

VentureOne: http://www.venturevehicles.com/

Phoenix SUT & SUV: http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/

I linked to this elsewhere, but Phoenix Motorcars is as well (for fleet sales).

Check out phoenix motors. The SUV and truck are estimated to retail for $45k once they roll out to the general public.

Link: Phoenix Motorcars

Generate electricity for these:

http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/

or these:
http://www.teslamotors.com/

And everything else. Then you don't have to bugger about expending energy processing it the stuff into biofuels.

5 Passengers and a load as well...

http://phoenixmotorcars.com/models/fleet.html

An electric vehicle has almost no parts which require servicing; no valves, no spark plugs, no oil to change, no air filter, no piston rings. Basically it'll last as long as the chassis is structurally sound and the bodywork remains reasonable. The only bits which'll wear out are the consumables, the battery and bearings. With a battery which can last for 20 years, there's no real reason the vehicle shouldn't do a million miles with bugger all servicing.

The battery:

"In addition to high power the Altairnano NanoSafe
batteries deliver:
  Long life - potentially up to 20+ year life
  Very fast charge - rechargeable in minutes
  Extremely wide operating temperature range
from -50C/-60F to +75C/165F
  Inherent safety - no risk of thermal runaway"