Do you live in a city? I do, and it's a fairly well spread out city. Jacksonville, Florida (last I looked) boasts the largest municipal area of any city in the US-it essentially covers the entire of Duval county.
Imagine my surprise then, when I realized that my home built 20 amp electric bike will get me all the way around town, to the places I need to go and still have extra charge when I'm done. Is the day of the electric vehicle finally here?
Advances in battery tech in the last couple years have the potential (once they go into production) to make electric cars and bikes much more feasible for regular folks. The useful life span and recyclability of batteries has lots of good potential as compared to gasoline. It's not perfect yet, but they're working on it-most of what's in a used up battery comes out again as-another battery.
Tesla has come out and put a lifetime drivetrain warranty on their cars-with only a very few moving parts, there are less things to break and much higher reliability in the vehicle. I'm told that essentially, they wear out brake pads and tires-especially tires. I would not have thought of burnouts with electric motors, but evidently, someone has. I'm just waiting to see which other (or new) manufacturers follow their lead into the electric world. ZAP (http://gas2.org/2008/09/16/zap-breaks-ground-on-electric-car-factory-in-kentucky) looks to be making a good start-there will be dozens of others in the next few years, I think.
Electric bikes are a good way to get around, too. You still get some exercise, if you pedal, and on hills you can use the motor to boost your output enough to make riding fun, but not super tiring. Depending on what kind of bike you want (mountain, roadie, cargo, city) you can go super light and fast or (cargo) bring the kids home from school with groceries. There are retailers now for all sorts of bikes with electric power built in and a thriving aftermarket for making your old favorite into a new sprinter, if you wish. Organic Transit (http://organictransit.com/) is even building an enclosed electric trike with a solar panel on top! If the driving you do is mostly in town, it seems like a good option, too.
One of the nicer things (I've found) is that most parts on e-bikes are user replaceable if you're at all handy-no more big auto shop bills for me! That Rohloff Speed hub is calling to me in my sleep though, so I guess we will always spend money fixing up our vehicles, regardless of motive power.
If you're going cross country and Amtrack services the area, you can take your bike with you-saving on rental car fees at the far end. Check for route availability first though, not all routes offer that service.
Electric vehicles arean area well worth looking into. With gas prices and insurance prices still fairly high, electric bikes and cars are becoming better options for being on the road and helping the environment, wear well and are loads of fun. Maybe one day, the only fuel powered things we'll see on the road will be semi-trucks. One can hope..
See you on the road soon!! :)