"Though a superb vehicle, as the Roadster moniker implies, it is a toy."
Then I'm sure you'll be interested to hear of the new Tesla family sedan, the Model S. About $57,400 list, a little over $49K after Federal and state incentives. 160-mile range (twice the Leaf's) with the standard battery; optional batteries can increase that to 300 miles, albeit at a $20K surcharge.
My point here is not that electric cars are fully competitive with gasoline cars at this point, because they are not - not on range, not on price and not on proven track record. But they have come a God-damned long way, and there is more coming. The McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern U. has just announced a breakthrough that improves the capacity and charging rate of lithium-ion batteries by a factor of ten:
www.dailymail.co.uk
The new graphene technology is to be introduced in smartphone batteries, with other lithium-ion applications - from laptops to cars - to follow.
Things are changing faster than some of you here would like to admit. Only a few years ago, the Honda Insight - the first hybrid sold here - was a weirdmobile. Now the Toyota Prius is downright mainstream, and into its third engineering generation. Hell, you can buy a hybrid pickup truck from both Ford and Chevy (mercifully, Chrysler canceled its hybrid Ram Hemi, to the undoubted relief of the long-suffering dealers who would have had to stand behind Chrysler's idea of the electronics required).
It's a new world. We aren't where we need to be, but we're on our way. Feels good to me.
