Electric cars are tantalizingly close, but still in the future. If you look at an electric car through the paradigm of today's fossil fuel auto, they don't go as far and are more expensive to buy. There are over 1.4 billion bicycles in service today, and only about 340 million cars. Far more humans ride a bicycle every day than drive a car. Let's look at the electric bike.
Electric bicycles can go farther and faster than conventional bicycles.
They can be quickly recharged almost anywhere, or batteries can be exchanged instantly, like cellular phones. They look great, and the price, performance, quality and comfort of existing electric bikes makes them very attractive to consumers. The market for EBs could be twenty times the market for bicycles. Remember that every time the bicycle has become easier to pedal, or more comfortable, sales have boomed. Just think of the balloon tire in the 30's, the English Racer in the late 50's, the 10-speed in the 70's, and the Mountain Bike in the 80's.