Advantages and Disadvantages of Battery Powered Electric Cars

Advantages

1. The electric motors in them don’t shout or bellow. They hum like a monk.
2. By itself, the battery powered electric car produces zero emissions. The only energy it produces apart from kinetic energy is heat energy. Even if you charge up the batteries with a CO2 emitting energy source, the emissions are only about one third to half of the CO2 emitted by internal combustion engines. Also, it is generally easier to build pollution control systems into centralised power stations than retrofit enormous numbers of cars.
3. About 90% of the electrical potential energy is converted to kinetic energy. Very little of it is gone to waste. 
4. When you brake, the heat generated is used to top up the batteries. This is so less energy is gone to waste when you brake. This can be used to reduce the wear on brake systems (and consequent brake pad dust) and reduce the total energy requirement of a trip. Regenerative braking is especially effective for start-and-stop city use.
5. Electric motors don’t require oxygen.
6. Electric motors are mechanically very simple. There is only one moving part. Hence, they almost never have to be serviced.
7. Electric motors provide high torque from rest, unlike internal combustion engines, and do not need multiple gears to match power curves. This removes the need for gearboxes and torque converters.
8. There is no fuel tank, so in high speed crashes, there is no explosion that kills the driver assuming the impact didn’t kill him/her first.

Disadvantages

1. The range is too short. Most electric cars run out of juice in about 100 – 250 kilometres.
2. The recharge time is too long. Petrol/diesel cars only need a couple of minutes, whereas electric cars take from  8 – 20 hours to recharge. Yes, batteries will improve over time, but right now, that is too long. If you attempt to shove electricity into the batteries quickly, the battery will wear out after 3-5 years. If you charge them slowly and don’t thrash them, the maximum time they can last is 10 years. When the batteries do wear out, it is very expensive to buy a new one.
3. Cramming batteries into a car does make it heavy. This is one of the reasons for the terrible range of the electric car.
4. Currently, there are very few charging points for electric cars. Couple that with the short range and you will almost certainly end up pushing your car more than driving.

Summary

The electric car is not a perfect solution. There are many holes to be patched up. For now, I would prefer to continue to use my petrol powered Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.