Originally Posted by strupgolf
They had a story last week from the chief engineer of the Volt. He said that there were a few problems yet to be resolved: the weight of the batteries, their location, how to get power from these batteries to the drive train, and so on. What the hell is he thinking? With a car like this due out in a few years, these problems should have been solved long before now. It's so amazing how far behind US car companies are in this battle. Film at 11
From an engineering standpoint, he's being honest.
The batteries remain the single most inefficient part of electric and hybrid car design. No car company, US, Japanese, or European has solved battery issues. The fundamental physics require much more R&D and specialized knowledge than any automaker can achieve.
That's why even the Tesla is using 6,800 18650 Li-Ion battery cells inside its battery pack. That's like shucking your car with 6,800 AA batteries to make it go. They don't have any better way to store the energy.
One day we will all be converting household garbage to energy, but today, the battery and energy storage issues in the car afflict all carmakers.