Couple of things have to be solved for EV’s: battery recycling, power transmission and power generation infrastructure. There’s only so much of the funky metals in batteries and we can’t just use it once. Switching from chemical to electrical energy will take a significant investment that the nimby’s and the conservatives have to permit. And we need more amps without burning carbon.
There has to be some help transitioning “everybody” from ice to Ev. That’s way easier than pulling and making the power. But this, too, must be paid. I hope the political will is there.
Battery recycling is coming. Several groups are working on it, but it will not get beyond the prototype stage for several years yet mainly because there are relatively few batteries available to recycle. EVs have only existed in their modern form for about 10 years and very few batteries are at end of life yet. The volumes are starting to pickup as non-Tesla manufacturers ramp up production. Maybe in another 10 years enough of the early generation will have aged out and some of the new cohort will have wrecked and need to be recycled. Until then, this is not a significant problem to worry about.
I'd add to that:
- Sensitivity to environmental conditions (current batteries only really work well at around room temperature, which isn't realistic real world outside)
- Energy density (huge weight of the thing vs. the energy it has)
There has to be some help transitioning “everybody” from ice to Ev. That’s way easier than pulling and making the power. But this, too, must be paid. I hope the political will is there.