Originally Posted by
Derfred
You're forgetting that internal combustion engines at best convert 20% of their fuel energy to power. Whereas an electric drive can achieve over 90%.
This brings the specific energy problem down close to a factor of 10 rather than 50.
It's still a big hurdle to overcome, yes. But there are other battery technologies in the wings that may help close the gap.
Good point re the efficiency of the the different engines. I'd say the battery (electrical) technology will need to surpass (not just equal) whats being achieved by the internal combustion engine before they will have any real impact.
There's a terrifically long way to go before anything like this can become anywhere close to mainstream. Solving the motive problem is probably one of the easier challenges.