>>>It's going to take more than 7 years - and of course some gas-driven cars will never be worthless as some are collector's items - (and by 'some' I mean very very few of course).
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>I though so too, until I attended a presentation by an investment crew who are making spending decisions towards 2025, which is just over 7 years away.
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>And I have a buddy who finds and restores old Mercs. He has big cans of 110 Octane in his garage because those big old 6.3 litre behemoths cough and grizzle on 98 Octane. His view is that his Audi Q7 will be toast when the battery sweet spot arrives but as you say, the old Mercs will be just as much of an impractical hoot as ever. Ditto your Lotus.

Impractical yes - but something impractical can still be valuable as a collector item. At the moment though, needing 110 Octane and getting just a few miles to the gallon is pretty impractical....but then again although I get 30+mpg, I also am limited by the fact my Lotus is a 2 seater with limited luggage room - and oh those two people need to be somewhat limber to get in and out of it and not overweight or you ain't fitting in it -- soo errr...not exactly practical for most people for a daily driver like what I'm doing hahaha....but it works for me!

>>> but I would think it would be closer to 20 years than 7 years.
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>Fair enough. In 2012 I bought what I confidently believed would be my last Windows PC, a HP envy with fabulous screen and a processor that 5 years later still outperforms most of the notebook offerings out there. I replaced it months ago because... its battery died and I could not source an original replacement. Th machine itself with its aluminum case and SSDs could have lasted me a lot longer. So yes, I accept that my expectations may be optimistic and ironically I was let down by a battery! But with so few moving parts and off-the-shelf electronics, tires etc, once battery prices reach the sweet spot it's cheaper to manufacture electric vehicles and cost of running is fantastic. It may happen very quickly indeed.

Well -- I would like to see it closer to 7 years than 20 years and I'm no expert on it either. Once some big-players get all-in on it it very well could happen quickly. Technology can advance fast these days.

>Of course nations that rely on coal or other burning to generate power can't really say their electric fleet is clean- in effect, it's coal-powered- but lets not get stuck on that!

Yeah that's true for now - but there can be solar and wind power too. Almost everyone in Hawaii has solar power at their house, which can be used to charge the cars.

>>>It would be nice if the USA was the leader in this technology and large batteries - but sadly with Trump in office you have a guy who wants to bring back coal (and actually think's that 'clean coal' is when you take coal out of the ground and you wash it -- no joke, he's actually that stupid) and the GOP being full of global warming deniers who have no interest in new technology that combats it, the USA will be left in the dust by countries like China, not to mention the developing countries that will actually leap-frog over the dirty-energy cycle as they become more industrialized.
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>Have to say, via newer extraction tech the US is blessed with massive quantities of cheaper far cleaner-burning natural gas. Coal used to be the cheapest option but I think natural gas now is. For new plants, seems to me coal will be a "trick shot" to demonstrate cleaner burning, compared to tried-and-true gas burners that can be very clean burning with fuel priced comparably. So why would you go for coal? for jobs I guess, which is an old-fashioned "look after the people" approach. Corporate pursuit of profit will soon take care of that, I'd predict. The other use with no end in sight, is for smelting steel and similar, with required temperatures most reliably and cheaply achieved by burning good quality coal.

Natural gas has issues as well - fracking is a huge problem. And those coal jobs are never coming back. If you wan to look out for the people I'd think people would rather work in a solar panel business than be in a coal mine. Obviously not going to happen overnight, but coal is on it's way out and will continue to decline and fewer and fewer jobs. There is of course nuclear power too which can be advanced and made more safe.

>>> As far as trucks and cars that can drive themselves, I don't know what kind of impact that would bring to the economies - I haven't bothered to look into an experts forecasts of that - but maybe I will look into that as it would be something I would be interested in. On the bright side it would be nice not to feel like I'm playing a game of real-life frogger every time I put my Lotus on the street since there are too many idiot drivers that for some reason do not notice the bright yellow car... plus getting into a taxi-cab on Oahu is a total roll of the dice - I often wonder how some of them even got a driver's licence, not to mention the language barrier.
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>LOL. My experience: Uber has transformed my socializing, with a $8 Uber cheaper than extortionate parking in town if I anticipate a beverage or 3. Uber is just a self-driving car that still has a driver and economically, we may all end up Londoners not owning our own vehicles because it's cheaper and easier not to. Some of today's kids may never bother to get their license and will ask incredulously whether we really self-drove big metal vehicles at each other, killing thousands of fellow citizens every year. ;-)

Ya I like Uber too. If I'm going to go out for a few hours somewhere beyond walking distance and have a few drinks (thus not going to drive myself) I'll take an Uber ride to get there...but when it's time to go it's just to easy to step out to the curb and have a taxi in a few seconds vs fiddling around with Uber. With 1000's of bars within walking distance in Waikiki that doesn't happen too often though - but on the mainland I use Uber a lot more for things like that. Going to a sporting event or a concert - heck the Uber there AND back can be cheaper than the dang parking anymore! ..plus to you don't have to park in some massive parking lot then hike a mile to get to the gate, only to find that you forgot where you parked when leaving and spend 3 hours wandering around the parking lot to find your car. (I actually did that once at a concert years ago hahaha -- I've never forgot where I parked since)