Originally Posted by Diseasel300

I wouldn't say they'll last 1M miles. Maybe in theory, but in actual practice, I doubt it. The build quality of the previous models has been shocking to say the least (especially for such expensive vehicles), it is one of the biggest knocks against the Tesla brand. In their defense, it takes any manufacturer a while to work the bugs out and they have been trying.

The biggest issue is the cost of that fuel. Right now it's 1/3 the cost of gasoline. What happens when everyone else jumps on the electric car bandwagon? With our grid infrastructure already strained with our current loads, it simply isn't going to cope with everyone on the block charging their Tesla in the garage every night. Without any new base-load power plants coming online (wind and solar are considered "peakers"), don't expect the status-quo to change any time soon.

The other biggie - that battery pack. Not cheap, doesn't last forever, and talk about an environmental nightmare both to build AND to recycle!

Electric cars are a great idea (and were around BEFORE internal combustion engine powered cars, but that's another discussion), they have very real uses and provide very real pollution reduction, but they are not the panacea that they're made out to be.