re: Peak power needs
I've heard people who are very happy with the performance, and others that aren't. I suspect that we will find out that a person's driving habits may have a lot to do with how efficient a system is that switches between electric and gas power depending on sudden load requirements.
In any case, the car companies are selling lots of them, which gives them an incentive to continue developing better ones every year. Note the cell phones you buy now compared to the ones that were available when cell phones first became hot.
Also, the battery production and development for hybrids feeds back into future all-electric cars. More good news.