Did you see "Who Killed the Electric Car" ?
The documentary highlights the fact that it was the collapse of government mandates that lead to the death of the purely electric car. There are still far too many "dollars in the ground" to give up the gas engine. Maybe that's why the emphasis has been on Hybrids.
The development of electic cars seems mired in privatized efforts to create ultra-high performance vehicles. Instead of low elapsed times and high performance, they should be focused on low recharge times and high range.
I think they're missing the boat.