On a recent episode of Fast Forward Radio I asked J. Storrs Hall (JOSH) of the Foresight Institute when do I get my flying car?

Either because he lacks the sense of humour to realize that is the standard short form question for "Yeah, this future baloney sounds like it might be awesome - when does it freakin' happen?" or because he's way smarter than I and realizes that the future is all around us, he answered literally. Paraphrasing closely, his answer was something like 'right now - if you want to spend a million dollars.'

I realized after that the question I really wanted to ask was "When do I get to be a sexy, immortal, billionaire, with superpowers? and Can it be incremental because, really, any one of those four would pretty well rock."

But in terms of personal transportation, I want a much more efficient way to get around that does not require either Mr. Fusion or some other heretofore impossible technology and is still safe and can be operated on my city streets and highways, safely. Cheap and durable are good.

So while I would totally dig on a flying car in the price range of a typical car, I've been waiting anxiously for an electric car. This should be the year.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/06/business/AP-US-Auto-Shop-Buying-Electric-Cars.html?_r=1

Several big automakers plan to start introducing a range of electric vehicles in late 2010, giving the broader public its first chance to buy the vehicles that rely more on the electrical outlet than the gas pump.

Because I've been disappointed on this kind of thing before, I've learned to be doubtful. But it looks promising. Of course, if I was willing and able to spend $100K+ on car that can only cary two, the Tesla is available now.

But the Volt, Leaf and a few others should be way closer to "typical" car performance than the golf carts and Neighborhood Electric Vehicles available today. Neither of which, BTW, I could license and drive on my city streets.

Now I haven't been much of an earlier adopter, preferring to buy proven, cheap durability. And while the NYT article linked above is an ok intro to the subject, it leaves out two important considerations for the cost/benefit analysis.
1) life expectancy and replacement cost of the battery pack. unknown
2) Yes, you pay more at purchase than a comparable gas or diesel car. Do you make up for that over the life of ownership by buying less liquid fuel?

Because the answers here are unclear, I'm guessing when my 20+ year old antique dies (next time it breaks it's gone) a clean diesel may well be my choice.

I mean there's sexy, immortal billionaire with superpowers. And then there's cheap, dependable transportation. And a man's got to know his limitations.*

*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2JnCXvm_Qc