They had electric car sback in the 70's, what you kids have to remember is that this is not the first gas crisis, not the first time wind power/wave power/whatever power has been tried. the only difference is that the technology is a little better today than it was back then which makes some ideas a little closer to reality. What really killed the electric car was practicality. You don't use gasoline but your electric bill goes to the moon, and the pollution from the tailpipe is transferred to the power station so there's no net gain in that area either. Plus, with all of the rolling blackouts during the summer, during peak driving times BTW, you can't keep the thing charged anyway.
That's what really killed the electric car.