I was reading something recently about a planned all electric vehicle, and how it would be ideal for those living in dense urban areas. My reaction was ?  People I know here who own cars primarily use them for longer trips (weekends, vacations). On the other hand the ideal place for a hybrid or an all electric car is probably densely packed suburbs with commuter rail - drive to the station, shopping, ferrying kids around, etc. i.e. the sort of driving where hybrids get better performance than diesels.