[Bored chemist]

Are you aware that many current cars use petrol which is also dangerously flammable?
Lithium isn't sponaneously flammable.

[Pumblechook]

I would be wary of getting a old battery in a charging station with reduced capacity. 

I can't see a 53 kWh battery pack giving 250 miles range.  I gather these figures come from cars on rollers doing a constant speed.  Real drivers under real conditions only got about 1/2 or less than the promised range for the GM EV1. 

A typical medium sized car would get  around 100 miles out of 53 kWh worth of petrol (axle power..taking the poor efficiency of  engines into account)  It might have a heavy engine but an elec car will have heavy induction motors and has to cart around 450 kg of battery. 

Some of the battery power is lost in the DC to 3 phase AC conversion process.

[McQueen (OP)]

Well if you remember in the documentary who killed the electric car, there was a lot there about the deadly fear that automotive manufacturers lived in over the possibility of battery EV's. In fact they bought patents which prevented Ni-camium batteries from being used in cars. Even then, I think the film was made about four or five years ago, one of the scientists was saying that with li-on batteries a 300 mile per charge range was a clear possibility. The average American drives about 30 miles a day, the average Briton much less. So apart from the first charge to bring the battery upto strength maybe a days driving would be about  10 miles or less, so the battery would only be 3% discharge and could be topped up in a couple of minutes. Do you see what I mean.

[McQueen (OP)]

I may be giving the impression that battery powered EV's are just around the corner and maybe theoretically they are. But in practical terms a two-seater car that costs 99,000 Euros is not real. Further when you consider the fact that this very expensive car can run only during the day, if you are going to charge it up at night, it doesn't sound so attractive anymore. What I am trying to say is that lithium-ion batteries definitely have potential and maybe in the next ten years or so, they will really come into their own.

[lyner]

Are you aware that many current cars use petrol which is also dangerously flammable?
Lithium isn't sponaneously flammable.

how many people, not in Hollywood, do you know of who died in a car fire?

[lyner]

What I  am  trying to say is that lithium-ion batteries definitely have potential

You can say that again! Particularly when fully charged.

[Bored chemist]

"how many people, not in Hollywood, do you know of who died in a car fire?"
Are you discounting people in Hollywood because they are made of plastic and therefore might be more combustible?

People do die in car fires (about 4000 hits on google- but I didn't do any further research)- many more are killed in crashes.
The point about batteries and fuel tanks is that they are designed to store energy. Unfortunately, so is a bomb.
The energy stored in the fuel or battery is plainly a lot bigger than the kinetic energy of the car, but it's usually the kinetic energy that kills people.
Using Lithium as a fuel doesn't make a lot of difference here- you need different fire fighting tricks but that's not beyond current technology.