Capitalism is endorsing a future of Electric Vehicles, the startup Better Place, which proposes to solve the battery capacity problem by having standardized quickly swappable batteries at distributed service stations, Closes Massive $350M Round of funding from venture capitalists.
I think this is a great thing to be built (with someone else’s money). However as an expensive first generation network infrastructure, I would not be surprised to see the company go bankrupt, unable to pay back fixed costs, wiping out these capitalists, (or at least the bondholders getting nearly 100% equity at the expense of the original shareholders) and someone else pick up the pieces the company and make a go of it.
The other risk is that batteries get good enough they don’t need to be swapped out as frequently and can be recharged more quickly at home and workplaces, again obviating the need for this expensive network of stations.