First off, to the OP:
Leilani, I hope you're the one behind the wheel of the first EV to win an open competition (ie, ICE & NO ICE in the same race).
Second, thanks for starting this thread.
Now, as I look around at my compound and behind various doors, here's what I see:
a diesel F-350. What I think we know about EV technology at present is that the torque certainly is there to match; I think, however, that we've got a ways to go before the weight + power match what a diesel powerplant can do, but it's probably not far off. A few years.
a diesel E-350 12-seat 4WD van. Ditto
a diesel Golf. A fine car, at 50mpg, and $26K new. Its weak point is it's poor as a winter driver. I'm suspecting it shortly will be overtaken by, for example, the Leaf-type EVs - if it hasn't already been.
a diesel BJ40 Land Cruiser. Ain't no replacement for her! She's a classic (1980) AND rarer than hen's teeth! Sounds lovely, too.
a Subaru Outback. Other than at her price point (it's a '98), she's toast...
a Caterpillar 305CR Excavator. And its colleague, a Caterpillar 287B Skidsteer. Diesels, of course. Now, I've not heard anything from CAT or Komatsu or Hitachi or Deere, but the longevity of a diesel powerplant in heavy equipment...their ability to work really hard all day long....well, it's going to be hard to see EVs as cracking that market, although the truly largest heavy equipment: draglines and >250-ton haulers, use multiple electric motors - in the case of the dump haulers there is one at every wheel, for example. Hmmm.
a Pisten Bully 280. Diesel, of course. And for those of you too lazy to Google, that's our big snow groomer with its 18'-wide blade and tiller. Now we are coming in to the territory where ICEs are likely to hold sway for the foreseeable future: cold weather (even though diesels are at a disadvantage there wrt gasoline engines). We really are going to have to see good advances in battery electrochemistry for EVs to function appropriately in Alaska's Normal State Of Affairs (jaw-cracking cold, that is).
an Arctic Cat Bearcat. That's a snowmachine (snowmobile). Gas. Now, it happens that some engineering students at UAF have built an electric snowmachine, but it remains impractical. If one ever is developed, it likely will be like the Bearcat: a high-torque hauler rather than a zippydippy machine....but that's not cast in stone, either.
a 90hp Johnson on the Boston Whaler. Well, I'd love to see an EV outboard (or in/outboard). Why not?
Assorted other diesel or gas-powered items around here include a few more smaller items like a portable compressor....and close to a half-dozen generators. Can't make THOSE electric...yet (though my biggest powerplant is the set of PV panels that feed my nine-ton battery bank. Just like a Tesla...without wheels!
The bottom line up here, from the perspective of 2013, is that five years down the road I would hope two or perhaps three of the above can justifiably be replaced by an EV equivalent...but that notwithstanding, hydrocarbon explosions in cylinders will continue to be crucial for a good time yet.
