Will electric cars be like washing machines?

Did you know that it took the washing machine nearly 45 years to go from inception to being a part of 70 percent of the homes in the U.S.? No, well don't feel bad because neither did we. As it turns out, washing machines had a ten percent adoption rate back in 1930 and did not break 70 percent until 1975. The same can't be said for cell phones, which saw a explosion in use in just ten short years. Different devices have different adoption rates, so what in the world does this have to do with electric vehicles (EVs)? That they'll probably be more like washing machines than that bulge in your pocket.
A recent study conducted by Deloitte Consulting concluded that electric cars will only represent five percent of the entire automotive market by 2020. Furthermore, the study suggests that EVs will not follow the rapid adoption of cell phones, but rather the slow growth of items like the aforementioned washing machine and thus it could take 45 long years before EVs dominate the industry. No one expects EVs to rule the road tomorrow, but half a century? That's a long time. What do you think? Will EVs explode onto the scene within the next ten years because of the gotta-have-it factor or should we anticipate slow growth with finally taking over much, much further on down the road?

Photos by Sebastian Blanco / Copyright ©2010 Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: HybridCars, Deloitte Consulting]