I remember the hoopla about GMs EV1, the lease only electric vehicle offered only in certain areas. With $2,000 worth of batteries that had a service life of about 20,000 miles, I sat down and did the math. If gas were to go up to $5.00 per gallon and electricity was free, this car would break even with my 50 mpg Geo Metro.

Electrics are practical in the small airplanes but on the other hand, it takes a long time for a .15 glow engine to use up a gallon of fuel. The nice thing is that the airframe doesn't eventually get soaked with oil.