Electric cars are a new(ish) technology. only until recently have they started to gain popularity.
Things like the Prius plugin hybrid, Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi MiEV and most famously the Tesla Model S have actually gotten to the point where people can actually use these things for their transportation needs.
right now electric cars ownership is quite different from gasoline or diesel car ownership. first, the initial price. being a growing technology, electric cars are still quite expensive for what they bring. there are also restrictions on range and performance mainly because of out battery technology. electric cars also need more time to recharge than a gasoline vehicle. all this is just now starting to become accepted by people.
for the purpose of this answer I will only talk about 1 electric car. the tesla model S. the model S is by far the best electric car available. it has the longest usable range of any consumer car. it has the most space, seats, and best performance.
living with a tesla especially is not that hard. it has a 285 mile EPA cycle range. EPA cycle takes into consideration city and highway driving in different climate conditions to better emulate real world use, some people get less than the 285 miles, some people get more. in fact it's not rare for a tesla to do over 300 miles on 1 charge with a driver with efficient driving habits in the proper conditions.
this range means that the car can easily meet most people's transportation needs. (in north america)
the car has a large variety of charging options. you can charge them with regular electric car ports which are becoming more popular and being placed in some offices and shopping center parking lots. you can find these by googling electric car charging ports, there are many websites that list them.
you can also charge a tesla at home. by installing a charging station that connects to a 240v outlet (the same your stove and washer/dryer run on) you can charge a tesla at home. charging on these takes a long time though. luckily Tesla has some brand exclusive solutions. first, is their supercharger stations. these stations provide a much faster charge for cars (75 minutes for a full charge). these stations are free to use for all tesla owners. now if 75 minutes is still too long, tesla is also working on adding battery swappin stations which will let you have something much like refueling a regular car. pay $60 and have a fresh battery installed in 90 seconds.
now for the costs. yes, an electric car is not cheap. the model S especially. but the running costs of an electric car are actually lower than regular cars. the tesla is a very efficient car. now when most people say efficient they don't really get the proper idea so i gotta add some physics in here. don't worry it's not too complex. energy can not be created. nor can it be destroyed, it simply changes state. you eat food that has chemical potential energy and your body turns it into kinetic energy when you move. you lift something and you use some of that chemical potential energy from your food to turn it into kinetic energy to lift that thing and now that energy which you no longer have has been passed to the item as gravitational potential energy. you drop the item and that gravitational potential energy turns into kinetic energy. cars are fairly inefficient, they use a lot of chemical potential energy to move but end up generating a lot of heat and noise in the process. the tesla is a much more efficient car. it can turn that energy that you put into it in the form of electricity and it turns it into movement while losing less to heat and noise. this means that you in the end pay less to move around. sure you'll get a higher electric bill but you won't have a gas tank to fill, that's where the tradeoff is.
now this also means that the tesla is in fact good for the environment. electric cars are not perfect but they are a start. right now, electric cars generate more CO2 in their manufacturing process than regular cars. contrary to Josh's post, electric cars DON'T use mercury. they use lithium for their batteries which is one of the most abundant minerals on earth but it's still more mines than normal to get a car made. their benefit comes from the long run. even if all your electricity comes from a gas burning plant, since the tesla is so efficient it means that the gas which would have only gotten you so far in a gasoline car, can get you farther with an electric. BUT that's not the case. because over the last couple years, electricity generation has gotten cleaner and cleaner. in fact, there aren't many places on earth where 100% of their electricity comes from burning gas. we have combinations of gas, nuclear, wind, solar and even tidal generation which is far cleaner, so while regular cars are stuck burning gas to move, electrics get their energy from all sorts of sources which are far better. look at the complete lifespan of the a single car and it's true, a regular car may not use as many mines and generate CO2 to manufacture, but in the long run the electric car used so much less CO2 to move around that it actually made a comeback and used less fossil fuels than the gas car.
you should really check out Tesla's website. they have calculators for how much you end up paying to drive around in one (they look at how much you drive and how much you pay for electricity, in my case i have a gas car because i can't yet afford a tesla (i have a chrysler 200 which while isn't great on gas, isn't a monster with it), i did the calculation and I would pay 60% less to drive around based on my electricity costs. contrary to Bobby's post, there hasn't been 1 tesla owner of over 20,000 which have been sold that has reported paying more to drive a tesla than a gas car to move around.
electric cars are a good way to go, people may not like them but it's the truth. if you want proof, even look at formula 1 cars. they are the pinnacle of speed and with more electric systems, this year the cars were able to drive with 33% less gas than last year with similar speeds. we still have a long way to go but by shooting down any idea with even the slightest hint of change we will never get to a point where we can drive around while still being good with the environment.
BTW the tesla model S is such a good car that when i tell people about it i mention the environmental impact last.
the car is quite fast. it can accelerate from 0-60 mph in around 4.2 seconds. that's a similar speed to the Audi R8 and slightly faster than a porsche 911 Carrera 4s.
the car is large too. because it has the batteries at the floor and electric motors are so small, the car can fit 5 adults and 2 children making it like a minivan (in fact some minivans can hold 4 adults and 3 children which is less)
it also has a front trunk (called a frunk) where the engine would be in a regular car.
the car is luxurious and advanced. it has a ton of features including a huge and beautiful 17" touch screen to control almost all of the car's systems. imagine driving around with a large and clear map (powered by google maps) on your center console. the car also has internet browsing/connectivity and a bunch of other cool luxury features including smartphone connectivity so that you can check up on the charge status as well as control some systems like the lights, and climate control from your phone
the car is also extremely safe. it got the highest ever IIHS crash safety rating of any vehicle. it even broke the roof drop testing machine.
overall, the top end tesla model s (the p85+) competes with the BMW M5 in terms of price. an M5 starts at around $100,000 and goes up to around $150,000 fully loaded, the model s p85+ at $87,000 going up to $122,000 fully loaded.
the model s is faster, more spacious, better for the environment, and safer.
oh and don't forget that regular car maintenance is expensive. in a car there are many moving parts that break down. an electric has much less to break meaning lower maintenance. most of the costs come from tires, brakes, windshield washer fluid and replaceable stuff that regular cars have. there are no oil changes, transmission fluid chages or engine tune ups to do on a tesla. even with a prepain maintenance plan that helps to cover things breaking I would pay less for maintenance with a tesla than my old car (i had a mercedes c230 kompressor that was running me up over $1300 a year on maintenance, the top level maintenance plan on a tesla costs $5000 and lasts 8 years and even covers a mechanic showing up to your house to do repairs as many times as you need it. that's less than 1/2 the cost i was paying before to barely keep a regular car alive for amazing service.
i really hope you do more research on electric cars because they really are the way of the future.
here is a great place to start.
http://www.teslamotors.com/