Early last month Elon Musk surprised everyone by launching a vibrant red Starman roadster into space with a dummy driver in a space suit. It must have cost a bomb, or several bombs, to personally finance this space odyssey including the cost of the SpaceX rocket launcher but Musk clearly wanted to put out a message that would never be forgotten. A message that electric cars are no longer a spaced out dream but the ‘way to go’. The sleek roadster will be truly out of the world but it demonstrates that several technological barriers like performance and battery life are rapidly crumbling and that it will not be too long before electric cars will be practical, affordable and desirable.

A streetcar may have been named desire but another almost impossibly desirable electric car was the beautiful Rimac that sizzles with an eye-popping 1,914HP and can flash past before you blink to an unbelievable 414-kmph and will also have a huge range of 650-km. We don’t know what it will cost but it will be huge as the maker plans to limit the production to just one hundred units.

More down to earth is Porsche’s equally beautiful electric sports coupe Mission E that was shown at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. It packs a huge 600HP under its little hood and can accelerate from 0–100-kmph in a blinding 3.5 seconds. It also has a range of 500-km. Porsche plans for production in 2019 and envisions a price of around $85,000. Expensive for sure, but not for the ocean cruiser set who have deep pockets or bankers in their pockets.

At the recent Geneva Motor Show 2018, Tata Motors joined the electric band wagon by showcasing an equally eye catching Mercedes S-Class sized electric saloon called the E Vision. It is touted to have more practical but still impressive specifications and will offer acceleration of 0–100-kmph in a zippy seven seconds with a comfortable range of 300-km. Tata Motors say that it is not just for show and that they plan production in two years aiming at an affordable price close to the price of their Hexa SUV.

These are some of dazzling offerings that announce that more electric cars will be on our roads before long. The roads of no country will be able to handle such power and speed so these specifications are likely to be reduced closer to production time that would also lead to more affordable prices. Dazzling looks may survive because the electric power train is quite small allowing car maker’s great freedom in their auto sculpture. The heavy battery packs under the floors take little space and will lower the centre of gravity to enable great handling on twisty roads. Electric cars will also cost very little to run and their simple electric motors will make them reliable and easy to fix.

Every government is deeply concerned about the growing problem of auto pollution so it is probable that many of them will encourage electric cars with low, or even no, taxes while diesel and petrol cars will be heavily taxed to make them less attractive to buyers. But this will not happen very soon so buyers will only risk buying electric cars when they are confident of their practical usefulness and reliability. But all the car makers can see the road ahead and have a number of smaller and cheaper concept models on their drawing boards.

The author is the region’s most celebrated automobile columnist