Has the technology progressed enough to convince drivers to go electric?

Raise your hand if you’re looking forward to you’re next car purchase so you can go electric.

Now, let’s be honest. There are plenty of folks who won’t be going down that road any time soon no matter how far the technology advances. Some people are addicted to horsepower and the combustion engine and wouldn’t be caught within 10 feet of an electric car unless they happen to park next to one in a crowded parking lot.

Plenty of analysts and forecasts looking at the not-too-distant future of the car industry are predicting a surge in electric cars because the technology has advanced far enough that electric cars are now more appealing than they once were. Most major car makers have some form of electric car in the works, meaning it’s likely more and more customers are embracing it.

Electric vehicles still accounted for only one percent of all auto sales last year, but the total number of electric cars sold rose by 30 percent. Assuming that trend continues — and there is no reason not to make that assumption — electric cars could hold a much more respectable slice of the pie in just a few years.

Higher end car makers such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW have plans to offer a wide variety of options to customers by the middle of the 2020s. Other mainstream auto makers are fast-tracking plans for expansion in the electric sector as well, including Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen and GM. When those new options arrive in the market, a real boom could take place and the long-awaited shift to electric cars might not be far behind.