Future
With rising fuel prizes and the danger of global warming the interest in electric cars rise all the time. Thanks to this funding to EV research rise all the time. Shown below is some areas in fast development, helping to improve electric cars.
In-wheel motors
Mitsubishi, Volvo and many other are doing tests with electric engines mounted inside the wheels. By doing this they eliminate the power loss in the drive train and get fewer moving parts. A lower entre of gravity is also a benefit and making 4wd has never been simpler, no drivetrain from the front engine to the rear wheels is needed!
Led lights
A 2,2w LED or Light Emitting Diode is equivalent to a 40w regular bulb. For electric cars this means more power to the motors and longer range. Besides a LED has a longer lifespan than conventional bulbs and doesn't have to be changed ever under normal circumstances. Hella is in a test phase on if it's possible to use LEDs for high beams and low beams on cars.
Lightweight materials
Building cars with lightweight materials not only decrease fuel consumption or for EV's, the juice drawn from the batteries but also increase acceleration and handling. This works the same way independent on how the car is powered and BMW for example uses lightweight materials such as aluminium to keep the weight down on their new 3-series. One other good thing with most alternative materials is that they don't rust away.
Webmasters note: This have I adopted on my old BMW E30 (low cost toy/racer). Throwing away all that weights to make it faster and more fun without tuning the engine. Poor mans tuning. There is a big aftermarket with lightweight parts intended for racing and I have plans lightening a Clio 100-200kg (if I buy one). More on that matter when an actual Clio Electrique stands in my driveway.
Batteries
This is the big dilemma for electric cars, the batteries. Heavy, expensive, slowly charged and with a "short" (10-15 years) lifespan. Yesterday. But now scientists are working on implement the efficient lithium techniques used in laptops in EVs. If this technique gets available at a lower price this would mean an awesome improvement of EV range. Many upcoming electric cars from the major manufacturers have both lithium batteries and a small diesel or petrol powered generator that kicks in if the batteries run out of power. This isn't the cleanest solution, but it is a really good way to introduce electric cars to a bigger audience since range no longer is a issue.