I just bought an electric bike. I love it. http://ecolo-cycle.com/Mundial_en_new.htm

I think the segway would be difficult to drag home if the battery died. As for the electric car I think the weight would make it inefficient and we need to get away from the car concept. It would also be hard to push home if the battery died. I believe a rail system directly connected to a power grid would make the most sense for mass transit.

I've been riding electric bikes for a few years now. I have 1700 miles on one and 700 miles on another. About 6 months ago, i switched jobs from one where I had a company car to another where i didn't. I decided to not buy a second car. This would not be possible without without my electric bikes.

I built both using a kit and a standard bike frame. I can go 20 miles at less than 20 mph or 12 miles at top speed. I'm planing on building one that can go 20 miles at 30 miles per hour. This would be pretty much the best you can do with an electric bike.

I love my electric bikes but it isn't THE answer. Nothing is really. It will be like our energy problems where a mix of energies (oil, coal, nuclear, wind and solar) will all be needed and used. The bike is great for trips less than 6 miles. In larger cities, it's faster to get around on bike than by car. My office is 5 miles away and if i drove instead of biked, i would only save only 5 minutes. The issue is that you're exposed to the elements and you generally can't ride with passangers or large cargo.

In my opinion, the best mix of vehicles will be a hybrid, a small electric car (range of 40 or 50 miles will be good enough) and an electric bike.

The most efficient way of transporting people is with subways like they have in Japan. People living in tokyo don't need vehicles to get around-- just their own two feet. Problem is, you won't be able to find very many americans wanting to live like they do in tokyo. There's way too many people.

Just like there is road service for fossil fuel vehicles, there can be road service including recharges for electric ones.

How about a battery-swap service so that one would not need to wait for recharging?

Who's going to force all the car manufacturers to have swappable batteries (makes crash safety a real headache!), much less standardize on one or a few sizes, connectors, etc?

And then who's going to set up the network of battery-swapping stations when the vehicle fleet to pay for them doesn't exist?  (It's the same problem as the "Hydrogen Highway".)

There's a reason why the near future belongs to the PHEV; it doesn't demand anything new except the vehicle itself.