BYD, the Chinese electric car company that took investor dollars from Warren Buffet, sounds a warning on the future of the electric car:

TIANJIN, China — The head of BYD Co., one of China’s leading makers of electric vehicles, urged the Chinese government to subsidize private purchases of all-electric battery cars and other “new energy” vehicles, saying their widespread adoption in China depends on it.
Speaking at an industry conference Sunday, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu said a lack of consumer incentives and subsidies has kept BYD from making a plug-in hybrid car available for private buyers. He warned that a continued lack of government assistance might doom all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids in the marketplace because of their currently high cost.
“We’re at a critical make-or-break juncture in our effort” to make electric vehicles mainstream, Mr. Wang told the conference. To help accelerate an adoption of heavily electrified vehicles “the government needs to play a key role and help us reduce their cost, especially for private buyers.”